Merry Merry

 

Praying that everyone has a wonderful holiday season remembering the birth of our Savior!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Pepin family!!!

This was supposed to be our Christmas card picture this year, but Matthew was quite embarrassed to be kneeling on this vintage retro quilt (I guess it's a little more feminine than masculine) while several cars were driving by, that I decided not to use it. So, needless to say, I haven't even made a card yet to mail out to everyone!! Sorry! (which is kind of sad because we bought a house & our old forwarding address from last Christmas has long since expired). So, instead I decided to put it up here for your enjoyment! It's ok to laugh.... Hopefully I will get a better picture out for New Year's cards!

{How to Wear Tacky Christmas Sweaters}

Hi readers! My name is April and I blog over at The Striped Flamingo. 

Can I talk to y'all for a second about tacky Christmas sweaters? 

Mmmkay. So, there's this store near where I live, which shall remain nameless, so as not to incriminate those who shop there for actual clothing. It kind of sells grandma type clothes. Well, for some reason, this store seems to be the tacky Christmas sweater mecca. For real. Every year, they come out with a fresh crop of terribad sweaters. It really makes you wonder if there really is a market for this type of clothing. 

Note to readers: apparently there is. Whilst shopping at said store for a tacky Christmas sweater to give at my work White Elephant gift exchange, there were at least 5 little old ladies animatedly combing through the tacky Christmas sweater racks, wearing, of course, tacky Christmas sweaters.

Something that has gained popularity in the last few years are tacky/ugly Christmas sweater parties. The main idea is to invicte people to wear these horrible sweaters/ensembles and revel in each other's Christmas tackiness.

Sounds fun, right?

So, besides the obligatory tacky Christmas sweater, what does one wear to this type of party? Well, I'm a firm believer that there is such a thing as over-accessorizing. And, these sweaters...well, they should be treated as an accessory. (Because, in all honesty, most of them contain no less than 7 bags of seed pearls and sequins anyway...) So, when Jamie asked how can you rock a Christmas sweater and still look "cute" (which I took as meaning "not like you shop at said old lady store on the reg") I figured others might benefit from my answer. 

As mentioned earlier, treat the sweater/vest/etc. as the accessory. You want to keep everything else you wear very basic. Obvi, the main attraction of your outfit is the sweater/vest, so don't mix a lot of other prints with it. I like the idea of a pop of color in a bag or shoes, but keep it to one color, balanced out with neutrals. 

Try to keep the rest of your outfit as modern as possible. I loved the idea of doing a tacky Christmas vest with black skinnies, a black t-shirt and red booties. The jewelry is very minimal with this outfit. For the other, more casual outfit, I like doing jeans and navy accents to balance it. (Navy Toms, um...yes?!?!)

All this to say, it IS possible to look "cute" while wearing one of these tacky sweaters. 

SO......Have you ever been to a tacky Christmas sweater party?

Thank you SO much April for the fun post for any upcoming holiday ugly sweater parties!!! I can't wait to post photos from our holiday housewarming party!! *I had previously emailed April asking her for some fashion advice before our party and that's how this guest post came about!! :) 

Please go check out her blog! I've been following April's blog and her Instagram for some time now and she writes about tons of great outfit inspiration, (this page here) crafts, photography, home decor, Christianity, and more! She also loves to sing (check out this song here)!!! Just a peek into a little more about her (how cute is this?!)......

Thanks again girl!!