White Christmas (And how to stay warm in the winter)

The last time it snowed for Christmas in Washington was nine years ago. I don’t remember too much about that Christmas, but in nine years so many things have changed! I started this blog not too long after that; it was the year I challenged myself to wear skirts all the time in the winter. I discovered I was allergic to cats (which broke my heart, because I had a cat at the time) and thankfully a short time later remedied that with a few treatments. We lived in Mississippi and, for a short time Colorado; I started my favorite job as a barista, moved on to being a secretary, met my husband, had two kids, fell in love with writing again…. and now here I am!

My style has progressed massively from then to now. This year alone I feel like I went through several phases before finally, finally figuring out what my style is.

I cannot wait to do a style recap of this year, to look over my favorite outfits of the year and see how I’ve changed.

This Christmas I opted for the same skirt I wore a little over a year ago, the last time it snowed! I think this skirt may become my yearly snowy-weather tradition. It’s so perfect for cold weather with its vintage ice skater pattern and room enough to wear my warmest slip. Despite the chilly weather, I was pretty warm walking around in the snow!

One question I get asked a lot is how to stay warm in the winter wearing skirts and dresses. Now, Washington is pretty mild weather-wise; the wind chill and dampness can make it feel colder than it really is sometimes, but we rarely get below about 10* Fahrenheit where I live, and most winter the coldest it gets is maybe the mid 20’s or so. So of course, if you live in a colder climate than I do, these suggestions may not work for you.

But my go-to technique for staying toasty in cold weather are: ribbed/sweater tights, doubling up on pairs of tights, boots, socks over my tights, a nylon slip (I find the ones I can thrift are thicker and warmer than the ones I’ve gotten from Target), lots of scarves an cardigans over everything, and just generally wearing layers. While it might sound like a lot of work, I tend to stay warmer in tights and a skirt than I do in jeans in the winter. My legs are never cold while wearing a dress or skirt.

And of course, I generally always have a coat to slip on when we aren’t taking photos, but on this day I was actually pretty comfortable just in my cardigan with no other layer over it.

We will definitely be testing how well my skirts keep me warm in a few weekends when we take our family vacation trip with my husband’s family. We’ll be spending a weekend in the mountains and snow, and I am excited to go and relax and have three days in winter wonderland. 

Although to be honest, my pregnant sensitive-to-all-the-cold self will likely spend most of the weekend curled up under a blanket reading books or just striving to be warm and cozy. Haha! Perhaps I’ll plan to bake for the family, or make some art, or figure out some indoor activities that I never get to do at home. I will definitely go out in the snow a few times, but the older I get the more I find I value time to just sit and not have to do anything.

I hope you all have fun things planned to celebrate the new year! The next time you see an outfit post from me, it’ll be in 2018, unless you keep up with my Instagram where I have started sharing more daily style outfits that don’t make it here to the blog! I will be posting a yearly recap, but no new outfits in the next 5 days. (Can you believe it’s only 5 days until the last day of 2017?)

And until then, have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve!

Cardigan, Amazon | shirt, thrifted (similar) | brooch, vintage (many similar and same here) | skirt, self-made | boots, Amazon | scarf, old (similar)