Twixmas tales - Part 1

Christmas, Twixmas and New Year have all come and gone, but as usual I've still got a lot of catching up to do. 

Meanwhile, it's been back to the grind for me since Tuesday. The long and short of it is that by the end of my first week my one and only resolution - to try and be more positive in 2024 - has already gone out of the window. Oh well, enough said.

On top of all that, I'm being plagued by Blogger issues, as lately I'm getting failed to publish errors when commenting while logged in. I lodged my problem with the Blogger community and was told it might be an issue with cookies. Apparently, third party cookies need to be enabled. For some reason, they were disabled - nothing to do with me! - and when I put it right yesterday I was able to comment normally again. Fast forward to this morning, and I'm getting the error again, and this while the bloody third party whatevers were enabled ... 

I wonder if there's anyone else out there who has been having similar problems? Anyway, I will be commenting anonymously where possible, which I can do when I'm not logged in, for the time being.

But now let's retrace our steps to December once more, starting with Saturday the 23rd which for all intents and purposes was the first day of my longed-for Christmas break.

My journal tells me that it was mostly dry but cloudy accompanied by a blustery wind. At a more than reasonable 12°C, it was much too warm for the Nordic style jumper I originally had in mind to wear with the patterned velvet maxi skirt I snapped up for € 6 at Think Twice at end of September.

Instead, the skirt's companion was a thin knit green jumper with diamond patterned yoke, to which I pinned a vintage lacquered wooden brooch, both of which were charity shop finds.

My beads were charity shopped too, but the half-elasticated belt with its massive square buckle as well as my tomato red plastic ring were high street bargains.

I just love that giddy feeling one gets on the first day of the holidays, with a seemingly endless string of days to be filled with unknown pleasures stretching out in front of you. 

We'd slept in a little, then had a leisurely breakfast, after which Jos and I went our separate ways: while he did a last minute food shop I spent a joyful hour or so pottering and playing around with my wardrobe, thinking up possible outfits for the days ahead.

Then, after a lunch of Jos's homemade minestrone with crusty bread, we contemplated going for a walk.

In spite of the temperature, the world outside our windows wasn't looking very inviting. However, with yet another batch of wet weather days forecasted, we decided to go ahead and brave the elements. If nothing else, the strong gusts of wind would make short shrift of the lingering cobwebs in our heads. 

Not being close to a town or shopping centre, there's always plenty of parking space at Boom park, which was our chosen destination for the afternoon. Obviously, our aim was to steer clear of the Christmas shopping extravaganza, which was still in full swing.

Apart from the odd like-minded Scrooges and the ubiquitous dog-walkers, we only had to share the park with the resident ducks and a white cat who was contemplating life from a fallen tree.

The paths were quite muddy in places so, as I'd been foolhardy enough not to change out of my as yet still pristine green suede boots, we took a shortcut through the layer of leaves carpeting the park's naturel playground.

In honour of Christmas - nah, not really - I was wearing red and green outerwear. This consisted of my my recently found red embroidered Kangol beret and all-time favourite green fur-collared woollen jacket. One of my best-ever Think Twice finds, the latter has been living with me since November 2017.

My Italian made red leather crossbody bag has been my weekend and holiday companion ever since I picked it up in a charity shop back in May.

Jos had been nursing a persistent head cold for a couple of days and, sure enough, he was kind enough to give it to me as a Christmas present.

By Christmas Eve we were having a sniffling and sneezing competition and were going through our stash of cotton hankies at the rate of knots.

Still, as a dedicated blogger, I was determined to step outside between showers to show you what I was wearing.

Last worn back in March, I thought it was time to give my vintage Venetia frock, with its pattern of tiny white dots and garlands of frothy pink flowers, another outing. 

I only briefly wore it on its own, just to show you the burgundy belt I'd added at my waist.

As in spite of the rain we were still blessed with highs of 12°C, I only needed a sleeveless knitted vest on top, the perfect opportunity to show you one of my latest Think Twice finds.

From Think Twice's most recent collection, this Austrian made olive cable knit beauty with its rows of tiny white rosebuds caught my eye during a lunch break cappuccino catch-up with Inez earlier that week. I thought the vintage celluloid deer brooch - picked up from the indoor flea market in December 2022 - matched it perfectly.

The pearly pink brooch I pinned to my dress came from Think Twice while the faux-pearl choker was a fast fashion buy. 

The sleeveless vest wasn't the only thing I was tempted by when perusing Think Twice's latest offerings, as I fell head over heels with this vintage wing-collared orange jumper.

Nursing my worsening cold, I spent the afternoon sprawled out on the sofa, finishing Mary Webb's Gone to Earth and listening to a selection of big band records from our collection. 

Then we tried our hand at making waffles, using one of the recipes which came with our waffle and toasted sandwich maker. They weren't half bad, particularly for a first attempt, although admittedly the first two ended up being a bit overdone ...

Unfortunately, my cold hadn't disappeared overnight on Christmas Day. I had, in fact, slept quite fitfully, waking up several times with an alternately blocked and runny nose. It's a good thing we didn't have any plans for the day.

I still insisted on getting dressed though, so this is my Christmas outfit for 2023, which actually includes two fairly recent acquisitions to my wardrobe.

The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted the vintage Diolen C&A blouse which followed me home from Think Twice during a sun-drenched lunch break at the end of November.

When I brought it home, I had this cord skirt - a naughty retail buy earlier that month - hanging outside my wardrobe, and instantly thought they would make a fabulous combo. The skirt was last seen during our November getaway.

Another one of my deer brooches adorned the blouse's collar. I found this particular one in a long-gone vintage shop shortly before the advent of my blog. I've got a penchant for vintage deer brooches and ornaments and I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise that we sipped our alcohol free pre-dinner drinks from vintage Babycham glasses!

Speaking of brooches, I'd promised myself to tidy my drawers of brooches during my break so, in spite of the brain fog, I made a start with the first one, containing my so-called lady brooches.

As you can see, they come in all shapes and sizes and while some of them are of the cheap 'n cheerful variety, there are more than just a few treasures in there as well. I've only found out recently that one of them is quite sought after and commands a much higher price than the single digit one I paid for it. 

I can't resist a cliffhanger, so all will be revealed in my next post. In the meantime, I'm inviting you to take a guess ...

The rest of the day was spent completely engrossed in my latest read, which I'd started that morning and which transpired to be quite the page-turner! I would finish all of its 628 pages in less than a week, although I don't think it was as good as any of her previous novels.

See you next time!