LOCATION: Pikes Peak Center

OUTFIT DETAILS: Leggings || Toms Boots || Yobel Market Bag || Over-sized Sweater by Acey Designs (similar) || Scarf (similar)

Every year we go to a Christmas concert at the Pike’s Peak Center with my family (more traditions!) It is called Christmas Joy and we always sit in the front row of the balcony and I am always certain someone will fall off – those things never feel very safe to me! The weather has been pretty mild this holiday season so I just pretend like it is colder. I imagine this is what southerners must do to be able to wear their favorite fall & winter things! Although, it feels like EVERYONE but us is getting snow and cold weather (seriously, I’m trying not to be so whiny about the warm weather but I’m obviously failing!)

I’ve been thinking about tradition a lot recently. I’ve always lived my life by traditions and seasons but within the last years, all of those started being recorded here on this blog. So every year I can link back on the year before and the year before. The five years of picking out our Christmas tree, the Christmas Joy concert outfits, the Christmas cards, the advent calendars – all of them logged back in this space.

Maybe I’m feeling sentimental. Maybe it is the season and the ending of yet another year. But how is this my job? Seven and a half years ago I sat on a bunk bed in a old manor in Belfast, Northern Ireland and wrote my very first blog post. That post launched a passion I never knew I had – it sucked me in. Creating, sharing, connecting, engaging. Now every Christmas I document our traditions and I share them with you. I share them because I want you to make traditions you do year after year. I want to encourage you to find local shows and concerts to add to your family traditions. I want to encourage you to document the little things – to write down memories, share the stories, take the pictures.

And honestly, I write for myself. I write to document life and celebrate the little things. The Lord is so faithful. He is good. Through the hard seasons and the easy seasons, He remains steady. This blog (and heck, these style posts even) get to be part of recording all He has done in my life. The community, the passion, the stories, the memories, and YOU – you my readers who encourage & inspire me! Thank you for being here. Thank you for sticking around though all the blog changes and technical issues over the years. Thanks for reading the old posts and the new posts and being a part of the Oak + Oats community! I couldn’t be here and do this without you! XOXO