On the Twelfth Day of a Feminine Christmas
I love this elegant image of a woman in a Christmas green knit dress sitting with a friendly reindeer. The deep forest green and red shoes (and hair) make for a lovely Christmas picture. It alludes to a rich deep plaid of beautiful red, green, and gold. A friend and I discussed today whether we are comfortable wearing tartans after Christmas and we both agreed that deep Christmasy plaids are best left in December. I would happily wear a pink or baby blue plaid in winter, however.
My nose has been buried in a book I received as a gift called Tartan, Romancing the Plaid. Being Scottish, tartans have a place in my heart and my grandparents had many tasteful touches of it in their wonderful home – plaid ribbons to hold places in books, a plaid tin picnic basket, and a few tartan pillows with lace. In reading the book I learned the distinction between a tartan and a plaid but here I will interchange the words.
There is an inherent nostalgic mystery in this unique banner of fashion and home decor. A simple tartan tie or pleated skirt is a fiery expression of the ancient lore of plaid. And when plaid is used in the home, at least for me, it is an exuberant expression of belonging.
Our family’s plaid is a surprising blue and my grandmother made sure we knew it was ours by sewing skirts and dresses in the tartan for us. But she also created clothes using traditional red tartans as shown in the pictures below. My niece and my daughter are each wearing the jumpers my sister and I wore years before.
I hope you enjoyed my Twelve Days of a Feminine Christmas and I appreciate all your kind comments very much. More as January progresses…
5 Comments
Kay
Not at all Scottish, but I do ADORE plaid and in fact, recently made a personal promise to make a plaid flannel robe for myself for next year. Imagine sweeping into the Christmas morning fun wearing a classic tartan wrapper? I've loved this 12-part Christmas carol to all things feminine, dear Donna! Plaid tidings to you! Love, Karen
Nancy
Dear Donna, I felt a kindred spirit reading this, having just sent away to Scotland for a cap made in the family tartan which I gave to my dad on Christmas morning. (He is a 26th generation Scot.) I've greatly enjoyed these feminine Christmas posts!
Warmly,
Nancy
cherre henderson
Hi Donna, Thank you for the 12 days of Christmas. I looked forward to those each day. I love your blog and your impeccable writing. The topics are so refreshing. 🙂
Christine McCann
Happy New Year! I wore a Black Watch skirt for Christmas Eve. The photos of your family in tartan are lovely.
Donna
Thank you for the 12 Days of Christmas posts! I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. My son-in-law has a Scottish background and I need to find the tartan so I can make my granddaughter a skirt or jumper.