Grace the Christmas Tomte: 2020 Edition

I started something back in 2018, when I went to JoAnn Fabrics to buy some red felt fabric. With that fabric, I made a pointy hat, which has been at times used as an elf hat, or a gnome/tomte hat as the need requires. I went to the local arboretum with my husband (I didn’t have my own tripod yet at the time!) and we took gnome portraits. I wore the pointy hat with a Scandi looking green sweater, and I carried a basket of gifts.

Last year, we were at the caves and waterfalls of Hocking Hills, Ohio, and I pulled out my pointy red hat again to take another set of gnome photos.

Well, it’s kind of become a tradition now. And though I did wear my red pointy hat again this year (you saw it on day 3 and, hint hint, may see it again) I really wanted to expand my gnome wardrobe. Little did I know what unusual source I’d end up using for my new gnome-ish chapeau.

These pictures, and this ensemble, also represent day 12 of my Fifteen Days of Christmas Clothes, by the way. <3

Many thanks to the most charming Christmas tree farm in my local area, Timbuk Farms, for allowing this overgrown tomte to skip among the tree fields.

For this ensemble, I wore my trusty waterproof hiking boots with red shoelaces, and my green striped Sock Dreams socks, my green silk circle skirt, and a new red lace-front overskirt purchased for the ensemble. A cream colored blouse with embroidered details, a grey circle scarf, and Scandi-patterned fingerless glove-lets finished the outfit. Oh, and then, you know, there’s the hat.

Are you ready to find out how I got this hat?

Ready?

(Can you tell I’m proud of this one?)

A couple of weeks ago, I was meandering my local Goodwill shop as soon as they opened (I find it quietest and safest that way) trying to find any red and green or obviously holiday-themed clothes. I had great luck, finding the blouse and vest I wore on Day 10, but I was smitten with a vest that felt so festive to me. I loved loved the stripes of different ribbon and patterns, reflecting, at least to me, the worldwide celebration of Christmas. But the vest was far too small, so I left it.

Until I had an epiphany.

You guessed it. I returned to the store, snatched up that vest, and with the help of my friend Rebecca MacKay and her sewing machine, we turned that too-small vest into the cutest little gnome hat any Christmas season has ever seen!

The moral of this story? Think creatively when it comes to Christmas ensembles. Not everything you find at the craft store (or any store! Remember how I use clip ornaments as hair baubles) has to stay in the form in which you buy it, or be used for the purpose they say it is made for.

So next year, as you’re walking among the Christmas trees at your local farm, keep an eye in the distance for your friendly rural Christmas tree tomte, skipping among the rows of festive pines, laughing and holding her festive hat in place.