Festive-ness Drips From My Fingers

So today I took part in another Christmas tradition--I gave Raelynn "Christmas nails." I can't pinpoint the time this tradition started, but I know that it's been going strong for at least as long as Raelynn has been around.



As I have posted before, I really like Christmas...and tacky. And I really love anything that is Christmas and tacky together. On top of the annoying (to everyone else but not me) jingle bells that I have tied to my sneakers, I also decorate my nails for the holiday. Over the years, I've been in and out of "nail rehab." Before I had a child, I considered my bi-monthly appointments a part of my therapy. Now when I have to choose between getting my nails done or buying groceries, I tend to lean towards the groceries, so I guess I found the rehab that works. But I digress.



In the picture above the nail polish on the left looks exactly like my "Jingle Belle" polish by Sally Hansen. You know Sally...she's "hard as nails." I think I found this polish at a Walgreens, because Walgreens is the place where I find great stuff and then when I return to find it again, it's gone. I always keep my eyes open for this polish, but I haven't lucky enough to locate another bottle. This polish encapsulates everything I love about Christmas...it has all the Christmas colors: red, green, silver, and gold and it's GLITTER!!!! Yay for sparkle!!!



Before finding Sally Hansen's Jingle Belle polish, I would paint my finger and toenails a bright red and then cover that with either a red glitter or green glitter topcoat. On top of that, I would add a silver glitter topcoat. At this point my nails were pretty thick with many layers of lacquer. And let me just tell you, it was ugly. I lied to myself that it looked "festive." I noticed that no one else commented on it. I'm guessing since they couldn't find anything nice to say, they chose to say nothing at all.



Before I became "clean" of my nail habit, I took my Jingle Belle polish to my nail tech and asked her to incorporate it into the Christmas nails she was about to give me. She really thought that the polish was tacky and added as little of it to my nails as possible. She didn't want people asking who did her nails if they looked bad. I guess what's important here is that I liked it and I didn't buckle to the opinions of others. I'm getting better at this all the time.



So tonight Raelynn asked for her yearly Christmas nails. I got out my Jingle Belle polish and painted one of my fingernails so she could see it. She immediately told me that she didn't like it. I was afraid at this point that she was going to ask for some Christmas nail art....which I can't do. Imagine my surprise when she asked for red nail polish with a red and green glitter topcoat. She couldn't decide which one she wanted to she asked for both: one finger red, one finger green.
She also wanted this same pattern repeated on her toenails. When I was doing painting, she asked me if I liked the way they looked. And I of course told her, "They are just beautiful, sweetie!" Which I swear is totally true...and thus the tradition is carried on to the next generation.