Christmas Eye Candy

Christmas Eve

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to collecting Christmas books, I gather holiday magazines as a small treat for myself. The best ones get saved and packed away with the holiday decorations and brought out again each year.

Downtown there’s a wonderful international news agent — Fog City News which offers magazines, as well as chocolates from all over the world (I know — brilliant right?).  Anyway if I’m in their neighborhood, I’ll stop by to browse and inevitably purchase a lovely magazine or two — but at Christmas time I go just a little nuts.  I’m especially partial to the British ones, because the English just know how to do Christmas right  — other than mincemeat* and plum pudding (shudder).

Anything with a cottage theme, french bocantes (antiques) or Scandinavian red and white decor is up for consideration.  I even buy the holiday issue of Martha Stewart – God bless her everyone.

The one exception to my foreign magazine no-subscribe rule is English Home (above) which I get for myself and then (at a discounted rate) I get English Garden for a friend every year…and we trade the issues throughout the year.  A small tradition that delights us both.

As I’ve aged and perhaps grown a little wiser (or is that wider?), these magazines no longer make me feel inadequate – with their images of perfect holidays:   why doesn’t my table look that pretty? or wow look, I could painstakingly hand-glue tiny seashell wreaths!  Now they are simply a treat – eye candy – a way to peek into different Christmas rooms, lavish meals and cultures around the world.  A way to travel during the holidays without waiting in long security lines or getting stuck at O-Hare.

I hope this Christmas Eve finds you where you want to be, warm and cozy —  enjoying your very own perfect Christmas.

 

 

* My friend Sarah, originally from England, actually makes really yummy little mincemeat pies – nothing like the mincemeat pies I was forced to politely choke down  in Scotland (again shudder).  But then again, the Scots national dish is Haggis.