Merry and Chic

In this amusing and useful guide, journalist O’Shea-Evans (Alpine Style) shows how to amp up the holiday spirit in one’s home. Design tips cover tablescapes, Christmas trees, and children’s rooms, and O’Shea-Evans points out that dark tablecloths work well to hide inevitable party spills. Recipes are “high in calories but not in kitchen agony,” and include focaccia with a rosemary Christmas tree; “Christmas in Puglia Pasta,” made to “make you feel like you’re spending Christmas in southern Italy”; and “confetti chocolate bark” adorned with orange slices and potato chips. O’Shea-Evans has homemade gift ideas, too, such as bath bombs and flavored olive oil. Elsewhere, she includes a dinner party playlist, encourages readers to donate gifts to a family in need, and provides a list of TV shows to watch while wrapping gifts. Though a month-by-month holiday guide, which urges readers to “take inventory” in April, might be overkill for the non “Christmas-aholic,” O’Shea-Evans’s tips are for the most part practical. They’re also full of heart—readers will appreciate her encouragement to embrace imperfections and put stress to the side: “The reality is that showing up for the holidays and making memories… is the best gift of all.” This brings the cheer. (Aug.)

Kathryn O’Shea-Evans writes about design, travel, and food from her home base in Colorado’s Front Range. A contributing editor at House Beautiful magazine, her work is frequently published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and numerous other publications. She is the co-author (with Max Humphrey) of LODGE: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks, and the author of Alpine Style: Bringing Mountain Magic Home.