(Photo: John Bessler for “Traditional Home” Magazine. Used without permission. Let me know…)
I don’t normally get too much time to glance through magazines, but last weekend everyone was so exhausted that I snuck away for an hour and a half to do just that. Was I pleasantly surprised! Most especially by an article by Amy Elbert in “Traditional Home” magazine entitled “Visions of Sugarplums.” The article featured nattily turned out interior designer Christopher Hyland (that’s he in the photo above.)
There was a lot to take away from that article. Menu cards, for example. My sister-in-law used one for her Thanksgiving groaning board of a buffet for 40. Delightful!
The idea of  “blow-out, sit down dinners accompanied by bagpipers” is far too glamorous to ignore. I may have to hit up my father-in-law for a favour. If you hire pipers, please remember that a bottle of single malt is always appreciated.
Best of all is Mr. Hyland’s insistence that no ornament be banished from the tree, even if it is not “design appropriate.” I heartily agree. Our Christmas tree reads like our auto-biographies. Mrs. E. and I both have cherished ornaments from childhood and our lives together.
And please, this year, plan to follow our advice — Mr. Hyland’s and mine — and dress at least once a week for dinner. Christmas Eve and New Year’s both will find Mrs. E. and me in evening clothes. I imagine that should we pop in unexpectedly to Mr. Hyland’s apartment in New York either of those evenings — to borrow a beaker of bourbon perhaps — we’d find much the same thing.
If you haven’t read the article, at least click through and look at the photos. Gather some ideas for living well this coming year. I did.
Just the right balance of magnificence and understatement for Christmas. However, there’s something very endearing about that last slide.
Given Mr Hyland’s range of some of the most luxurious fabrics available to the trade, I was surprised at the choices for his own apartment. But Xhema Construction are top builders and their expertise really shows here.
Wow!! I think he had help? The Australian labradoodle is adorable. They are not the same as American labradoodles and quite a bit more high brow.
Hello Mr. Tackett and Mary, there are some wonderful details there, aren’t there?
Staircase, agreed!
You are truly in Christmas hell over in the 2300 block; they decorate anything that moves. It’s competitive. Either you buy another house far away – or teach your neighborhood some restraint. What about outdoor speakers this year? I read the city can’t enforce the noise law – it’s unconstitutional – so you can blast everybody away. . .
That said, Your best decoration will definately be Barrymore parading about wearing his new coat.