So once again I will go to one of the few bookstores in town that sell British shelter magazines and pay a dear price for the beautiful, Christmasy December magazines and save the glossy treats year after year so that I'll have a library of them for the day when all American magazines decide it's not PC to mention Christmas.
I am curious. Is all Christmas decor banned from the offices of House Beautiful?
No wonder design blogs have become so popular. I'll have to get my beauty inspiration from them and from the Brits. And I must not renew my subscription again, which is a shame because I love reading House Beautiful every month except for the December issue. I love their question and answer format, but I do not want to read about swimming pools in December. I want to see beautifully, seasonally decorated rooms.
Oh, for the days of that beautiful 1983 issue of House Beautiful when they not only featured Dee Hardie's lovely house festooned for Christmas but put her kitchen on the cover!
"Oh, but surely," protested Devon, "you're not planning to discard a lover just because he didn't like Christmas?"
"...I tell you I have discarded a lover because he didn't like Christmas!"
"Oh, but honestly," fretted Devon, "you couldn't exactly hold that the love of Christmas is an actual test of the soul's integrity?"
"It is at least proof ultimate of the soul's esprit!" insisted L. Lothrop. "And if a soul hasn't got effervescence enough to rise to Christmas how can you ever dare to hope it will rise to--anything?" she questioned hotly.
From a fiction story in the January 1925 issue of Woman's Home Companion
A December magazine and no mention of Christmas????? That's crazy. They could go the holiday route if that is the problem. We sure have gotten away from the real meaning haven't we, they, not us.
ReplyDeleteI've given up on them saying "Christmas" but not to have even "holiday" decor? And American magazines keep struggling while British magazines give us holiday and Christmas articles and must be flourishing if you can go by their juicy fat issues.
DeleteI didn't know this, but I haven't picked up this magazine in years. It wasn't "cozy/cottage/farmhouse" enough for me, unless they've changed formats. But to leave out Christmas, which should be their most popular month? Ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteBrenda
I think that's why they combined December/January, as a red herring. The one month of the year that deserves its own issue is December. And they ignore emails on the subject. The closest they came to addressing it was a few years ago when the editor's letter mentioned they never knew how much holiday material to include. And the answer to that was only 1 page of something Christmas related--that is using the color red. Which is what I saw when I once more opened up this issue. Thereby the rant that is not like me!
DeleteI just looked up their website and they do mention the word "Christmas" (http://www.housebeautiful.com/kitchens/recipes/christmas-thanksgiving-dinner-menu-1012?click=pp#slide-1) but no actual Christmas pictures, just pics of the nine recipes. Apparently they don't mind the word or the food, but they can't stand the decorations :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't gone to their website as it is their magazine I pay good money for. The only food/recipe in this issue is for milk punch with sesame cookies...sound terribly Christmasy to you? Me neither! And the only least bit of holiday theme was a 2-page Target ad that said "All Wrapped Up" with a model putting a star on top of a tree of sorts--pictures of products they sell and wrapped presents underneath. And not one mention of either Christmas or even "the holidays" in the mag that I could find. Grrrr.
DeleteThis is years of frustration speaking.
Well said, Dewena! I so agree with you. I also have kept Christmas issues of magazines from years ago, and they are some of my favorites to go back and look through. laurie
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie, if only they would listen. Sometimes I think it's a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Now there's a saying that dates me! Time to open the basket where I keep old Christmas magazines!
DeleteGo get em mom! They are worried they will offend someone.No back bone.
ReplyDeleteThey know they're offending a large demographic who love to decorate for Christmas, regardless of their religious background, or at least disappointing those readers who look forward to seeing how designers decorate the homes of their own or of their clients for the holiday season. Meanwhile, it is the smaller magazines that must be growing. I'm willing to pay more for magazines like Romantic Homes, Cottages & Bungalows, etc., while the large shelter magazines keep offering me $10 subscriptions.
DeleteBoy, is this the truth or what! I remember in the old days they DID do Christmas stories, because I kept the magazines from year to year, just to look at the wonderful pictures again. Not any more.
ReplyDeleteI know, it's so sad. Thank goodness for pretty blogs I can go to for my Christmas inspiration. At least there's a wealth of seasonal beauty online.
DeleteI, too, remember the wonderful Christmas spreads of House Beautiful! I haven't bought a magazine in a couple of years since I enjoy my blogs and websites almost as much with less clutter and cost. I had no idea about this ban on Christmas decor but it doesn't surprise me. I used to so enjoy a new magazine (when I had more time before I went back to work and sold my soul to teaching) and was a magazine horder until my daughter convinced me to dump so much of my collection...MS Living, Country Living, etc. Now, I am thinking I should have held on to those wonderful Christmas issues... I think I might just check out those British magazines some day this week.
ReplyDeleteThe British magazines are all beautiful, not just the December ones, but I can't often get the other months due to the cost. I have them going back years and years and love looking at them each year. There were about 5 of the main ones last December that were big on holiday decor, etc. Yes, I too wish I had saved more American magazines. I was so sad when Country Home closed. I also had clippings from every magazine Martha Stewart had been in before she began her magazine. They were in the old Martha Stewart cookbooks I passed on to Christy last year. Usually I'm a packrat and then I get in these moods to weed out. We can't keep everything, and now people find almost everything they want online.
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