I say, the holidays should be full of shine – especially New Year’s Eve. Here is some of my favorite SHINE, links & detail pictures below.

Knock Your Socks Off Heel (Modcloth.com, $135) – Because simply sparkling is not enough. One must sparkle in a multitude of colors.

TOMS glitter shoes (TOMS, $59) - Also in silver, pink, & black glitter varieties! If you buy a pair, another pair goes to a child who needs shoes. Good deed for self, good deed for another.

Happy Birthday Deborah Lippmann Nail Color (amazon.com, $18) – Confetti nails! (Make sure you select “Happy Birthday” from the drop-down list.) (If you can’t afford the confetti shoes maybe you can make some of your own…)

American Apparel Shiny Ruched Front Tube Bra (american apparel/amazon.com, $14) – I picture wearing this under a dress with an open back (ie, the one below).

Tinsel Town Dress (Modcloth.com, $90) — Too much? Or too perfect?

I read E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman for a class this year. It is a kind of disturbing and thrilling fairy tale that I had previously only known through Freud’s interpretation in The Uncanny. While reading it, I faintly recalled that this was the same man who authored The Nutcracker, which also always seemed disturbing, what with that seven-headed mouse and all.

So, I went in my xmas-book-archives and found the fabulous edition shown above. I am obsessed, and anyone who has come to my house in the past three weeks has been forced to look at it. It is a translation of the original text, not some dumbed-down and docile version “for children.” Not only that, but it is illustrated by Maurice Sendak, author of the children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are! He apparently drew the illustrations for the book to accompany the set and costume design for a ballet production.

Detailed illustrations occur throughout the text:

“She is overwhelmed with growing up and has no knowledge of what this means. I think the ballet is all about a strong emotional sense of something happening to her, which is bewildering.” — Maurice Sendak, NPR interview

There are also full-page illustrations, or, best of all, full-page spreads:

During the adventure to the magical capital, there are four beautiful full-page spreads in a row (oh, and a wild thing peeks his head out in one of them!):

Anyway, now that I’ve shown you all that, here’s the bad news: it’s out of print. Here’s the good news: it looks like there are still some old copies for sale on amazon.com in paperback and hardcover.

Alright, in usual Friday-fashion, go see all of the fab Gift Guides we posted this week. Next week, we’ll have a nice summary page so you can shop on easy street.

Now, here is a special feature for this Friday, because it’s the holiday season. You get a sneak-peek into some of my favorite holiday media (okay, I know the graphic is semi-lame). Believe me, it was hard to choose favorites. I have a box full of xmas books in my mom’s attic that I drag out every year, risking death on those rickety pull-down stairs. I am ashamed that I have left off such favorites as Eloise at Christmastime, The Chanukkah Guest, and Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (especially this one! love this one!).

10. The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket ($9) I don’t even OWN this book yet, but I found it at a bookstore and think it’s hysterical. It’s written by the author of the Series of Unfortunate Events, and published by McSweeney’s, which means it has fabulous illustrations.

9. Auntie Claus by Elise Primeavera ($11) I discovered this book when I read the story through the windows of New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue, which stunningly recreates a different xmas children’s story each year. I love the bright illustrations.

8. This classic 1964 movie of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ($13), with Burl Ives as the narrator, is an xmas favorite. Luckily, it’s on TV every year about 2000 times so I’ve never had to purchase it. I actually discovered this as a teenager, so I don’t think it’s one of those movies that you had to grow up with to enjoy. The abominable snowman cracks me up every time.

7. How can a movie buff like myself watch Home Alone ($13) 2x every year with such great pleasure? Little Mccully Culkin before he got married at, like, age 15. So cute! If you don’t think you can endure the entire move, you can at least watch the trailer for kicks.

6. I did not expect to like Elf (2-Disc Set, w/Special Features) ($30), but between Will Ferrell (who, I’ll admit, doesn’t always thrill me), the Zoey Daschel rendition of my favorite xmas song Baby It’s Cold Outside, and the heartwarming holiday message, I was won over.

5. As far as I’m concerned, if you like the Jim Carey version of this story, you are a traitor to humanity. The cartoon version, based directly off of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale, is wonderful, if not just for the song You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (50th Birthday Edition) ($13)

4. Growing up I would turn through Peter Spier’s Christmas! ($13) again and again, thinking of my own holiday traditions and making up a story for the family inside this book. Without any words, Spier tells a simple tale of how one family celebrates Christmas. There are no plot twits, just simple family traditions like decorating the tree, grocery shopping, and opening presents.

3. Imagine my college roommate’s delight freshman year when she realized that to the start of the Xmas season was only complete after I replayed Raffi’s Christmas Album ($13) at least 10 times (Raffi is most famous for singing Baby Beluga and he usually sings with a group of children). This is one of those items that might be annoying if you didn’t grow up with it, but if you have kids you can start them on their obsession now. That way, by the time they enter college they might be freaks me.

2. Love Actually ($9) is an amazing movie not just for the holiday season, but since some of its main scenes take place around Christmas, I try to wait until December to watch. One of the few xmas movies that I think can stand alone as a film, not just a holiday film. Heartwarming, but not so heartwarming that you want to puke.

1. Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters (various prices at half.com, some less than $1) is perhaps my favorite holiday book. How it can possibly be out of print, I have no idea. It’s a children’s mini-chapter book with plenty of beautiful, full-color illustrations. Historically accurate, it tells the story of Southern Christmases, both in the slave quarters and in the master’s house. Inside the cover, my mom inscribed it for me, saying something like “I hope your Christmas is always wonderful, no matter if it is in the Big House, or in the Quarters.” Definitely one of those “true meaning of christmas” books without hitting you over the head. For some close up pictures, go over the jump. (more…)

I psyched you out with that one, didn’t I? Stickers & Thanks-Giving rather than and Donuts?

So, a few weeks ago my kind associate Tricia interviewed Susan Eslick, the Creative Director at Mrs. Grossman’s. We loved Susan & all the Mrs. Grossman’s people, and after the interview, Tricia and I were even more sticker-obsessed than usual. And, each having recently acquired stickers, we wanted to do a follow-up post.

Since I am now frightfully unemployed, I was thinking of inexpensive ways to say thank you, you’re cool, and happy birthday, without spending too much money. Stickers are a GREAT way to do this. They are also very helpful around Thanksgiving when it’s advent calendar making time (wait, you don’t make advent calendars on thanksgiving?!).

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are some ways you can give your stickers (ps if anyone doesn’t like to get stickers, you should probably not be friends with them):

1. Hostess Gifts. Especially if you have to travel a long distance (say, the 500 mile journey I’ll be making this Wednesday), it’s hard to carry things like fresh flowers or fresh fruit. I am completely enamored with Mrs. Grossman’s line of Extraordinary stickers, which are PERFECT for this. (Look at the image above: Do you see how big that flower is? Almost as big as my face! THAT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY STICKER. Also, look at those grapes. You could almost eat them!)
2. Place Cards. Susan herself said she liked a side of irony with her stickers, so adding some funny stickers to table place cards could certainly entertain you and your guests alike. What about a big pile of fast food for a Thanksgiving place card?
3. Sticky Birthday Surprises. So, even though I’m not employed anymore, I faintly remember what it’s like to have to consider the birthdays of many co-workers. Even if you just know someone peripherally, it is imperative that you recognize their birthday. Giving a birthday sticker — or better yet sticking stickers around the birthday girl/boy secretly throughout the day — will certainly show that you’ve remembered them.
4. ADVENT CALENDARS! I am from a family of complicated-tradition makers. One of those traditions is making advent calendars thanksgiving weekend. (Yes, I have made advent calendars for people who don’t celebrate xmas. EVERYONE loves opening doors.) We pick names out of a hat and have to make a calendar for that person. We have template that we cut out with an X-acto knife, but since I can’t find that at the moment, I found this template online for you. What do we put in the doors of our advent calendars? Magazine cutouts, funny inside jokes, and lots of stickers! Our favorite thing to do is tear stickers apart and combine monsters and cheerleaders, xmas stickers and halloween stickers, etc.

Can you think of any other ways to give with your stickers? Susan likes to put them on waiter’s checks!  Tricia has discovered that they are a lovely addition to her baristas’ tip jar!

ALSO, I just discovered this feature on the Mrs. Grossman’s site where you can FAVORITE different stickers. Here are my favorites thus-far, and here are Tricia’s favorites. (And no, Mrs. Grossman’s is not paying us to be obsessed with them. We just are.)