Merry & Chic - by Kathryn O'Shea-Evans (Hardcover)

About the Book

Welcome to the merriest, most stylish guide to holiday joy ever made. This dazzling book has it all--including recipes (some from iconic people, such as Abraham Lincoln's gingerbread recipe and Jackie Kennedy's Poulet A' L'estragon); decor advice (all decadent-looking but easily achievable, thanks to input from designers); monthly to-do list calendars for your sanity; playlists of unexpected holiday jams for different types of events (from cocktail parties to lingering candlelit suppers); and DIY gift ideas that will actually be adored.

Book Synopsis

A dazzling deck-the-halls guide to creating your most spectacular holiday ever--complete with recipes, show-stopping Christmas décor and chic DIY ideas for gifts galore.

"In this amusing and useful guide, journalist O'Shea-Evans (Alpine Style) shows how to amp up the holiday spirit in one's home....This brings the cheer."--Publishers Weekly

Welcome to the merriest, most stylish guide to holiday joy ever made. This dazzling book has it all--including recipes (some from iconic people, such as Abraham Lincoln's gingerbread recipe and Jackie Kennedy's Polet a l'Estragon); decor advice (all decadent-looking but easily achievable, thanks to input from designers); monthly to-do list calendars for your sanity; playlists of unexpected holiday jams for different types of events (from cocktail parties to lingering candlelight suppers); and DIY gift ideas that will actually be adored.

Let the festivities begin!

Review Quotes

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.)

About the Author

Kathryn O'Shea-Evans writes about design, travel, and food from her home base in Colorado's Front Range. A contributing editor at Luxe magazine, her work is frequently published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Architectural Digest, and numerous other publications. She is the author of "Merry & Chic," "Alpine Style," co-author of "Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America's National Parks" and many ghost-written titles for Rizzoli New York, Abrams, Gibbs Smith and Monacelli.