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Happy New Year! I'm hoping you're feeling as optimistic and hopeful as I am for 2023. After all, don't things have to get better? (I think I've been thinking that the last few years!) Speaking of the new year, Pantone is out with their 2023 Color of the Year. Pantone describes their annual choices as "color snapshots of what we see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude. Look for the Color of the Year to influence fashi

Last Sunday, Sally invited me up to Napa to get into the Christmas spirit. St. Helena, CA is about an hour drive from my house. It was my first outing in 8 weeks and I was SO happy to be out! As you can imagine, Main Street was decorated for the holidays. Sally's favorite store, Napa Valley Vintage Home, was stocked full of everything Christmas. The choice of tree ornaments were vast and specific, including a glass blown ornament of a framed insect collection and another

Last year, I wrote about forgoing a Christmas tree. I was looking for low maintenance decorating. Lots of you reached out and I'm glad to know I'm not alone at what was to become our 2nd Covid Christmas. Sue (Surprise, AZ) has a 3' tree. After Christmas in 2020, her husband said he wanted to try something. He literally shrink-wrapped the decorated tree and took it to the garage. Last year, he brought it in and unwound the shrink wrap. The tree was still perfectly deco

Have you ever thought of Christmas in Europe? I spent Christmas in San Moritz, Switzerland once upon a time and it was magical. These days, I've been longing for a European Christmas. Besides amazing settings and decorations, Europe offers their famous Christmas markets, ranging from mid November through New Year's. Let's see where we'd want to go. monicafrancis.com A Morris Minor decked out on a London street. monicafrancis.com Decorated London shops are everywhere. an

Have you decorated your house for the holidays yet? I must confess that I've done the bare minimum this year. I just didn't have the energy to scramble to the basement and haul up a tree and all the trimmings. One of P's friends brought up two plastic bins from the basement for me. My decorating was done in 10 minutes. And using mostly stuff around the house, this is my most budget friendly Christmas yet. Let's take a look. After a storm, I spied some live oak branches