Send Christmas to a Friend

by Annie Scott on

This year, a number of my friends are spending the holiday season in remote locations. Some are off helping orphans, others are in Rwanda and Russia working with women’s charities, and some enlisted friends are overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, plenty of college kids can’t afford to fly home this year, with the economy being what it is.

So? Send them Christmas. The Christmas Tree in a Box (right) is an easy alternative to trying to buy someone a gift that will make them feel loved. If you want to make someone feel loved with commercial goods, buy them the very spirit of the most commercially awesome holiday ever. No, not Jacob Marley, the tree.

Once constructed, it stands nearly two feel tall, and it comes with 24 foil boughs, 25 glittery foil ornaments, one spool of silver thread, one gold foil star tree topper, and 20 sheets of 6 x 6 origami paper in four vibrant patterns. The kit also includes a book of carols, an egg nog recipe, and orgami instructions.

If your holiday orphan friend is Jewish? Send them nine, and they can light one on fire each night. That’s a joke.

Buy yours (or theirs) here on Spoon Sisters for $14.95. For $4.25 extra, they’ll wrap it up nice in a box with a pretty hunter green checkered ribbon.

It’s Christmas. It’s okay to have it gift wrapped even if you’re buying it for youself. I give you permission.

Christmas festival in Sweden offers a special holiday treat

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday, my daughter and I were treated to a trip to Jul på Fredriksdal, the Christmas festival at Fredriksdal Open-air Museum in Helsingborg, Sweden. Friends we are staying with in Denmark found out that this festival only happens one weekend each year. This weekend was it.

From the music, to the animals in the barn, to the glögg, this video shows exactly what the festival was like–exactly.

We stayed until after dark when the paths were lit by candles along the ground and strands of twinkling white lights in the trees and bushes.

The one thing I wish I had bought was one of the straw animal decorations you’ll see in the video. We walked to another area after I went into the building where this particular craftsman was located. I thought I would wait in case there was something else I wanted. There wasn’t. Unfortunatly, we didn’t have time to go back.

My friends wish they had bought a jar of the lemon honey which was in the building where the dancing took place. It was also near the straw decorations. The moral is: When you see something you like, buy it.

Zero Star Hotel opens in Switzerland fallout shelter

by Annie Scott on

Oh, Switzerland.

In a subterranean fallout shelter in Sevelen, Switzerland, the Null Stern Hotel, biliing itself as “The World’s First Zero Star Hotel” is preparing to open its crappy, crappy doors.

“Null stern” actually means “zero star,” which is a little relieving. They’re being clever, not insane. Normally, this is a cultural misunderstanding we have with Norway. Maybe we’ve misjudged Switzerland.

The Null Stern Hotel will cost between 6 and 18 euros per night, and includes former bomb shelter facilities, no daylight, slippers, earplugs, communal bathrooms and showers, and a butler (there was one in the photo shoot, I’m not sure he’ll be there when you show up).

We don’t know why they get earplugs.

The Null Stern hotel will open in early 2009, but recently opened up to volunteers for a test run. See the photos here.

What to do in Sevelen? I don’t know. But at least you know there’s a bomb shelter where you can stay. If you can read German, here you go.

Group vacations – French villas are hot!

by Annie Scott on

Want to make all your friends swoon? Rent out a villa in the south of France for an affordable, peaceful vacation.

Want to make all your friends love you? Take them along!

French villas have become one of the top destinations in the great tradition of group vacations. I love group vacations; it’s like an extended party. Get everyone you like together and watch them interact for a week. It’s fascinating, often scandalous, and makes one feel like they’re in some 17th century comedy of manners, or an old-Hollywood movie.

One villa I recommend is Villa Plantat, near the small town Quissac. Villa Plantat (plantat means “to plant”) is an elegant house set on 400 acres of beautiful grounds with an orangerie and a private spring-fed swimming lake, and is located close to both historic Roman ruins and the Mediterranean sea (just 35 minutes away).

Villa Plantat can provide a private provencal chef for just around $20 per meal, and they also have twice yearly yoga retreats (2 hours of yoga per day plus special events; not yoga boot camp) in May and September. $1380 per person includes accommodations, wine (!), and classes.

Villa Plantat is available year round for $4,200 per week (price drops by $500 for additional weeks) and sleeps thirteen. That’s just $323 per person. Or, for ten people, $420 per week.

Save up your miles and get to the south of France. It’s an idyllic, quaint, and quintessentially lovely experience you won’t forget.
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New York City package deal from Carlton Hotel

by Annie Scott on

Want to have a classy winter rendezvous in New York City? Between December 21st, 2008, and March 15th, 2009, The Carlton on Madison Avenue has a droolworthy “Winter in the City” package deal.

“The Carlton on Madison Avenue has a cozy ‘Winter in the City’ package, which combines comfy delights, including a ‘Comfort Foods’ menu featuring dishes such as truffled mac & cheese, poached lobster, and peanut butter hot chocolate, exclusively created for guests opting for the package, and passes to ice-skate at Rockefeller Center.”

The package, which starts at a reasonable NYC price of $385 (pre-taxes and gratuities) per night, includes a 2-night stay at the luxury Madison Avenue Carlton Hotel, a private consultation with a furrier at Saks (I know, right?), a New York City snow globe welcome gift, and all the grand amenities of the Big Apple.

If I didn’t live here, I would beg for this for Christmas. Contact The Carlton for more information and availability!