Despite my oft recounted holidayphobia, I actually put up a tiny tree this year. There are even Christmas lights securely stapled to the front of our house. Thoughtful (I hope) gifts have already been wrapped in pretty paper and mailed off to our beloved recipients — days in advance, I might add.

I’m sure you’re thinking, what the bleep has gotten into you, Erin?

Friends, it’s not what got into me. It’s what came out of me. Behold the reason for the season.

And would you look at that? Like mother, like son.

I’m a pretty lazy photographer, but I try to capture the milestone moments of my handsome little dude’s life. This time, though, I think I may have gone overboard. A little.

It’s been a long, beautiful year, but all good things must come to an end. And so, Ike and I wish you a very Merry Chrismukkah and a fabulously Happy New Year. The annual DC holiday blogcation is officially in effect, but not to fear. We’ll be back next year with more! Of everything! Including Karly!!! Hooray!

So mark your calendars for Monday, January 3. Sure, I may stumble into work a little hungover, but I’ll be here.

I hope you’ll be here, too.

Are you still putting off your holiday shopping like I am? If so then I am here to help… you. I’m pretty sure there’s no help for me. I have a disease and the only cure is spiked eggnog and some sort of roasted meat, unless there is a 12 step program for serial procrastinators. But, back to you. Let’s do this, shall we?

I have a specific kind of person in mind for these gifts — me. But since I have more personalities than Sybil, let’s just say that this selection of goodies appeals to my more youthful and carefree side, the side that would like to go out and get crunked until 2 am. But this side would still pull herself together the next morning to make coffee and straighten the pillows. And this side is not so youthful that she might resort to utter insanity, like wearing neon spandex leggings. Let’s call her homey with a dash of derring do.

What better to document the adventures of your inner wild child than a mini digital Rolleiflex camera? Thread a waxed leather string through the side holes and wear that sexy beast as a purse. Dance floor problems solved. Booya! $280 from Amazon.

Gotta have a hot necklace if you’re going to party. This handmade specimen by Nomoi Koru is flashy not trashy. $34 from Etsy.

But life is not all about bad 80s coverbands and overpriced drinks. Your house needs love and attention, too. 144 Empty Parking Lots by Jenny Odell (thanks to the gods of 20×200 for listening to my prayers!) will give your home that requisite touch of existentialism. I say spring for the 11×14 size if you can afford it — size matters for this piece. $50 from 20×200.

These are just damn cute, but still suggestive enough to have some edge. Kissing creamer and sugar set by Reshape Studio (ps: they have some very cute vases, too). $64 from Etsy.

You like glamor, I like glamor, and I love Art Deco. This gold beaded pillow has the holiday X factor in spades. $42 from Urban Outfitters.

And now a couple of cheap thrills before I hit you over the head and steal your wallet: this Christmas ornament with a living airplant by Tortoise Loves Donkey is sleek enough to live beyond its holiday expiration date. Mount a hook on your window and tie one on. $9.50 from Etsy.

A fainting spell comes upon me every time I look at this picture… Muhammad Ali training underwater, photographed by Flip Schulke. 24×36 poster for $2.25 from Amazon. No, that is not a typo.

Got money? Then by all means Tord Boontje for Artecnica’s completely useless (as far as I can tell) Witches Kitchen Utensil Set is the gift you must purchase… for me. Does that joke ever get old? Not really. The gargantuan price of this set is in direct proportion to my oversized obsession. $770 from Unica Home.

That’s it for today, little buddies. I hope you got some great ideas to wow your friends and loved ones. Tune in later this week for more gifts n things, and perhaps a surprise guest to school you on all the best last minute prezzies you can nab right here in Austin.

Thanks, Michelle Obama, for tempting my sweet tooth once again. As if I didn’t already have enough to eat, what with all the errant cake, leftover brownies, and chocolate pudding, lying about.

Presenting this year’s White House Gingerbread House, crafted of white chocolate, marzipan, and honey. Yum.

Is it wrong that I want to bite the head off Bo the dog?

I really should have added books to my list of acceptable holiday gifts, mostly because I am a greedy hoarder of all things glossy and gorgeous. Just cracking open a new monograph by a favorite artist is enough to give me a eyegasm, but don’t worry — I like to keep my peeping on the down low (insert lecherous laugh here).

Feast your eyeballs on the Fables series by Karen Knorr and try to restrain yourself. Stunningly staged rooms + Animals = Perfection in print. Enjoy.

Photographed in large format at museums based largely in France, Knorr’s images combine analog craftsmanship with a bit of digital trickery to highlight the chasm between the natural and civilized worlds. The results range from sweetly playful to shockingly menacing.

Buy the book here. This kind of eye candy never gets old.

Found via the very excellent Bertha Mag.

Ok, I am resolving not to work myself into a tinsel wrapped tizzy over Christmas this year. To this end, I have created something of a seasonally appropriate manifesto. I will:

#1. Start buying gifts early.

#2. Avoid the mall at all costs.

#3. Spend my free time enjoying lights and smelling delicious trees (and eating eating eating).

I refuse to make this season about expensive electronics and fancy shit no one really cares about. I will buy vintage, unique, handmade; I will not buy sharp edged, plastic crap. I will not become a holiday hating grinch, despite past performances that speak to the contrary. I might even crack a smile or two.

My current hero and inspiration:

Jacques-Henri Lartigue, a photographer whose career began at the tender age of six and spanned almost 100 years.

There is a certain zany elegance in Lartigue’s images. As a young man, he exuberantly captured the moment in a radically changing society.

With works beginning in the early 1900′s, Lartigue’s photos document a modern era emerging from the sooty darkness of the industrial revolution. Drunk on freedom and the shiny newness of technology, everything is a celebratory event met with wonder and awe.

So, this Christmas I’m going to (try to) lose the jaded cynicism with which I generally approach things.

Don’t worry — I’m sure it will come back sooner rather than later. But I think I just might like to spend the rest of the year doing cartwheels in the yard with Ike.

Buy the book for someone special here. It’s the autobiography of a life well lived.

Having just returned from a lovely trip to visit family for Thanksgiving, I am now assailed by the sudden panic inducing revelation that Chrismukkah is upon us. This signals many bad things beyond the fact that my waistline seems to expand in direct proportion to the number of days in the year — things like impending Christmas travel and (temporary) alcoholism, but most excruciatingly it means that I have to start buying presents.

As Ralphie in A Christmas Story would say, FUUUUUUUDGE.

I’m feeling a bit woozy and overwhelmed from it all, so I may have to hibernate for a little while. You know, to process stuff. Ok, and to eat some leftover cake I brought back from my Grandma’s house.

Jacques Grange

This seems like as good a place as any to hole up. There better be a tv in there somewhere. I need to catch up on Walking Dead.

Back tomorrow with clean hair and a refreshed, relaxed attitude.

SIKE!

But I will be back tomorrow.