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Today, I’m SO excited to finally share the 2015 Holiday Memo with you! The holiday season is officially here and with Black Friday (AGH!) just around the corner, it’s time to get serious.
Due to my perpetual tendency to work too much and plan ahead too little, I am the (self-proclaimed) QUEEN of panicked last-minute shopping. As such, let me give you a little insight into my holiday shopping process:
November 26 – December 22: In search of gift inspiration, I’ll occasionally peruse lame online holiday gift guides during lunch breaks, and/or when desperate for an excuse to not clean my apartment. This generally results in a complete lack of inspiration and the hopeless utterance of expletives under my breath every time one of these guides offers the ground-breaking suggestion that I buy the men in my life a (*drumroll*) TIE.
December 23, 1:45 AM: I wake up in the middle of the night, realize I still haven’t found any good gifts, and frantically attempt to order random, awful things online. The expletives are now growing louder.
December 23, 1:56 AM: After settling on a slew of relatively terrible gifts, I quickly realize that next-day shipping is no longer available. It’s officially too late. Expletives are now hurled at the ceiling of my bedroom with noteworthy volume and vigor.
December 23, 1:58 AM: I call customer service and begin fruitless attempts at bribing the unfortunate customer service representative to help me. He/she reminds me that he/she does not, in fact, control UPS shipping capabilities. We exchange pleasantries and hang up. So many expletives.
December 23, 2:01 AM: I begin the age-old debate of whether to fake my own death, or try to shop in-store (GASP!) the next day. %$*#&*@#*&^%$#!!!!!!
December 23, 10:00 AM: I do the Christmas Walk of Shame, which constitutes being seen on December 23rd and/or 24th entering brick-and-mortar stores (apparently these still exist?) and picking Christmas gifts from among the deplorable dregs still available in store (a.k.a. the products that all of humanity has heretofore rejected). Getting increasingly creative with expletives as standard-issue expletives are growing insufficient.
December 25, 8:30 AM: I’m voted out of the family. In true A Christmas Story-style, I weave a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan. My mother is in a fit of abhorrence and starts calling mothers of childhood friends asking who taught me such language while my brothers heave me out the back door and into a snow bank.
DIAGNOSIS: Chronic procrastination and borderline personality disorder.
In an attempt to get a bit more rest on the night of December 23rd, avoid the total dissolution of my vocabulary, and prevent being ejected from my family’s home on Christmas Day, I decided to approach the holiday season differently this year. I came to the conclusion that this would first mandate the abandonment of unhelpful online holiday guides. (No, random shopping guide, I’m not getting my mom a spatula. Killer idea.)
Instead, months ago, I started putting together the 2015 Holiday Memo. I knew I couldn’t be alone in my holiday shopping frustrations, and that perhaps many of you faced the same challenges when searching for the right gifts. I was determined to put together a holiday shopping guide that was a true resource for the working girl—a concise list of gift suggestions that are vetted and thoroughly endorsed. Whether you’re buying for her, for him, for the new working girl, the hostess or the travel junkie, there’s something in there for you. In addition to all of my very best gift ideas for everyone on your list, it also contains some of my favorite holiday outfits and a few special Christmas traditions from my family as well! Heck, there are even a couple recipes in there. Things got a little crazy.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be updating products and links in the Holiday Memo as things sell out, so the guide can continue to be a helpful, relevant resource as you work through your shopping list. For ease of access, you’ll see the 2015 Holiday Memo graphic and link on the top right hand sidebar on Memorandum’s homepage through Christmas. Anytime you’re looking to reference the Holiday Memo, you can just click right up there and it will take you back to the guide! Also, if you prefer not to view it in the embedded viewer above, see the instructions at the top of this post to download the full guide to your desktop, tablet or smartphone—it looks great and works perfectly in iBooks, if that’s an easier option for you.
I hope you enjoy the 2015 Holiday Memo! Happy Monday and Happy Holidays!!
27 thoughts on “2015 Holiday Memo!”
Just checked my e-mail for the final time before bed and there was the Memorandum Gift Guide! Of course I had to open it. What fun! Cute and clever. I can tell you put a lot of work into it and it shows. Great job. Now you need to do another for some other reason I can’t think of right now. Looking forward to so much more from you and Memorandum in the coming year. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Rich.
Kathy
This was great! Thank you so much for putting this together! I’ve added a few things to my shopping gift list. Btw, the link to the “Healthy Dish of the Day” cookbook actually goes to a blender–might want to fix that. 😉
Yes, all fixed! Thank you!!
What a beautiful guide! That red dress is stunning on you!
Love this Mary! Perfect kick off to the holiday season. Now I really can’t wait for Christmas 🙂
I absolutely love this idea!! The perfect guide for holiday shopping. Thank you for sharing 🙂
The guide to end all guides. So well done and such great (and not overdone) finds for everyone on ones list. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!! – Brian
Hi Mary,
This is such a fun and stylish guide! As I’m starting out teaching secondary next year I turned straight to the ‘new working girl’ chapter; so many pretty and functional items! I especially love the Everlane loafers, onto the Christmas list they go. I love your blog, I check it every morning! Happy Holiday Season from NZ!
Ok so I never comment on blogs and definitely was skeptical about your holiday guide when hearing about it… But after finally looking through it I can honestly say it’s the BEST Christmas shopping guide I’ve ever seen. Your gift ideas are genius and so original. I have every single gift figured out now. WOW! THANK YOU!
BEST GIFT GUIDE EVER!!!
This is a perfect gift guide! I need that umbrella.
http://www.spring2spring.com
Mary, for what its worth, kudos to you for putting in so much effort and hardwork on this gift guide! Clearly you know your audience and demographic and that is the key to any bloggers success! Wishing Rich and you the very best in the upcoming new year.
p.s You look stunning in the Jill Stuart one shoulder dress. Absolutely divine. Have a great holiday season.
This guide is such a great idea and I’m looking forward to perusing it. I’m just like you when it comes to holiday shopping. My online attempts are usually futile, which result in me having to make a mad-dash to the mall like a crazy person on Christmas Eve. Let’s hope I can banish my procrastination tendencies and just use your holiday guide this year!
http://www.livinginsteil.com
Amazing Mary! Thanks for the memo! Invaluable recommendations! However, the thrill that procrastination brings will probably lull me into similar antics two to three days before C-Day! Alas I am a lost cause!
First time commenter here-I just have to tell you that I’m obsessed with this guide! You are so right about all these other holiday guides online that always SUCK. I just spent three hours reading through this and looking at every recommendation that is so helpful and so awesome!! Thank you so much for making this!!!!
Wow- this is the best gift guide I’ve ever seen! Very well done and professional. Definitely buying some of these items!
Thank you for your time on this!
Congratulations! What a beautiful guide. Thank you for putting so much time and effort into this guide. Your hard work really shows and I love the cover image as well. I absolutely love Joe Malone scents, so I’m happy to see that they made it into your guide!
I laughed so much … That I have not read the memo … Xoxo
Oh, Mary. 🙂
I clicked on your “post” to see what outfits you’d suggest for Christmas season – to the various parties – lunches, etc.
but, instead, you focused your spread on gifts.
My office DOESN’T give gifts – a big no-no.
So, I am still at a loss as to how to dress during holiday season – and especially since we got our Christmas lunch invitation today via OUTLOOK – and I accepted.
I’ll be doing a full post on what to wear to work holiday parties this Friday! Stay tuned!
Thanks so much. Been a big fan of yours ever since i stumbled upon your website. While we live in opposite sides of the world, your holiday guide plus the advent of mobile online shopping are just amazing! Perfect for working women who are too busy to shop. Thank God for you.
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Just FYI to anyone using this for shopping: the Sur La Table Christmas Light Spreaders (page 31) arrive significantly scratched. I took them into a store to see if I could exchange them. The store had about 25 items in stock and every single one was scratched. I still liked them so they let me select the least-scratched set. But it is apparently an issue with the packaging for the items.
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-2107993/?affsrcid=AFF0002&utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=rewardStyle&utm_PID=4441350&CA_6C15C=120120820000181516
Thanks Kate! So good to know! There’s another cute Christmas spreader set I found (link here), so I’m going to update the guide with those instead. Ain’t nobody got time for those scratches ; )
This is the best Holiday Gift Guide I’ve ever seen… truly, THANK YOU for all your effort. I agree that most gift guides are lacking and leave me thinking that I wouldn’t be proud to give any of those gifts! You have so many great suggestions in here! Happy Holidays!
This must be done next year so I can refer my husband to it!