This is the season each year when our family gets ready for the Holidays in every conceivable way, and several inconceivable ways.
For my part, I do two important things:
- I put enough Christmas lights on the trees in our front yard to assure that our house is visible from space; and
- I pick up our supply of sparkling wine for the Holidays in three categories (good, better and best, but more on that later).
As for the lighting our front yard, I believe that if a few lights are tasteful, then thousands of lights must be, well… really tasteful.
At last count, we have over 4,000 small lights on the trees and bushes in front of our house. I am about 2/3s done, but my budget for lights has already been depleted. Based on this year’s budget overrun, we may, or may not, break the 5,000 light barrier before 2008.
In a perfect world, we would get some sort of honorable mention for our lights based on the fact that we are spending hundreds of dollars in electricity so the 4-5 cars that drive in front of our house every evening will be amazed. Based on the lack of traffic in our neighborhood, our display is nothing if not exclusive.
As to my theory of Sparking wine for the holidays, I believe that you should have good inexpensive sparkling wine (under $10) for your everyday holiday drinking. My favorites in this first and least expensive category are Domaine Ste Michelle Blanc de Noir (white made from red wine grapes) and Cristalino, sort of a baby Kristal for $390 less per bottle than the more expensive, similar sounding Champagne.
I use the second category in holiday sparkers, the better wines, as a prelude to nice dinners with friends. My all-time favorite under $20 sparkler is the Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut Non Vintage Proprietary Blend. This is Roederer’s California vineyard in the Anderson Valley, north of Sonoma Valley. It is a beautiful winery producing a beautiful wine and Roederer is one of the premier champagne producers in the Champagne region in France. This is the same winery that makes Kristal, mentioned in the previous paragraph, which runs a cool $398 a bottle. The $20 Brut is phenomenal, without being phenomenally expensive... just like you-know-what.
As for the extra special Champagne, I like the same wine that Winston Churchill drank (why not?) - the Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill Cuvee. It is a spectacular high-end wine that is wonderful to drink for a special occasion. It is a bit pricey ($198 a bottle), but what the heck, if you shop at
Most importantly, as Sir Winston used to tell all of his friends, “shop online at www.AshleysBigSecret.com for the best in high-end costume jewelry at unbelievable prices.”
Wishing you Happy Holidays,
Your pal, Jeff
For fabulous accessories, visit AshleysBigSecret.com. Please feel free to comment here, or give us a shout out at writeus@ashleysbigsecret.com.
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