Christmas Wish List: Luxury Edition

by Rose McClement

Unlike previous years, for some bizarre reason, Christmas 2018 has me quite excited and getting into the spirit of giving and receiving much earlier. Normally I only catch that Xmas Fever after the 20^th of December. I love it and intend nurturing this feeling of “a Time for Goodwill”.

When we decided to write this post about Christmas gifts, and more specifically what Marica and I would love to see lying under the Christmas tree, I decided to GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Time and time again, I’ve watched children putting in requests for their hearts desires with that “no holds barred” attitude. They do it from a place of delight and pleasure. Budget constraints are not even on their radar since they are totally oblivious to the Rand value of their desire. This many a parent can bear witness to. The only value that counts with little children is the innocent delight they get from their gift. This is how they do it – you spill the desires of your heart onto a piece of paper, written to a very special and very rich person called Santa Claus and send it off to him, carried on the wings of your heart.

So, in that same child-like spirit, THAT IS WHAT I’M DOING! I’m trawling through my heart space to find those desires that will make my day. Remember that I’m dreaming as if MONEY IS NO OBJECT…

So here goes with our VERY aspirational Christmas wish list:

A family vacay in sunny Mauritius…

A three week, all expenses paid holiday at a Club Med resort in Mauritius, accompanied by my immediate family members (hubby, daughters, sons-in-law, bro-in-law and 6 grandies). Where together we can have so much fun in the sun and enjoy each other. Even though money is no object – let’s hope Santa manages to pick up a bulk booking discount offer! This is the dream of a Granny’s heart.

Shiny new Lexus…

This one is real yummy, decadent and extravagant! A 2018 model Lexus ES 250 (always wanted to be the owner of a Lexus). If a girl has to drive a saloon car, then let it be in total luxury.

P.S. Santa – I see the dealers have reduced the price tag by R40K…

A new manicured garden…

A gift voucher that is like a “blank cheque” for a garden landscaping company to come and do a complete upgrade and revamp of my garden, front and back, including an Aquaponic veggie garden. What’s nice about this gift is that I can share it with my hubby.

Naturally, my new garden needs to be water friendly and filled with soft colours and plenty of roses. South Africa has some gorgeous indigenous plants and trees, but I’m still a sucker for a soft country styled garden – not too much structure.

A Theatre on the Bay free pass…

All access season’s tickets, let’s say for the next three years, to Pieter Toerien’s Theatre on the Bay in Camps Bay. Again – it would be just so decadent to attend every theatre production at this iconic venue for the next three years. Fist Pump!!

Chanel No 5… enough said.

What kinda of gal would I be if I don’t ask Santa for a bottle of Perfume? Chanel No 5 Eau de Perfum – there is no alternative. Make my day!

New fitness tech…

The very first item on my aspirational wish list would have to be a new fitness watch.

Being a Garmin fan, my choice would lie between the newly released, top-of-the-range, Garmin Fenix 5S Plus Sapphire, or the slightly more modest Garmin Forerunner 645 Music. As these babies are priced at R16 000 and R8 500 respectively, it is rather appropriate that this is an “only-in-my-wildest-dreams” list.

Hopefully, that would get me motived to up my exercise game in the year to come #NewYearsResolutions.

An Italian hideaway…

Rose said money is no object, right? Well, in that case…

I found this beautiful rustic holiday location on the Perfect Hideaways website. It is actually a beautifully restored 17th-century stone villa near Spoleto, in the rolling hills of Umbria, Italy. The villa is surrounded by ancient olive groves and overlooks the gorgeous Italian valley below. It simply oozes with charm and character!

So Santa, if I and my nearest and dearest can be magically transported there for an all expenses paid vacation that would be prime! First Class all the way!

P.S. Do yourselves a favour by taking a peek all the gorgeous photos of this villa on the Perfect Hideaways website: here.

A breezy summer outfit… or two.

Originally, I was only planning to put a beautiful summer dress on my wish list. However, once I found that perfect flowy dress, I soon came to the realisation that I would have no shoes to wear with it. In fact, my current collection of accessories would be quite unsuited too. Thus, one dress became a whole outfit (which quickly became two)!

As you can see, my ideal summer outfit consists of a beautiful and bold floral dress, wedge heels, trendy fringed and beaded jewellery and leather handbag.

Outfit One:

Dress: YDE | Shoes: Woolworths | Bracelet: Meraki | Handbag: YDE | Earrings: YDE

Outfit Two:

Dress: YDE | Shoes: Zando | Necklace: YDE | Handbag: Poetry | Earrings: Zando

A lovely gin selection…

What would a holiday party be without a cocktail or two? I would like a nice selection of various artisanal and small batch gins… local is preferable. Of course, the bottle and packaging need to be as beautiful as delicious gin inside – a lovely showpiece on the bar cart.

Trouvaille’s Blossom & Hops craft gin and Six Dogs Distillery‘s Blue Gin would be a good start to the selection. G&Ts anyone?

Books!

Books, and plenty of them! Cooking books, fantasy, poetry, the classics, any of my favourites will do – as long as you make the stack high. Just put the books down and back away slowly! I would love to get lost in my books and read from morning to night. Now if somebody can install a mini-fridge next to my bed I would never have to leave my room again…

BTW… isn’t the collection of children’s classics from Wordsworth Editions above just too gorgeous for words?!

There you have our wish list for Santa’s information. It was fun being a child at heart again and sharing my dreams with you. In fact, if Santa doesn’t come to the party this year with any of these gifts, I’ll just keep it as my Bucket List.