The Highland Christmas Handbook, by Mary Grant

The expensive Christmas look, from what you already own.

59 pages, room by room. The tree, the door and hall, the mantel, the table, plus my Advent timetable.

Get the book, $19

For 41 years I dressed a nine-room Highland guest house for Christmas on a guest-house budget. This is my method, written down: the order to decorate in, the three colours to choose, and the exact numbers for lights, ribbon and baubles, so your home looks like the pictures this year.

Digital PDF. Nothing ships. Your book opens right after you pay. 30-day guarantee.

The Highland Christmas Handbook by Mary Grant, cover
59 pages · Digital PDF
Hello from Mary

Come away in, my dears.

My name is Mary Grant. From 1979 until 2020 my husband Hamish and I kept a guest house in Pitlochry, in Highland Perthshire: a tall grey stone house with nine bedrooms, a creaking stair and a hall far too big to heat.

Every December I dressed that house from the front step to the attic, and every winter somebody stood in the hall with their coat still on and asked how I made it look like that. They thought I'd spent a fortune. I hadn't. Most of it came out of a cupboard, off a hillside or from a jumble sale in 1983.

What I had was a method. It took me years of mistakes to find it, and it's all in this wee book.

Mary
“It was never your taste. It was the order you did it in.”
What you'll be able to do

Everything I learned in 41 Christmases.

A tree that glows from every side

How many lights per foot, where the ribbon goes, and why the big baubles go deep inside, not on the tips.

A palette that looks expensive

The three-colour rule and five Highland palettes, with exactly what goes in each.

A mantel or sideboard that looks finished

The triangle shape, built in layers. It works with no fireplace at all.

A Christmas and Hogmanay table

Low enough to see across, dressed in layers, set in an evening.

The 13 things that make Christmas look cheap

Each one, and how to fix it, with a tick-box list for the afternoon you do it.

A calm December

My week-by-week timetable from late November, plus how to take it all down and store it.

Look inside

Real pages from the book.

Tap a page to see it bigger.

Page 4 of The Highland Christmas HandbookPage 17 of The Highland Christmas HandbookPage 19 of The Highland Christmas HandbookPage 31 of The Highland Christmas HandbookPage 48 of The Highland Christmas HandbookPage 53 of The Highland Christmas Handbook
What is inside

11 chapters, 59 pages.

  1. IntroductionCome away in, my dears
  2. Chapter 1The Order of ThingsLight, greenery, colour, sparkle, ribbon, and ornaments last
  3. Chapter 2Choose Your PaletteThree colours, and the courage to stick to them
  4. Chapter 3The TreeFuller, richer and glowing from inside
  5. Chapter 4The Front Door and the HallThe first thing they see, and the last thing they remember
  6. Chapter 5The Mantel, Sideboard or Focal WallOne beautiful place in every room
  7. Chapter 6The Christmas TableAnd a proper Hogmanay
  8. Chapter 7Greenery, Garlands and What's Growing OutsideThe Highland secret, and it is free
  9. Chapter 8Light and ScentWhat people feel before they see anything
  10. Chapter 9Shopping Your Own HouseBefore you spend a penny
  11. Chapter 10The Thirteen Things That Make Christmas Look CheapAnd how I fixed every one of them
  12. Chapter 11Mary's Advent TimetableSo you are never up a ladder on Christmas Eve
  13. A Last WordFrom my fireside to yours
How it works

Pay once. The book opens. It stays in your email.

1

You pay

One time, through Gumroad, the shop that handles the sale. There's nothing to cancel later.

2

The book opens

Right after you pay, you get a button to your book. Tap it and it opens on the phone, tablet or computer in your hand.

3

It stays in your email

Gumroad also emails you the same link. Keep that email and you can open the book again any time, on any device.

Not good with computers?

You don't have to be. If you can open an email, you can open this book. There's nothing to install and no program to learn. If you get stuck, hand your phone and the Gumroad email to anybody you trust. It's one tap for them.

The Highland Christmas Handbook cover
The offer

The Highland Christmas Handbook

$19
  • The full book, 59 pages, 11 chapters
  • Digital PDF that opens on any phone, tablet or computer
  • Print any page, or the whole book, at home
  • One payment. Yours to keep.
Get the book, $19

If it isn't for you, ask for your money back within 30 days through your Gumroad receipt.

Questions

Before you buy

Is this a printed book?

No. It's a digital book in PDF. Nothing comes in the post. You can print any page you like, or the whole book, at home.

Will it open on my phone or tablet?

Yes. Phones, tablets and computers all open a PDF on their own. There's nothing to install.

I can't find my download.

Look for the email from Gumroad with the subject line about your purchase. It has a button to your book that works any time, on any device. Check your spam folder too.

Do I have to buy a lot of new decorations?

No. The whole book is built on what you already own, a little ribbon, and what grows outside your door. There's a full chapter on shopping your own house before you spend a penny.

I don't have a fireplace.

Neither does half of Scotland now. Chapter 5 shows you how to make a sideboard, a shelf or a bare wall the heart of the room.

Is the type big enough?

Yes. It's set in a large, clear type with plenty of space, and you can zoom in on any screen.

Who is Mary?

Mary is the AI-presented character from the YouTube channel Mary's Highland Home. The methods in the book are real, practical decorating practice; the guest-house stories are told in her voice.

From Mary's Highland Home

Make it look like the pictures this Christmas.

Get the book, $19

59 pages · Digital PDF. Nothing ships. 30-day guarantee.

Get the book, $19