You will "save" if you buy right now! There must be someone in your life who needs a "Tower Of Treats." In my case, that person appears to be me.

click "full size" to enlarge

Aw, the Gingerbread Man is adorable. Wait: You have to take his head off to get to the treats? Hmm. I guess that is the fate of all Gingerbread Men and Women. More important: I spy yogurt-covered pretzels. Mmmm.

Look at the size of that chocolate chip cookie. Look at it. Then turn your attention to the true Christmas miracle: Peppermint bark.

Ignore the fruitcake and focus on the Cheesecake Party Wheel. Ask yourself this: Would you like to make a reservation for a party of one?

Fruit paired with cheese and crackers and then a side of popcorn, with cookies and candies for dessert? This is a full meal.

A Tower of Chocolates, however, has my name all over it.

Salty and sweet together really gets those taste buds going, Crunch goes so well with creaminess, and vice-versa. You can nibble, gobble, savor and… um, what were we talking about?

Damn. Forget what I said about fruit not being appealing. That pear looks juicy.

Harry & David [Official Site]

Earlier: Dean & Deluca Thanksgiving: Mouth-Watering, Wallet-Emptying
Mackenzie: Hot, Steamy, Scrumptious Food Porn

Related: Free People: Let's Pretend It's The Summer Of '69
Anthropologie's Hazy Shade Of Winter
Fetchdog, Drs Fosters & Smith: Howliday Humiliation For Dogs & Cats

All previous catalog posts

As children's lives get increasingly complicated and their schedules increasingly packed, many simply don't have the time to peddle Thin Mints door-to-door. As a result, their parents do the dirty work for them, forcing coworkers to buy them at the office — or, even worse, bringing their Girl Scout along to work so the grown-ups are forced into buying (not, mind you, that we'd require much urging). Some offices have apparently instituted a "no solicitations" policy.

One mom makes the point that, for those folks who don't have a local troop, providing a Samoa hookup is really a service. Also, she adds, it's "dangerous" nowadays for her daughter to peddle door-to-door. While no one wants safety compromised,the issue, for the Scouts, is that it's not just about the sales: the whole point of the fundraising is that the girls do it themselves, and "because the interactions boost their confidence and help them learn basic skills like making correct change." Then there are the prizes for big sellers: obviously with a parent involved, the waters are muddied.

Of course, parental meddling is probably as old as parenthood itself, and even in the halcyon days of the trans-fattened Lorna Doone there must surely have been a little pull used to bring in the big prizes. There's a lot right with selling Girl Scout cookies as many places as possible and in as great a quantity as possible on grounds of extreme deliciousness and good works, so from an office standpoint it's hard to see where the problem of having a sign-up sheet in the kitchen lies (although if the "solicitations" ban extends to pleas from triathletes on other floors whom one doesn't know we can kind of see the issue.) The thing is, doesn't it ruin it for the kids? Not just in a "they're not learning" way, but in that way that only a meddling parent can ruin something? Safety aside, there's a lot to be said for letting kids have a project that's just theirs, and unless your mom is a troupe leader, wouldn't it feel a lot more fun and a lot more important to go it alone? No one in the article asks the kids how they feel about it, but I'd be willing to bet a few would like their folks to butt out.

Girl Scout Cookie-Pushing Ethics At The Office [CNN]

[Fukui, Japan; January 20. Image via Getty]

OBAMA, FUKUI, JAPAN - JANUARY 20: Shop assistant Chika Shimada holds 'Obama senbei' (rice crackers) in support of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama at the souvenir shop Wakasaya on January 20, 2009 in Obama, Fukui, Japan. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday, while people in Obama City have been supporting Obama voluntarily for the accidental namesake since his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

But the article notes that we're living in a world where triggers for thinking about death are everywhere — from a news report on Iraq, Burma or China to a car accident you see on the way to work — is it any wonder there's an obesity epidemic in this nation? The question is, what can we do about it? Is there a way to escape our escapism? Distract ourselves from our distraction? Why does soothing your mental heath mean hurting your physical health? Why, mother nature, why? And if you're thinking about death all the time and eating cookies all the time, aren't you just incresing your chances of dropping dead? Sigh. The next time anyone says anything about you snacking, tell 'em you're trying to deal with your crippling thoughts of mortality. And have another cookie.

Thoughts Of Death Make Us Eat More Cookies [New Scientist]

The campaign's spokesperson is Sally Horchow, the co-author of The Art of Friendship: 70 Simple Rules for Making Meaningful Connections. Horchow tells the New York Times that her messages on Artofthecookie.com are her "gospel" and that "brands are realizing they have to do a lot more than making something that tastes good... Connecting on a personal level with people makes your life better." Hmm. We're still not sure what eating cookies has to do with making friends. Maybe they need a better campaign, like those old General Foods International Coffee commercials where the women get all horny reminiscing about French waiters and shit. That seems like a lot more fun that emailing your friends with photos of pandas.

Making Social Connections And Selling Cookies [New York Times]
Art Of The Cookie [Pepperidge Farm]