I just received it too, but haven't had a chance to give it more than a cursory glance. Can't wait to sit down with it, though. I loved the original.

I'll be looking for it on the stands, new mags usually come in on thursdays,
thanks for the heads up. Unless it's only next week.

It's fitting that they start with the december issue.............
Those are the only ones that I kept from the past years.

Oh Cattknap,
I wish I did love it but I don't ...it was a real disappointment ....my hopes for it had been so hi as I loved the old one. Just seemed like tons of advertisements and not a lot of photos in the articles itself. Maybe its my aging process or my tastes have changed . Glad you enjoyed it though. Kareen

Really? I felt it had the fewest ads of any magazine I've received lately and tons and tons of photos - are we talking about the same magazine? :-).

I think so ...Bliss Victoria?

I don't understand the bliss part....

No , I don't understand either unless they needed to change the name due to some existing condition related to the old magazine.

You know when I received it today, I was outside gardening - I thumbed through the middle - there is a main Christmas section - over 50 pages and only one ad....however, this afternoon I looked at the magazine from cover to cover - the first 40 pages or so are full of ads - like every 2 pages there is an ad - but I did love the fact that the main articles and the recipes are virtually ad free. The old Victoria also had the word Bliss above the title.

I feel better Cattknap, when I went thru it I had grandchildren here (hectic pace) I will give it another look too. Kareen

All the ads that come in the Decorating magazines today help pay for the great photos I guess, so I will try not to whine. But one thing I've realized in my own mag-buying habits, is, that if the magazine has even one or two really amazing articles or sets of photos, I can overlook the pages of advertising and set it aside as a great read. On the other hand, if I buy one and see a lot of the same things as in all the other issues out, or find nothing that really captures my attention, where I have to keep picking it up and looking at the room setting again, then, the magazine is a junker, no matter what the proportion of ads to photos.

Red

I am very disappointed as well. It is just not the same. the quality is very poor. an example is on the top of page 26. The caption reads at the end "nestle sweetly in this white dish" white dish? what are they thinking? Where is the romance? The old victoria the would have had a lovely sterling silver compote, with beautiful chesnuts, rose hips, dried flowers, pretty pinecones etc...... and would have refered to the dish as a compote. I don't mean to be petty but the quality is just lacking. I noticed also that in many of the photos the food display dishes are not full, the flowers arrangements are not abundant, the rooms are not lit well. The photography is very dull. The old pictures were done in candle light and they just glowed. My Mother made the remark that if they could not make a truly beautiful magazine for the holiday issue then they are going to have a problem. I am in agreement as sad as that is.

I haven't found it on the stands yet.

Got my hands on a copy today, I love it; seems just like it was, thinner maybe.

I spotted champagne glasses on page 62, the ones with the gold ball between the stem and the bowl, they are exactly what I want, but Bloombergs's site does not show their inventory; I emailed them , I don't even know if they would ship to Canada.

update on my beloved champagne glasses on page 62, Bloomberg's emailed me that they are made by Union Street glass and are the manhattan pattern and are 75$ each, yikes, I don't want to pay that much, I'm sure I've seen knock offs of those, and I break glassware like crazy so ......... I'm forgetting about them.

I decided to get out several old Christmas issues of Victoria and compare them with the new magazine....I have to admit, the new Victoria is a pale, very pale version of the original. I had forgotten how outstanding the old Victoria was...really, if you compare them side by side, you will see what I mean. I still think the new magazine is nice though.

I nearly let out a scream when I saw Victoria on sale today at the grocery store. This was my all time favorite magazine and I truly missed it. I still take out past issues and re-read them. The closest magazine to Victoria I ever found is Romatic Homes. Not exactly the same as Victoria but nice. I can't say that I am really disappointed in the new Victoria but there is indeed something not exactly like the old Victoria. The general lay out seems to be the same. I love the recipe section and I am hoping the articles will be as nice(haven't had a chance to read them yet). I think there is a certain elegance lacking. Not terrible, but just little things like the bowl mentioned in one of the above post.

However, I am thrilled to have the magazine back and maybe if some of us write in with our comments they will improve with future issues. It might be nice to let them know that many of us are long time readers of the orginal Victoria and woul love to continue supporting the magazine but there is some room for improvement. I never thought I would see the magazine back in publication so I'd like to continue purchasing it in hopes that it will once again be like the original Victoria we all loved.

I have to admit, I too was underwhelmed. I think I'll hold off on sending in my subscription $$$ until the next issue comes out. It just didn't seem like there was anything new and fresh that they were offering, just more of the same, which was fine then but I expect more now.