Magazine Collection

This is the time of year that all the special holiday magazines start to fill the shelves.  I've already picked up the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday crafts issue.  I've bought this magazine for the past few years and I've noticed that they have a bit of a pattern.  They'll put a cute felt pillow on the cover with the same blurb of easy, fast crafts to make before the holiday comes upon us.  Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  This pattern seems to work well for them and I'm sure that they'll sell many issues, mostly to devoted Christmas fans such as us.

Am I alone thinking, though, about feeling a bit let down?  I love the crafts, the ideas and the fun things to look at in the magazine.  Don't get me wrong.  But couldn't  they make more of an effort trying to mix things up a little?  Take a look at this year's edition versus last year's.

Mister Snowman is the 2009 edition and Santa and Reindeer is the 2010 edition.  See what I mean?  Practically the same wording for the "So Cute" projects as well as the wording on the bottom. 

This being said, I still bought the magazine and that's all the publishers want: to sell their product.  So, they've accomplished their goal.  I shouldn't begrudge them their lack of imagination and creativity for their covers, should I?