This year was no letdown. There are items in the catalog for under $ 50 (like a box of Neiman Marcus exclusive fortune cookies), but the gifts that make headlines are the catalog’s “Fantasy Gifts.” This year’s Fantasy Gifts include a custom-made suit of armor ($ 20,000), an Underwater Deep Flight Aviator ($ 1.7 million), and a Modern Zeppelin NT airship ($ 10 million). It is hard to believe that some gifts in the book didn’t make the “Fantasy” cut, like the $ 8,000 Swarovski crystal-encrusted Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head dolls, for instance.

Sticking to tradition, the Christmas Book offers “His & Her” gifts and a luxury automobile each year. This year’s “His & Her” gift is a four-lane bowling center (starting at $ 1.45 million); the automobile is a limited edition 2005 Maserati Quattroporte ($125,000).

What’s surprising is that despite the popularity of the Christmas Book, it isn’t prominent on the website. In fact, it’s not that easy to find. It does immediately launch if you enter “Christmas Book” in the search tool on the homepage, but navigating to it takes some clicks. (For example, there is a link on the bottom of the right sidebar under “Gifts & Electronics.”) Why wouldn’t Neiman Marcus use the season to highlight such a familiar aspect of its brand campaigns?

Neiman Marcus’ objective to step outside the box each year to create the Christmas Book is not reflected in its overall website design or content.

This is not to say the site does not reflect the Neiman Marcus brand well—it does. But it does so simplistically. The site has almost a generic look and feel. The top navigation bar on the homepage categorizes the offered departments while the right sidebar highlights more prominent features that you would see on many e-commerce sites during the holidays: free shipping for orders over a certain dollar amount, gifts guides, and gift baskets.

The simplistic design may be a result of the site Neiman Marcus first launched in 1999. Taking the bells and whistle route, the site then featured online virtual boutiques laden with animation that featured high-end designers out of the average consumers’ (even those walking the aisles of Neiman Marcus stores) budget. It didn’t take long for the brand to ditch the excess for a clean site that would reflect the brand and also function well. It has stuck to this “new” tradition of a clean site ever since.

Even when it comes time to be extravagant during the holidays with the Christmas book, Neiman Marcus sticks to the basics for its online brand.