I think it is just personality and cultural teaching and upbringing. We like certain colors and arrangements of objects and to us that is "pretty"? Some things make us feel better than others like some foods taste better to us than others. I always feel lost like you describe when cooking shows start on oysters, truffles, and fine wines, etc. Give me a good, sturdy beef stew over beef bourguignon any day

That's great you are going to experiment with new stuff this year. My husband and my Christmas has gotten really basic/bare bones and I find I don't like that, it makes me feel lonely and left out so I'm trying to spruce things up (sorry for the pun :-) a bit myself.