☀️Love Actually is All Around
the one where I gift you gifs...
Hello Friends,
Remember last month (okay, two weeks ago, but what is time?) when I was really down in the dumps from anxiety and overwhelm and boredom and, well you know, all of the things?
All I really wanted to do was give you a joke and a gif and turn all our moods around with the group laugh therapy we all needed.
Well, you know how that went.
Believe it or not, I wasn’t sure I wanted to decorate for Christmas. I was afraid all the twinkle lights and happy songs and merriment was going to leave me down in the dumps. But Christmas has a way of showing up and shaking the gloom out of you.
On the morning after Thanksgiving Mike went out with the kids to find the a tree leaving me alone to unpack the Christmas decorations. It’s tradition for us, and something about the familiarity of it all got to me.
It was subtle at first. The stockings were hung and the twinkle lights draped. And I got a little more spirit in me.
I scattered around the poinsettia’s and draped the garlands. And another layer of joy surfaced.
The nutcrackers lined up the stairs and the village house collection found a new home on the piano. And for but a moment I forgot about all that had made me sad.
By the time the little Christmas tree was put together and the lights wrapped around, I was all in.
Right, you say. Just like that. One box of Christmas decorations and you’re jumping for joy?
I know it sounds ridiculous and cliche, but it’s really hard to be sad by the light of a tree. But it wasn’t until later that night as we watched my most favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually, that I better accepted all these mixed up feelings. What I love the most about this movie, besides the perfectly quotable lines, is the complexity in this season of the year. It’s not all holiday cheer and jingle bells. There is sadness, loneliness, disappointment. It’s all mixed up together. That’s actually the point. But in the end, no matter the struggle, there is also always love.
I know. It’s cheesy. But the lights got me. What can I say?
So as my Christmas gift to you, I’m bringing you a bit of light, a bit of laughs, and a letter so full of gifs it can’t even fit in the email. I’m just hoping it puts a little hop into your step this season.
Merry Christmas my friends!
With love, actually,
Rachel
Gifting
This time of year creativity arrives in the form of Christmas Elfing. Creating gift lists is one of my favorite things to do and this year I did not hold back.
Five Gift Ideas you Might Need One Day
Or check out this Raise and Shine Christmas Collective from all the Christmas posts of Year’s Past.
Listening to
I know, I know, I know. We are all listening to the SECOND album (fourth if you count the live albums) TSwift put out IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC WHEN CREATIVITY FEELS SO HARD FOR THE REST OF US! (Sorry, was I shouting?) But this is a Christmas newsletter so I am going to include the Christmas ones, or the ones that ACTUALLY seem like Christmas songs.
We call this one the Hamilton Christmas album. I’m sorry, Leslie Odom Jr. You are forever type-casted in our house. (Speaking of Hamilton, have you watched this as many times as we have? Road trip to Utah anyone?)
Kendra Adachi of the Lazy Genius is my second favorite playlist creator (My cousin, Effee being the first.) Her Christmas playlists nail it this year. And I have found so many new favorite full albums just from her lists. Like this one and this one and this one and this one (maybe just listen to her playlists.)
Speaking of my cousin, I will miss hearing her rendition of this song this Christmas Eve. So to make up for it I’m listening to it on repeat.
Reading for me
I learned a couple years ago of the joys of a good Christmas novel.
Christmas is all sensory for me and that includes my reading material. I wanted light, fluffy, and full of Christmas in my reading content and I look forward to this shift in December every year.
One of this year’s new favorites include the Dash and Lily series. The show on Netflix is adorable and I highly recommend but I am enjoying the books too. The Royal Holiday was a fun read, especially as a trip to London.
I love Jasmine Guillory books and the strong female characters she writes, although TBH this wasn’t my favorite of hers.
Christmas at the Mysterious Book Shop was a fun find. Every year at Christmas the Mysterious Book Shop in NYC invited a popular mystery book author to write a short mystery story that had to include the book store and Christmas.
This is a collection of those short stories and is a fun one to pop in and out of. For more reads, I added a bunch more of my favorites in this list on my Book Shop.
Reading With Them
Reading Christmas books with children can go very wrong if you don’t know how to find the right books. Some are just plain weird.
So if you are particular like me, it is important to have great recommendations. We do Christmas Book Advent which means opening up a new Christmas book each night between Thanksgiving and Christmas. To keep it interesting, I am always on the search for new ones so I created an updated list here with some of our favorites from this year. You can find our past favorites here and here.
P.S. One title I couldn’t find on Book Shop and I just love it so much that I wanted to be sure to include it here. Three Wise Women is the story of the wise men told from the perspective of three different women from around the world who come with their own less glamorous but just as Holy gifts. This is a must read for me.
Cooking
Seeing as much of our Christmas season in the past was spent traveling, much of that time was also spent enjoying the comforts of other people cooking for us. Apparently when you make the decision to have your own quiet Christmas at home, you are also expected to feed everyone for three meals a day, every single day.
I know! But, it’s not all bad, because it also means we can come up with our own fun food traditions. I’ve been thinking of things I want to create to make the time special.
I’ve never made Tamales but Caroline loves them so I think we might give this traditional Mexican Christmas tradition a try! We have this book with a recipe and a whole lot of youtube videos at the ready.
I’ve made this lasagna before but it takes SOOO much work. We will have lots of unplanned time so this feels like the time to do it.
Mike and I had a Christmas tradition in Chicago of going to Lawry’s Prime Rib every year. The food, the table-side carolers, the fancy building-- every bit of it was Christmas to me. We’ve never been able to find the right replacement. I am going to at least try to cook the full meal for Mike and I as a Christmas date night. Maybe we can get the kids to dress up in Dickensien clothing and carol for our table!
Years ago I made a croquembouche. It involved many unnecessary tears but in the end, I was pretty pleased with it. I’m tempted to try it again. Or maybe I’ll just go the easy route and roll up cinnamon rolls as I have done before (Narrator: it will likely be the later.)
I think on New Year’s Eve we will try fondue with the kids. I am hoping Trader Joe’s is still selling their cheese kits but if not, I’m going to try this recipe, especially love the egg at the end trick!
Wearing
Ok, so we know what we are eating, but what are we wearing??
Me, I’m going cozy fabulous, since that was my declared style this year. What does that look like you ask? It looks like these velvet pants I got on major sale that I can’t seem to take off (I see they are already twice the price I paid but I still think worth it!) It looks like a red sweatshirt (similar) that works just as great with a collared shirt underneath to “fancy” the look as it does over t-shirt and legging to casually Christmas-ify your workout clothes. It looks like this crazy soft sweater that feels like a hug when I miss my family on Christmas morning.
Cozy fabulous works for all seasons but Christmas might be my favorite time for this style.
Drinking
So we have food, we are dressed, naturally, we need something to drink. Of course you know I’m sending you over to Rachel on the Rocks for all you need. Like this Holiday Cheermeister (did you get your wassail yet??) and this New Fish Hook (the name makes more sense when you read the post.
If you need more inspiring drinks, I have loved looking through this Cocktail Advent Calendar with Taste and Tipple.
You can also find all my favorite cocktail themed gifts in this post, most of which work great for stockings. Remember friends, you can fill your own stocking. Or just forward this email to your co-elf and let them take care of it.
There are more great Christmas cocktails coming but while you wait, you are going to want to make some homemade grenadine to have around or gift to friends and neighbors. Add some to sparkling water for the kids too. Cheers all around!
Reflecting on
Ok, so yes, the magic of the season got to me. But please don’t think everything is all twinkly lights and joy over here. The weight of this year still hangs heavy on the garlands in my home. I always feel like I need to clarify that I feel both feelings, the joy and the grief, just like you.
It is always in words that I can better reflect on the complex messy nature of the season. The first three pieces here are from other writers and the last couple are my own.
I can’t stop thinking about this sermon from my pastor and how we are all just clumsy midwives this year.
“We can rejoice because we know the whole story.”
“For now, I’m okay living my Ordinary life; I’ll wait awhile in the glow & follow where it leads.”
These words on belonging I wrote for my church’s Advent Prayer Service.
And this essay for Twin Cities Mom Collective on depression at Christmas.
Oh wait! One more thing before you go!
A Blessing by John O’Donahue “For Absences,” from his book To Bless the Space Between Us, in case your Christmas season is missing something.
May you know that absence is alive with hidden presence, that nothing is ever lost or forgotten.
May the absences in your life grow full of eternal echo.
May you sense around you the secret Elsewhere where the presences that have left you dwell.