No. 116: What to Eat, Read, Wear and Watch in December
And the November recap, of course
As a reminder, this post is the post that goes live the first Friday of every month for all subscribers to read start to finish. Because of that, it’s jam packed and too long for email so be sure to click ‘View More’ at the end of the email for all the good stuff or just read along here to see the full post.
Am I alone in thinking November was eight months long? Some months absolutely fly—September, for example—and while it doesn’t feel like November passed at a glacial pace, it does feel like I lived multiple lives in it. After doing some evaluating and reflecting for this letter, I think I better understand why.
The first day of the month was spent on an airplane flying back to Canada for my beautiful father-in-law’s Nigerian celebration of life. You know me by now. The coupling of travel anxiety and OCD means that air travel just takes a little extra out of me than it should. I thought a year into therapy I’d be wanting to get my pilot’s license. I’ve heard the stories, I’ve watched the videos. “I used to be just like you, actually! Now you can’t keep me on the ground!” Turns out despite being equipped with much better tools and the same scriptures committed to memory, the toll on my body is still shockingly severe. I was so sure that’d be the hardest thing I’d experience this month. Examining the schedule, flipping through the calendar, I thought, “yes, this is it. A flight up north the day after Halloween and a flight home on Election Day. We’ll get the hardest part of November over in the first five days and the rest of the month will be bliss in comparison.”
Within hours of being in Canada, though, our friend suffered a stillbirth five days before her induction date. I had forgotten once again that my calendar is covered in invisible ink.
The coupling of mourning this loss from afar and mourning my father-in-law with my family up close was staggering. Thinking back on it now, it can only be summed up in the kind of cry where you’re heaving, gasping for air and the kind of silence where you truly can’t think of a syllable to say and you remind yourself you will laugh again. The years since my own miscarriage, my sister’s stillbirth, grieving living in a broken body and the passing of my father-in-law have taught me the lesson I’ve heard so often—our body keeps the score.
Grief has a way of extending time, something that was once stiff and immovable. It’s the stretching of a hard candy, the making of a candy cane. Grief’s onset is the warming, pulling, the taking of something that once fit into the palm of your hand and growing it to the length of your entire body. The moments, hours and days afterward fold it back up again. The time becomes so small it passes before you even realize where you are.
The opening week of November carrying so much weight wrote the script for the rest of the month for me. It called for joy. It called for slow. It called for light. We set up our Christmas decorations right when we returned home remembering that last year after the funeral, we only had time to get the tree up with one week to spare. We took the kids on adventures and picnics, set up a non-stop meal train for our girl and scheduled times to go sit and laugh with her. I baked, endlessly. I said, “why not” more than I ever have. Between the unintentional lows and the incredibly intentional highs, November was something beautiful in the end.
I’m no stranger to December, I know what she does. December is the promised sugar rush if you don’t first start with protein, good carbs and healthy fats. It cannot be go, go, go all the time. I cannot have something scheduled every day, ignore my body’s begging for more sleep and more water and less blue light and less “yeses” and end the month—the year—the way I’d like to. It’s okay to go slowly this month. It’s okay to say yes more than usual and it’s okay to say no more than usual.
We’re making the magic for our people, but also we’re living in the magic the Lord has made for us. Don’t miss it. Don’t forget to account for the invisible ink.
It’s going to be wonderful.
2 | 3 | 4 | 6 — less expensive version here and even less expensive version here | 7 | 9 | 10
‘Wicked’ swiftly become my personality this week. Every single detail in the movie has captivated my mind this week and I gave myself two days to do a big deep dive into the details that made the movie that next step above. If you love Fashion and Costume Design, this video where the ‘Wicked’ Costume Designer, Paul Tazewell, breaks down the nitty-gritty inspiration behind each and every look had me genuinely in awe. The underside of a mushroom? A single rose in a park? It was a much needed reminder that inspiration truly is everywhere if you just pay attention and commit to noticing it.
Hard Knocks in Season is back and it just really does something for me. I love the behind the scenes of anything, really, but the NFL always takes the cake for me. It’s HBO so you know what to expect. In some unicorn seasons, the organization is more family friendly and there isn’t a ton of language—the AFC North isn’t that place.
Sezane sent this cardigan last month and it was everything I dreamed it’d be. You know a grey cardigan had topped my wardrobe wishlist for months in this spending freeze, but the black has been the perfect winter addition.
This is niche, but these board books are my absolute favorite. We’ve had this Marvel on since Lema was a baby and for the past few months, to say it’s Enakhe’s obsession would be a drastic understatement. Something about the pages, the cutouts, the flaps that aren’t precious and have withstood four children, they’re the best toddler books on the planet in my eyes. I just picked up a few to gift to all the kids’ cousin secret Santa gifts.
Sprint Season Two is on Netflix and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the track teams compete in the Olympics after watching the Qualifiers so intently in Season One. It’s just so rare that we get track athletes highlighted and I’m soaking up every minute.
What to Read:
This is the time to dig into Historical Fiction for me. I’m so introspective already and I tend to slow work down enough that I can really get lost in a great story when the kids start Christmas Break. I read The Nightingale over Christmas break five or six years ago and Winter Garden over Christmas break as well—all of which you know I found life-changing. Historical Fiction, Kristin Hannah specifically, tend to make me so incredibly thankful to be exactly where I am with exactly who I’m surrounded by. I don’t love super cheesy romcom stories, but all bets are off this month, you know? Something might surprise me. Audible is having a site-wide sale for members so I picked up books I’ve had on my wish list for months (including The Covenant of Water and Tell Me Everything) for as much as 85% off so happy reading month to me. I’ll report back as always.
I also didn’t pick up an Advent study in time so I’m winging it and loving it, honestly.
What to Eat:
My December will be essentially identical to November when it comes to cooking and that means I’ll continue to have my current favorite salad in the world at least five days a week. My friend Sarah makes the best healthy recipes and I kid you not, it wasn’t uncommon to find me making this salad every single day multiple weeks in a row—last week my sister asked me to make her one to bring to see Wicked and at the end of the movie she yelled “THIS WAS THE BEST SALAD I’VE EVER HAD.” Confirmation, friends. It’s the apple butter in the dressing.
Another thing I’ll be making again is this dutch caramel apple pie. I’ve never gotten more questions about a pie I’ve served family and friends in my entire life. Apple pie is kind of always the same, you know? But every person who ate it hunted me down to ask why it was so next level. The answer, I’m guessing, is the homemade caramel. I almost always botch the first batch but it really is worth it if you want to make a showstopper pie for Christmas parties and celebrations. It’s officially “my apple pie” now.
Be sure to check out the Sunday letters for weekly meal plans and review November if you already need to make a grocery list right away. I’ll be the one to remind both of us that even though it’s cold, smoothies are still a quick way to get a load of veggies into our kids in a pinch. There will be lots of sweets, potatoes and sourdough so fresh veggies are going to have to make regular appearances too, you know?
What to Watch:
I’m a Vlogmas girl and this is my favorite month of the year on YouTube. I really don’t watch much TV, but I look forward to my favorite creators’ daily videos so much. I’ve watched Zoe Sugg’s Vlogmas for what feels like the majority of my adult life at this point and while I don’t watch every day anymore, it’s just a comfort to know the videos are there. In addition to playing Holiday Hymns on the TV often, I also love to watch all the classic Christmas movies with my kids like The Snowy Day, Charlie Brown Christmas, The OG Frosty the Snowman, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, The Star, The Original Rudolph, The Jim Carrey Grinch followed by the new cartoon Grinch and all the other bangers. Like most people, I bake constantly during the Holidays so my kids love watching shows like Kid’s Christmas Baking Championships, old seasons of The Great British Bakeoff and Zoe Bakes during December.
Of course I’ve already watched While You Were Sleeping and Sleepless in Seattle. The Family Stone is in my future (because I torture myself with it every year) along with Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone to accompany my first day of gift wrapping. Hallmark movies can certainly be missed most of the time, but not all the time, friends. You have to choose at least one to watch with your full attention, phone in the other room. It’s the rule. There are also great movie recommendations in last month’s Favorites Letter:
What to Wear:
You’re going to get two options here, friends—a Winter in the City mood board and a Cozy Winter inspired by the Mountains mood board. By the mountains, this could also very well be the suburbs because let’s be honest, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be sharing some festive options a little later in the month, but for the majority of the cold months I truly just want to be in anything resembling pajamas more than anything.
That’s it for today, friends. If you want to head into 2025 with more of this Friday Morning Delight in your inbox every Friday and the meal plan in your inbox every Sunday, you can become an annual subscriber and also go back to catch up on these posts for the month:
As a final reminder, you can shop until 11:59pm tonight until the holiday items are gone for good—and you can still get everything (Merch included!) 25% off with code THANKFUL25. To the person who bought 13 mugs, you understood the assignment.
Thank you so much for being here. I hope you had a beautiful month and that you’re feeling present, hopeful and at peace here at the beginning of the last month of the year. Tell me all your favorite things from November and what you’re most looking forward to in December in the comments, deal?
Have a beautiful weekend, friends.
Random but, are you cutting pomegranates in a bowl of water? I saw how cute you decorated with them on the table and just thought I would share 😆This was mind blowing to me but all you do is fill a big bowl, cut the pomegranate (while it's under) and possibly save all your clothes and face from getting the juice all over it 😜
Enjoy The Covenant of Water - I thoroughly did! I never knew the Family Stone was torturous, until I watched it with my in laws (& they made comments throughout the entire film...) Now I watch it by myself or with my mom, she gets it, hah! (: