Issue #31: December brings something new

A dose of comfort and curated recommendations in your inbox to start the week.

I love when a new month starts on a Monday, and in December no less! People have already started receiving the Christmas cards I sent out last week (spot on timing), and the only thing left for us to do is put up our tree. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving, however you celebrated. Stephen and I are both under the weather, so we had a quiet day at home, cooking and starting the new season of Stranger Things.

Over the weekend, I also launched another newsletter! The Monday Mood will still arrive in your inbox every Monday morning, but I wanted a place to talk about topics like grief, opinion pieces, and navigating my thirties.

The topics over there don’t necessarily align with my intentions for this newsletter, so it’s my space for the unfiltered first drafts. The first post is actually one I wrote for The Monday Mood and what sparked my decision to even launch it, but it never felt right for this space.

If you’d like to follow along, you can click the link below!

Image source: Alexandra Vandooren

TRY: Think about one thing you’d love to accomplish before the end of December and give yourself permission to start now. You don’t have to wait for a new year or a perfect time. There’s still plenty of time to take a small step toward a 2026 goal or to try something that simply brings you joy—learning to paint, trying new recipes, starting that TV show you’ve been saving, or picking up a new skill just because it interests you.

WATCH: A movie that has become a December tradition is Feast of the Seven Fishes, a slice of life story that follows a large Italian American family on Christmas Eve as they prepare for the traditional feast. If you come from an Italian family, you might have a soft spot for this one as it brings back memories of your own holiday gatherings. It is chaotic and lovely and a genuinely heartfelt watch.

LISTEN: I cannot get enough of Olivia Dean’s music. It is easy listening and has been my go to when I am getting ready in the morning or winding down after work while I start dinner. This playlist is a great place to begin if you want a similar mix.

EAT: Our Thanksgiving was low key with just the two of us, so we tried a couple of new recipes I wanted to pass along. One was mashed potatoes with buttery sautéed leeks, which was an easy and delicious way to elevate a traditional side dish. I also made salted caramel apple crumble cheesecake bars with a buttery Biscoff crust and a gooey apple filling that balanced with a tangy vanilla bean cheesecake center.

Loved One by Aisha Muharrar follows Julia as she tries to make sense of the loss of her friend Gabe, whom she had a complicated relationship with, which makes his absence feel even harder to articulate. When she travels to London to sort through what he left behind, she keeps stumbling across versions of him she never fully knew. The trip becomes less about packing up a life and more about confronting her own tangled feelings.

The book covers the complexity of grief so well. It’s sad, and angry, but also awkward and funny and unexpectedly tender. Julia’s interactions with Elizabeth, Gabe’s ex, capture all of that as they approach the same loss from different directions.

Ultimately, Loved One is a quiet, thoughtful look at how complicated relationships and memory can be. It left me thinking about how much of the people we care for are real, and how much is shaped by what we need from them.

A local tradition in Olympia, Washington is bringing people together over steaming bowls of soup on cold Sunday nights, a reminder that community care can be wonderfully simple. (Good Good Good)

Sleep experts share the foods that naturally support deeper, more restful sleep, especially helpful as the evenings get darker and routines change. (Self)

I have to rave about the USA Pans bakeware I used over the holiday. It made everything easier and genuinely improved the baking process, a small joy for anyone who spends time in the kitchen. (USA Pans)

A look at how to step back from comparison and find peace in your own path, especially during a season when it is easy to measure yourself against everyone else. (Camille Styles)

Please note: Some of these reads may be behind paywalls depending on your reading habits! I believe in supporting quality journalism and will share gifted links whenever I can.