A Happy List on a Monday! I hope this doesn’t throw your week off, or if it does, it’s in a good way.
I plan to take the rest of the week off from the blog for Thanksgiving, a delightful U.S. holiday, so I thought I’d squeeze in one last Happy List for November.
Thank you so much for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here with me. I hope you have fun and leave feeling inspired. It makes my day to connect with you. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook.
Here’s the Happy List!
DROP DEAD GORGEOUS
This is one of the prettiest Christmas mantels I’ve ever seen. Lucy from Craftberry Bush has done it again!
(image: Craftberry Bush)
WHAT TO BRING
Loved this idea from A Cup of Jo contributor, Casey Elsass, on what to bring as a hostess gift this holiday season when the host says, “Just bring yourself.”
She takes homemade hot fudge! (Here’s the recipe.)
This would also make a different and enjoyable neighbor or coworker gift, especially as it will keep for a while in the fridge. That way, there’s less pressure to consume it immediately, but you’re probably going to because it’s HOT FUDGE!
(image: Casey Elsass)
RETRO HANDSET
Did you know you can get an old school telephone receiver with an adapter you can plug into your cell phone? I would TOTALLY use this. It would prevent me from accidentally hanging up the phone with my chin. Ha!
No word on whether it’s satisfying to “slam” the phone down with this contraption.
Walmart has them online for about $12 in different colors.
(image: Walmart)
TO WATCH
Here are three things I watched recently that are worth your time.
Can You Drive West to Lengthen the Sunset? (YouTube) – This was fascinating and would make for a great dinner discussion.
Making Dark Chocolate Hilarious (YouTube) – Funniest thing I’ve watched in ages! I laughed out loud at all the one-liners.
Danish National Chamber Orchestra Plays While Eating Chili Peppers (YouTube) – They stop to eat a whole hot pepper at about the 54-second mark. Talk about elite professionalism! I don’t think I could have done it.
GREENS
I’m forever saying that THIS will be the year I decorate for the holidays with simple greenery.
And every year, I end up escalating my holiday decor.
I love this simple and gorgeous vignette.
(image: via Town N Country Living)
READING SIGN
My kids would have LOVED this personalized sign when they were little. I would have loved this sign when I was little. Heck, I might like it now.
It’s from Etsy, and comes in different colors and sizes.
(image: VinartsVn via Etsy)
MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE BALLOONS
Here’s a tidbit for you to drop at Thanksgiving dinner. The first cartoon balloon used in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was Felix the Cat in 1927. He was filled with oxygen! Helium wouldn’t be used until the next year.
From 1927 – 1932, the parade officials let the balloons go free at the end of the parade. It wasn’t until daring airplane pilots tried to “catch” the balloons that the parade organizers decided they couldn’t let the balloons go free any longer. For the 1933 parade, they stopped releasing the balloons. Read more about it here.
(image: George Rinhart/GettyImages via Mental Floss)
CONCERT JOURNAL
This personalized concert journal is in my Etsy cart right now. It’s a gift for a teen. I’m just waiting to see if there’s a Black Friday sale.
The journal pages have prompts where you can write the concert name, date, location, etc. There’s a spot to attach tickets and pictures. I wish I had thought to start documenting all the concerts I’ve seen over the years, and this is a great way to do it.
(image: Ikigaiprints via Etsy)
CANDIED CHEEZ-ITS
Have you heard of Candied Cheez-its? I think this could be good!
Get the Candied Cheez-its recipe here.
(image: Cheez-Its)
P.S. A friend spreads peanut butter between two Cheez-its and then dips the cracker sandwich in melted chocolate. When it cools, it tastes just like a Butterfinger candy bar! It’s WILD how it tricks your taste buds.
COMPLETE RAINBOW
The 2025 Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year award went to photographers Geshuang Chen and Shuchang Dong for this photo of a complete rainbow. I’d never stop talking about it if I saw one of these in person.
Most of us never see a complete rainbow because the ground gets in the way. See more winning photos here.
(image: Geshuang Chen and Shuchang Dong via Met Matters)
FOR THE HUSBANDS
Do you know how many nooks and crannies around our house we’d like to explore? I’m getting Handy Husband this borescope or endoscope camera for Christmas that plugs into your cellphone.
(image: Amazon)
RAWTOOLS
RAWtools is an organization that buys back guns for grocery cards and turns the guns into gardening tools. There is so much symbolism there.
I did not realize the amount of care and compassion that goes into operating an organization like this one. My eyes were opened when reading this article. You can learn more about supporting them here.
(image: RAWtools via Reasons To Be Cheeful)
QUICK PICKLED SWEET PEPPERS
I used this Quick Pickled Sweet Pepper recipe from Simply Whisked to pickle yellow pepper and onion slices last week, and it was the best food decision! I’ve been adding them to sandwiches, salads, and quesadillas ever since.
The recipe uses rice vinegar, not apple cider vinegar. I was skeptical, but it does make a difference! I also added some chili flakes for heat, and I’m thinking about making a batch with a habanero.
(image: Simply Whisked)
POETRY MOMENT
A Partial List of Gratefulness by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
There’s the giddy gratefulness that sparkles
like morning sun on the river and the peaceful
gratefulness that soothes like warm wind.
There’s the gratefulness that almost hurts
as it squeezes tight around the heart,
the gratefulness that arrives quiet as cat’s paws
in the night, and the gratefulness that thrums
and swirls in us as if we’re a sky full of starlings.
Sometimes it opens as slowly
as a giant bromeliad in Bolivia, taking years,
even decades before we are ready to see it.
Sometimes it comes dressed in black.
There’s begrudging gratefulness, bedazzling
gratefulness, gratefulness that stands
on its hind legs and roars. Gratefulness
that soars like a tetherless kite. Gratefulness
that sneaks in mouselike—like an ermine
who knows just where to find the small gaps
in the rocks. Every gratefulness a chance
to glimpse what is sacred right here,
to remember our place in the living world.
Every gratefulness the chance to revel again
in the sheer miracle that we belong.
Thank you for reading today’s Happy List, but more importantly, thank you for being a part of our world! We appreciate every single one of you.
Now, go be good to yourself and others if you can this week. I’m off to pick up my kiddo from college, and I’m very excited about it.
I’ll be back here on Monday with a fresh, new holiday blog post!
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