Ho, ho, ho! Welcome to the Happy List. It’s the last weekend before Christmas. I’m sure you’re busy, so thank you for taking a break to hang out with me.
This week on the blog, I shared the giant paper angel I made for our living room mantel. She’s pretty, and I’m biased.
I also shared some candid shots from around our house this month. Our house does feel very festive right now.
Thank you so much for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here with me. I hope you have fun, learn something new, and leave feeling inspired. It truly 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!
BOOK TREE
Easiest Christmas decor? A tabletop book tree. You don’t need to water it. No need for ornaments. It doesn’t drop needles. So much winning is happening there.
(image: Bethany Adams Interiors / JL Jordan Photography via Homes and Gardens)
X-RAY PHOTOGRAPHY
Nick Veasey takes large-scale X-ray photography in a ‘bespoke concrete chamber’ to protect from radiation. Wow. Just Wow.
Buy prints and see how his process works here.
(image: Nick Veasey)
FARMHOUSE CHRISTMAS
Remind me to pull my vintage quilts into my holiday decor one of these years. There are so many fun ideas in this vignette from The Cottage Journal.
The gingerbread house on the jadeite stand, the Merry Christmas needlepoint/doily, the cards hanging from the dresser. Oh my!
(image: Photography by John O’Hagan, Styling by Maghan Armstrong via The Cottage Journal)
GRAPES
Have you ever munched on grapes on the way home from the grocery store? Wiped one off on your pants? If so, then you’ll know they are DIRTY.
Martha Stewart has an article on the best way to wash what is, in my opinion, the best fruit on the planet – grapes. I’m not joking. I eat grapes every day. It’s one of those foods I must have in the house at all times. They also must be crunchy.
As it turns out, I’ve been washing grapes incorrectly.
READ, WATCHED, LISTENED
Low/No-Spend Gift Guide. The comments section is the best. One person chopped up onions and gave them to her friend in a bag to freeze. The friend could not chop onions without crying, and deemed this the most thoughtful gift. The gift of no tears while cooking! (Cup of Jo)
A French grocery store’s commercial has gone viral. I can see why. (YouTube)
Helsinki has gone an entire year with zero traffic deaths. It is possible. (Not-Ship)
Finally, I understand the difference between prebiotics and probiotics. (Ologies Podcast)
The history and economics of Handel’s Messiah are so interesting! (Freakonomics Radio)
MISTLETOE SELLERS
Here’s a photo of mistletoe sellers in Paris in 1928. Can you imagine?
(image: Le Club de Mediapart)
CALF COMPRESSION
Santa is bringing us these calf compression sleeves. Funny that I know that.
I mainly like to wear calf compression sleeves to keep my legs warm in the winter. (I have a pair on now under my jeans!) Handy Husband thinks they aid his muscle recovery after runs. Compression socks make my feet feel claustrophobic, so this is a nice alternative.
(image: Amazon)
CREAMY TORTELLINI SOUP
I made Pinch of Yum‘s Tortellini and Sausage Soup recipe last week.
It tasted like a warm hug. Enough said.
(image: Pinch of Yum)
POETRY MOMENT
NOTE: There is a swear word in this poem, so keep that in mind if you read aloud around young ears.
Beatitude by John Keene
Love everything
Love the sky and sea, trees and rivers,
mountains and abysses.
Love animals, and not just because you are one.
Love your parents and your children,
even if you have none.
Love your spouse or partner,
no matter what either word means to you.
Love until you create a cavern in your loving,
until it seethes like a volcano.
Love everytime.
Love your enemies.
Love the enemies of your enemies.
Love those whose very idea of love is hate.
Love the liars and the fakes.
Love the tattletales and the hypercrits, the hucksters and the traitors.
Love the thieves because everyone has thought
of stealing something at least once.
Love the rich who live only to empty
your purse or wallet.
Love the poverty of your empty coin purse or wallet.
Love your piss and sweat and shit.
Love your and others’ chatter and its proof of the expansiveness
of nothingness.
Love your shadows and their silent censure.
Love your fears, yesterday’s and tomorrow’s.
Love your yesterdays and tomorrows.
Love your beginning and your end.
Love the fact that your end is another beginning,
or could be, for someone else.
Love yourself, but not too much
that you cannot love everything and everyone else.
Love everywhere.
Love in the absence of love.
Love the monsters breeding
in every corner of the city and suburb,
all throughout the soil of the countryside.
Love the monster breeding inside you and slaughter him
with love.
Love the shipwreck of your body, your mind’s
salted garden.
Love love.
Thank you for reading this week’s Happy List.
Be good to yourself and others this weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday.
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