Enjoying December
December has hair tinsel and it looks great.
Welcome to December! She’s a Leo, obviously. As if she could be anything else. She is an enneagram 7 who is also an enneagram 3, even though that’s not technically allowed. I’m not sure what her Myer-Briggs profile is, but you can be GD sure it starts with an E, because baby, she is extroverted. Here for a good time, not a long time, she says, probably.
+December RSVPs “yes, absolutely” to a party on a Tuesday night. School night? Who cares?!
+December is red lipstick and sparkly eyeshadow and plaid stockings and sequin skirts. Actually, you know what, sequins everywhere.
+December says things like “light it up.” She means the tree, the eaves of your house, and the perimeter of your living room.
+December mixes Baileys into her coffee. And not just on Saturday morning.
+December is letting go of our resolutions and just living for once. She is taking a shot at the bar with our best friends. She is going to bed late without washing our face. She is turning up the music so loud, we don’t have to know which Mariah notes we cannot hit.
+December is your fun best friend, the one who cuts her bangs because she’s bored. The friend who always knows the best places to get dinner and somehow gets crazy reservations and has a perfect playlist for every occasion and never forgets your birthday. She is fun. She is a party. Even the grumps can’t help but come around to her.
+December is what winter wishes it could be, if it had an ounce of her joy and sparkle. But isn’t that what makes December special? She is the party girl who makes everything shimmer before disappearing on to the next new fun thing, and when she’s gone, of course everything will feel so gray and sad without her. That’s why we clutch her hand when she’s here, begging her to stay. And December is the kind of girl who squeezes your hand back.
The Mood
We are indulging in all the peppermint and gingerbread we can find. December is for ordering whip cream covered drinks with names like The Snowball or Avalanche. We know it just means white chocolate, but we! are! festive!
We are in the kitchen with Christmas Vacation on, making cookies from a recipe our grandma wrote on a notecard in 1974. Or from Pinterest that we saved three years ago in July that we’re finally getting around to.
We are in the mall, which somehow smells exactly the same as it did in 1999. We are walking through the foodcourt and enjoying the buzz of people talking. Santa’s perched up in front of Macy’s and there’s a line of families stretching all the way to the Auntie Anne’s Pretzels kiosk and you know what, don’t mind if I do. Cheese dip? Yes please.
December To Do List
+Find a Christmas adjacent book to enjoy this month and then savor it like crazy. Read a page here and there to really stretch it out. If I may, I always enjoy Wishin’ and Hopin’ and Christmas at Hogwarts.
+Send Christmas cards. It’s so wholesome and doesn’t need to be complicated, customized or expensive. You can find a whole package of beautiful cards at TJ Maxx for $7 and then let writing addresses on the envelopes be the analog task that keeps you from scrolling on your phone while you watch a holiday movie. Overachievers will opt for a green gel pen for their writing endeavors.
***Set of 10 Christmas Tree Cards for $5 || Set of 24 Vintage Inspired Cards for $12 || Set of 8 Christmas Telegram Cards for $20 || Forest Green Ink Gel Pen***
+Swing through a drive thru of your choice and then take a slow cruise around neighborhoods that take Christmas lights extremely seriously. This is dinner and a show, holiday edition.
+Send a “thought of you today xo” text.
+Trim the tree and every bit of your house:
Aperol Spritz Beaded Ornament || Tartan Wool Throw because your couch deserves a cute winter jacket too || Burgundy bows with a hint of sparkle.
+Engage in the kind of Christmas project that takes a week or two. Maybe a puzzle or perhaps an aspirational lego build. Diamond painting a Christmas scene will take you the entire month so get cracking.
+Take a day to crush your holiday shopping. Leave your house at 8am, list in hand, and do not go back home until you’ve completed your mission. Bonus points if you can take the day off work or whatever responsibilities. And definitely treat yourself to a solo lunch somewhere in the middle. Yes, it’s an action item list, but make it fun!
+For the record, homemade goodies like caramels, Irish cream or vanilla extract are show stopping gifts that are generally well received and so much easier to make than we think.
What are we wearing?
But also layers, because it is freaking cold…
+Outerwear can and should be festive. I’m talking fluffy scarves in red and white candy cane stripes. A forest green faux fur jacket that is festive now, and just plain glamorous after the new year (we love a multi-tasker). Winter boots with red accents or a buffalo check pattern to align with your level of enthusiasm.
+Nobody invites textures like December. Burgundy velvet is particularly appropriate. And sequins? Born for this, baby. Plaid for the office. And plaid for putzing around at home. My only wish this Christmas is a reason to wear these sequin studded straight legs.
+The girls said Coach is in and I’m inclined to believe them.
Media Diet
+Ask Google “what’s coming to *streamer* in December 2025” and make a list of things you want to check out. It’s so nice to have something to look forward to and eliminates the dreaded “I dunno, what do you want to watch?”
++For instance: A new Knives Out mystery on 12/12 (Netflix). Squeal!
+Listen to a recording of David Sedaris reading the essay that catapulted his career: The Santaland Diaries. It’s hilarious.
+There is a Wednesday fireplace loop on Netflix if spooky and cozy is your vibe.
+This trivia show on Youtube rocks and like a Pringle, you cannot stop after just one. Gather your family and shout the answers to the Christmas episode at the TV together.
December Quick Hits
Extras
December is the happy hour pizza party at the end of a long ass project. Is it enough to really be the prize at the end of said project (2025)!? Probably not, but it’s what we get, so let’s just enjoy it!
Be so freaking gentle with yourself. Lean into your natural sleeping patterns. Crazy early riser who needs a nap by 11am and goes to bed by 9pm? Go forth! Night owl who wants to stay up until 1am reading another chapter or watching another episode. DO IT. Who cares. We’ll get back on our bullshit in January.
Do a 10 minute sweep of your house before you crash on the couch for the night. I know this sounds counterintuitive to what I just said, but this is being gentle with future you. And 10 minutes is nothing, okay. Put the dishes in the sink. Set up your coffee maker. Clear the counters. Whatever you need to have peace in the AM, that doesn’t take more than 10 minutes, just crush it real quick.
Be as checked out as you can be. Seriously. We all have real responsibilities that cannot be neglected, but wherever you can phone it in, I think you should. Lets give ourselves whatever break we can.
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