Things I Love Thursday | 12.2.21

Happy December! As always, I'm both pleased and overwhelmed that we have reached this point in the calendar year. I hope this season brings you an abundance of love and peace to help counter the inevitable moments of stress and unhappiness. Here are a few ways that love and gratitude have shown up for me.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Our family enjoyed a supremely relaxing and indulgent Thanksgiving in Palm Springs this year, hosted by some of the kindest, most generous friends. We spend the whole week in the sunshine laughing, lounging, reading, playing cards, sipping, and devouring delicious food! It was just what we needed and we returned to the east coast rested and happy. 

Rosemary Shortbread

I'm not sure I can overstate how absolutely delicious this recipe is! You MUST try it. I love to make it for family and friends during the holiday season. I have a blog post about it and you wouldn't believe how easy it is to execute. If you give it a try, let me know!

Trader Joe's Nuts About Rosemary Mix

Speaking of rosemary, if you're a fan, you MUST try these mixed nuts from Trader Joe's. I was gifted them by my friend, Sara, right before the Thanksgiving holiday. Holy moly. These are dangerously delightful. It's impossible to eat just one handful. You've been warned!

My Soccer Player

Piper wrapped up her fall club soccer season the weekend before Thanksgiving with an out of town college showcase event. Her team went 3 for 3 and had a ton of fun on and off the field. I'm not sure what the spring season will look like yet (because of her age bracket and high school tryouts) but I sure hope to have a lot of opportunities to continue to watch her do something she clearly loves.

Reindeer Cookies

Making these reindeer cookies with the girls for the first time in 2013 continues to be a sweet holiday memory. I love this activity for little kids. At the time, we packaged them up and delivered them to teachers and bus drivers. They were so proud of their creations --and they're delicious too. Here's a whole blog post about them with some bonus content of squishy Jones Girls. :)

Haagen-Dazs Bourbon Vanilla Bean Truffle Ice Cream

The title is a mouthful --which is fitting, as (if you're a bourbon fan like me) you will want a mouthful of this followed by another, and then another, etcetera, infinity. Do be warned though, it is decidedly boozy. Both of the girls tried it and were not fans. Geneva asked, "Why would you willingly eat something that tastes like cough medicine?!" Haha! Because I'm an old person.

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Wow. This book. If your holiday list includes a reader who enjoys suspenseful psychological thrillers --you must pick up a copy of The Push by Ashley Audrain for them. Goodreads has this summary, "A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family --and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she she hoped for and everything she feared." I loved it! 

Our Advent Calendar Tradition

Since the girls were little, I've been doing this wooden advent calendar for them. The compartments are just big enough to hold two pieces of candy. Most of the doors have just that behind them --but every few days, the girls will have a (very silly) clue instead of candy that leads them to a small(ish) treat. December 1st is usually a matching pair of holiday pajamas to wear throughout the month and on Christmas morning. I found these amazingly soft striped ones at Target this season (already out of stock) --but the green pair is super cute and this set from Amazon has amazing ratings and so many colors! The whole family could rock this buffalo plaid set --if you can talk everyone into it (and if you do, please share pics)! 

Other advent calendar clues might lead to lip balm, nail polish, an ornament, or their annual wooden nutcracker (to be added to the collections I started for them a decade ago). One year, the final clue on Christmas morning lead the girls to an upstairs bathtub where a pair of hamsters were waiting to be adopted. Big fun!

Similar advent calendars are easy to find. I love this one with the little drawers. This cheerful guy is very cute! You could even go very fancy with something like this, if you're so inclined.