The Month In Moments: December

December was oh-so-dreamy, so cozy, and so full of holiday cheer. Tons of sugar and butter was consumed and distributed. Everything smelled like pine. Twinkle lights EVERYWHERE– all 55 rechargeable batteries in my house were in use for the month.

Before we get into December though, I have an exciting announcement!
The Month in Moments is moving to Substack!

I have decided to combine both the concept of The Month in Moments AND my semi-retired email newsletter The Fryday into a weekly Substack, also to be called The Fryday!
(If you aren’t familiar with Substack, it’s an email newsletter system that also has a home base site for creators, where subscribers to the email can comment, chat, and be merry.)
I hope to launch sometime this month– but you can already subscribe here (and I’d love it if you do!), there’s just not much to see yet. It is 100% free!
If you are already signed up for my emails (announcements from the blog and/or The Fryday) you will automatically be signed up, and thank you for your support in advance. Excited to see you there!

box of assorted christmas cookies — This year’s Holiday cookie collection takes top-billing! Vanilla meringues, triple ginger cookies(which you should absolutely make!), chocolate-pistachio shortbread, lemon shortbread with homemade raspberry jam, and peppermint marshmallows.

packaged cookies for christmas — Here were all the literal hundreds of cookies, post-packaging and pre-boxing. I used this very fun stamping tool to make stamped sticker labels.

boxes of assorted christmas cookies — Here’s all the boxes I made for neighbors!
I love the process of baking for the holidays. When I give out the cookies, I always hope that the flavors will be magical, and that the experience of eating them will be special and joyful. This is how I give my love.

scandi christmas door decor — Here is our holiday front door! I made the wreath from the bottom branches of our Christmas tree and some eucalyptus. The star in the center is an outdoor-rated paper lantern with a pack of battery powered lights inside!

pasta with butternut squash and prosciutto — A friend game me a butternut squash from her garden for my birthday, so I roasted it and made this incredible pasta! The noodles are coated in parmesan, and on top is fresh oregano, crispy prosciutto, ricotta, and black pepper.

cat napping — Now that its cold, Luffy sleeps on our laps at night. This is how we woke up to her one morning: passed out face down.

OKAY, this is the dish I’m most proud of from the entirety of 2023! This shrimp cocktail. I made the cocktail sauce, crushed the ice, and lovingly prepared these gorgeous shrimp using the method detailed here. They were fantastic.

endive salad cups — Along with the shrimp, I made these delicious salad cups for the Holiday party I had with some friends! They are endive leaves, with a salad of shredded red leaf lettuce, shaved fennel, chives, and julienned radish, with a dressing of lemon, parmesan, anchovies, and olive oil.

winter citrus salad — Lastly, I made this citrus salad with pomegranate and mint. I also roasted sliced kielbasa and served it with mustard.

gingerbread house party — Also at the party, we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers (highly recommend as a party craft!)

buch noel cake — This is a gorgeous buche de noel that my friend made (she’s so talented!!) The pinecones are chocolate dipped strawberries (WHAT), the filling is a chestnut cream, and the outer part of the cake is a mulled wine ganache.

christmas living room — Here’s my Christmassy living room! I made that silky green sham.

alcohol ink dyed lights — AH, the achievement of my life, (don’t know if I’m kidding), these multicolor lights that I made!! This was right after I plugged them in the first time.

alcohol ink dyed glass — When I inked the lights, I also inked these glass bowls that I thrifted. I’m going to make them candles!

christmas decorated bookshelf — Here’s our bookshelf, decorated for the holidays. Wish I could say I made those snowflakes, but they are from Target.

boiled over sugar — OY, this is behind the scenes from holiday cookie making– I turned away from the sugar for the marshmallows for what felt like 1 minute, and this happened. Still turned out though!!

googly eyes on kitchen aid mixer — Also during the cookie-a-thon, my mixer lost an eye! Luckily not into the marshmallow.

evergreen decor — This is a simple decoration I made for all of the sconces in the house, just a bundle of greens and a ribbon. Saw it on Pinterest! It feels old-timey and I love that.

christmas cabinet wreaths — I hung lots of mini wreaths and red satin ribbons this year and I loved the effect!

how to hang a cabinet wreath with command velcro — Here’s how I hung the wreaths from cabinets and doors: command velcro on the back of the door! Half the velcro is hot glued to the ribbon, then stuck on to the velcro on the door.

tinsel earrings nye outfit — Wearing my tinsel earrings on New Year’s Eve! They were unbelievably fun.

steak and potato christmas dinner — Christmas eve dinner: filet mignon (did you know that means “cute filet”?) with a balsamic mushroom pan sauce, sauteed green beans and red bell pepper, and a baked potato.

christmas brunch — Christmas day brunch: kale and gruyere strata, bacon, and a salad of pomegranate, mint, radicchio, and red leaf lettuce.

cute cat — Baby girl on Christmas morning, catnip stoned, and soooo happy.

What I watched, read, and listened to in December:

The Boy and the Heron

As ever, I was so excited to be pulled into Hayao Miyazaki’s world. The first time I saw Princess Mononoke, upon seeing the mutating boar, I thought “This is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to my dreams.” (Does that make you think my dreams are freaky? Well, they are!)
I had that same thought throughout much of The Boy and The Heron, which made for an experience that was moving, unsettling, exciting, and cryptic. Unlike some of Miyazaki’s lighter films (Kiki’s Delivery Service, which I also love), The Boy and The Heron is heavy with grief, and honestly I can’t wait to see it again. I know that, like all of Miyazaki’s films, I will love it more and feel it more deeply every time I see it.

The Way of the Househusband on Netflix

Again in the realm of Japanese media, but much lighter, is The Way of the Househusband. I put this on one night on a whim after seeing it on a list from a Google search for “cooking anime” (I’ve got an itch to scratch in a post- The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House world!)
I’m so glad that I did, because this anime is equal parts absurd, genuinely funny, and validating. Yes, validating. The whole premise of the show is that Tatsu, an ex-Yakuza boss, gives up his life of crime to be a homemaker. Tatsu repeatedly reprimands people for belittling homemaking, holding his skills and knowledge in cooking and cleaning as equally fearsome to his former ranking as a Yakuza gang leader. While it’s tongue-in-cheek, I found so much of the show relatable, including the depictions of living with an awesome partner and a cute cat, and finding camping underwhelming.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The end of November left me reaching for a new classic to read, and I thought, what better than Little Women with its many Christmases? (Is it many? It’s at least two. I’ve only passed one so far.) I remember reading Little Women in middle school, and even taking a heavy influence of both it and Emma for a short story assignment. I thought I was a little Jo! Now I think I’m really more like Beth.
ANYway, it’s been a real soft, cozy blanket of a read! Before I started it, I thought I might not be able to stomach the somewhat saccharine sentimentality of it– but honestly, it turns out I like a little saccharine sentimentality! It’s beautifully and cleverly written, with such well-developed characters– even down to Aunt March’s parrot.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

This is my faaaaavorite Christmas movie. I love that Elizabeth Lane is a sort of fake Martha Stewart, writing about her farm in Connecticut while she types in her New York City apartment eating sardines from a can. And I love the fantastic chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan, on palpable display in my favorite scene. I love the multiple horse-drawn sleighs. Honestly, I don’t know how this movie isn’t bigger than it is!

The Lion in Winter

I watched this movie for the first time last year when a student in my wreath-making class named it as their favorite Christmas movie.
This movie is INSANE. It’s from 1968, and is based loosely on the real life King Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole) and his wife, who he’s imprisoned but let out for Christmas, Elenor of Acquitane (Katharine Hepburn.) It is more-or-less: the most dysfunctional family in history, viciously plotting against each other at Christmas, for 135 minutes. The soundtrack is exquisite, it won an Oscar for best picture, it features a very young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton (as lovers!), and Peter O’Toole’s roaring yell is unhesitatingly used as often as possible.

Songs of December:

I want to also recommend this playlist as we head into the cold, and often dreary days of January. It’s an extension of the songs above vibe-wise. I absolutely love this playlist and I hope you will too!

My Favorite Product This Month:

(Not sponsored, I just really like it!)

The Obe Fitness App

Okay, I promise I’m not just sharing this recommendation because it is currently January, I’ve been meaning to share it for a while!

I’ve been using the Obe fitness app since a friend recommended it back in August (thank you, friend!!)
I taught barre classes for three years in my twenties and it was just such a bad fit for me that I’ve since had a lot of baggage around fitness and being instructed in the fitness realm. I have to be honest, it took years of emotional healing for me to return to any kind of instructed exercise outside of yoga. Luckily for me, I was introduced to this app at the right time in my journey, and I’ve had a very positive experience with it.

The workouts are SHORT and EFFECTIVE, I usually do the 10, 20, and 28 minute ones. For me, this length keeps me coming back consistently because I don’t over do it, and I still felt results quickly.
The first month is free, and then after that I believe it is something like $160 for a year.

I’m sure all the instructors on the app are great, but here are my recommendations for my fellow sensitive, quiet, homebody girlies that are reading: