jillsalahub

1. Morning walks. One thing I love about living here is how dry and sunny it is, after living the first part of my life in the damp and gray of the Pacific Northwest. And yet, this particular winter season, we’ve had way too much “good weather” and I am aching for snow. There’s a particular stillness and quiet that only happens when it snows and I’m longing for some of that.

2. This weird week, this liminal space of no time between Christmas and New Year’s.

3. Christmas day. It was just the three of us at home, opening presents, cooking and eating good food, and resting — and it was wonderful. My small family in Oregon was gathered at Mom’s house, the girls doing all the cooking again, the kids playing with their presents, and my brother sending me texts and pictures so it felt almost like I was there with them.

At our house, Ringo was too tired from his morning walk to get involved in opening presents, and once the sun went down, so did Eric — literally fell asleep on the floor, lying on the Shakti mat he bought me. The funniest present Eric got me requires some back story: if I buy snacks, in particular candy, I have to hide it from Eric otherwise it will be gone. “Sharing” doesn’t really work, because I like to savor things, have just a little at a time and make it last, when if it exists he has to consume it all immediately. Over the years, I’ve had to find multiple hiding places because he eventually finds the current stash, so it slows him down but doesn’t stop him. Because of this, this Christmas he bought me a metal lockbox where I can hide my candy and he can’t get to it. I laughed so hard when I opened it. I’m not entirely convinced he didn’t have a copy of the key made before he gave it to me, however. 🙂

4. Practice. My meditation shrine is starting to look like Noah’s ark with all my tiny brass animals. Not sure why I love them so much, besides the fact they are tiny and animals.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I love being here, with them. I suspect that will come as no surprise to you, kind and gentle reader. P.S. I take an absurd amount of pictures of Ringo while he’s sleeping, but he’s just SO cute!

Bonus joy: pecan tarts, comedy, true crime, stickers, the family group text, clean laundry, pay day, how good it feels when someone likes what you got them for Christmas or their birthday, nuts, leftovers, soft bread, roasted vegetables, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna with Eric, texting with Chloe’, sharing memes and reels with Shellie and Kari and Carrie, listening to podcasts, a new Kindle, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, watching TV, eating candy, white cheddar popcorn, massage, blackout shades, my weighted blankets, Christmas cards, twinkle lights, down blankets and pillows, wool socks and sweaters and shirts, other people’s kids and dogs and Christmas decorations, having a tree with just lights, not losing hope or giving up, naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

Merry Everything, Happy Always to you, kind and gentle reader

1. Waxahatchee: Tiny Desk Concert. “Crutchfield is cool and cozy behind the Desk; she sways with an easy smile as she kicks off the set with her latest single, ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ alongside a five-piece band. She performs one of NPR Music’s best songs of 2024, ‘Right Back to It,’ as well as Tigers Blood’s title track and an album standout, ‘Crowbar.’ She and the band end with ‘Fire,’ a song that, as the first single from 2020’s Saint Cloud, marked the beginning of a beautiful transformation of Waxahatchee’s music.”

2. The 10 Best Science Fiction Books of 2024.

3. Snoop Dogg narrates Animal Planet Documentary. (video) This is six years old now, but it never fails to make me laugh. It’s a classic.

4. Big Bird is soon to be homeless as the cancellation of ‘Sesame Street’ is likely imminent. “While ‘Sesame Street’ is currently without a permanent home, there seems to be something that can be done that is within the power of regular citizens—contact members of Congress to ensure they fight to keep funding the CPB and increase the funding provided and donate to PBS and Sesame Workshop, which is the nonprofit that funds ‘Sesame Street.'”

5. Tropical Birds Burst to Life in the Intricate Paper Cutouts of ‘The Parrot Project.’

6. New to me music: Shine Through · Goldford. (video)

7. Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley Illuminate Queer Love and Mortality in New Documentary. I predict this is going to wreck me.

8. Celebrating the winter solstice with a puppet procession in Minneapolis. In related news, here’s a short video about the event. Puppets lit from inside with golden light — so gorgeous.

9. Favorite Books of the Year: Art, Science, Poetry, Psychology, Children’s, and More from Maria Popova on The Marginalian.

10. The art of Thomas Deininger on Instagram. “Making things to observe and process the curious, perverse and sublime beauty of our world.” Sculptures “that from one perspective looks like a jumble of bits and pieces, and then, moved slightly, the sculpture takes on a new life of its own,” (as described by Patti Digh).

11. 10 empowering ways to manage your media diet this Christmas.

12. Piano duets with mysterious neighbour by Giorgio Lo Porto. (Facebook reel) Even though I’d seen this before, rewatching it made me cry.

13. Everything You Need To Know About Weight Training … According To Experts. This is presented as “for weight loss” but what I liked is the three simple workouts included.

14. ‘Bluey’ Movie Set for 2027 Theatrical Release From Disney and BBC Studios.

15. The stories we tell ourselves from Seth Godin.

16. Poetry: After Wendy Pulls the Fool for Me and Before Winter Solstice, I Remember from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, and The Amazon of Avignon from Julie Barton, and Wintering by James A Pearson.

17. The 39 Most Anticipated Books of 2025. In related news, the must-see films for 2025 you can’t miss.

18. My Brain Is Goldfish (But Here Are Some Things I Liked In 2024) from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. He also invites readers to share their favorites in the comment section.

19. A Happier You in 2025: Gentle Vows. “Your gentle guide to change in the New Year & beyond” from Satya Robyn on Going Gently.

20. Pine Tree Time-lapse 300 Days. (video) “Last Christmas they sold these stone pine cones in the supermarket so I bought one to try to see if I could grow something from the seeds.” There’s also a follow-up video, Pinecone to Pine tree time-lapse. “653 days. The tree is doing well but i think it’s time soon to switch to a bigger pot.”

21. Reclaiming the ability to People from Patti Digh. “This experience of reentering the world is a journey marked by a mixture of resilience, hesitation, and profound change. The pandemic altered the rhythm of daily life, forcing many of us into isolation, reimagining our routines, and rethinking our relationships with one another and the world around us. Now, as we step back into shared spaces, workplaces, and community settings, we carry the imprints of those experiences with us. Or at least I do.”

22. A giant baby penguin, a man wearing 350 puddings and stitching a 16ft tree – 100 heartwarming stories of 2024.

23. A Fun One-Rule Game for the Holidays.

24. ‘Just do something you enjoy!’ Have official targets made exercise a chore – and happiness more elusive? “We all know roughly how many minutes we should be spending getting sweaty every week, thanks to repeated messages from national governments and the World Health Organization. When it comes to mental health, the picture is a lot less clear.”

25. No, You Can’t Just ‘Bank’ All Your Rest During Vacations and Breaks. “Experts say you need to make downtime part of your everyday life for it to work.”

26. A simple, 2-minute solution to friendship distancing. “The “Wednesday Waffle” has become a weekly tradition for friend groups around the world.”

27. Trust your timing. I needed this reminder: “I suppose I wanted to write all of this to say that in the process of healing, in the process of bringing fragmented parts together, in the process of building whatever you want—there are times of progress and there are times of slowness and it is so important to trust your own timing. To believe in an inner wisdom that knows better than you do what you need to do now, what you need to do next. To believe and trust that there is growth happening even when you can’t see it. And sometimes in order for growth and healing to happen there must be slow times. It is required.”

28. And finally, this collection of random things I saved to my phone this week.