1. Poetry: Traveler by Sarah Satterlee, Confession 151: On Becoming Ceramic by Furkan Pinar, We Speak of August by Valentina Gnup, Information Only by Dale E. Day-Hudson, The Opportunities Pantoum by James Valvis, Solstice Pantoum by Deema K. Shehabi, Going Back by Roger Mitchell, Old Tree Woman by Jena Schwartz, Baking Cake on Dec. 27 (In Honor of Kyra Kopestonsky) and Space Exploration and The Dream Rink and Six Glimpses of Christmas Eve and Lit and Because by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Everything That Is Divided and In Times Like These by James Crews, Power by Maya Stein, and How the Light Comes by Jan Richardson on Heart Poems. Bonus joy in poetry this week is “Peace, Please” a FREE poetry anthology “made possible by the generous voices of the community,” foreword by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and edited by ZenJen Brown.

2. Good stuff from Patti Digh: The world narrowed to a blade (“A meditative experience of reversal”) and White lights and train dreams (“a life can be ordinary and still be enough”) and Two celebrations in one (“Pausing before Christmas day rushes forward”).

3. The quiet pressure at the end of the year from The Tiny Joy Project. “On living a year instead of summarizing it.”

4. The 8 most wholesome internet moments of 2025. Add to that list Brit’s story in her latest post about her dog Billie giving “her favorite toy to the vacuum cleaner yesterday, play-bowing to it, ready to tumble,” and Kevin the Peacock. This one also seems to belong here, To the Young Couple Building a Snowman on the Aspen Loop.

5. Return, a January yoga series with Adriene, “a special four-part series inspired by my Saturday mornings as a child and now, Sunday mornings as an adult. That once-a-week ritual that offers an opportunity to return to what matters most.”

6. 21 days of pen to page with Laurie Wagner. “If you’re craving clarity, honesty, and a deeper connection to your natural writing voice, you’re in the right place. For 21 days, you’ll receive poems, prompts, short daily videos, and a simple 15-minute invitation to write — all designed to help you land on the page exactly as you are.”

7. Letting the path hold the answers on Yoga Humans.

8. Object-ives #16: The Inheritance I Bought. “A dead woman’s milk glass collection became the family heirloom I never had.”

9. Seven Sacred Moments (plus a baby camel), “& the actor Rainn Wilson on holy spaces” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.

10. What’s Your Party Trick? from Jamie Attenberg. “On the cookbooks we use.”

11. Follow your inner moonlight from Alix Klingenberg on Earth & Verse.

12. From Seth Godin: Building blocks of marketing and Your best work and All bananas are the same and Popular new ideas.

13. Life After Instagram: What Happens When You Delete Social Media.

14. The Small Gestures That Help Us Navigate Grief on The New York Times. (gift link) “Readers share the small, practical acts of kindness that made a difference.”

15. Learning to Feel Safe Resting After a Lifetime of People-Pleasing.

16. ‘The sight of it is still shocking’: 46 photos that tell the story of the century so far on The Guardian.

17. Things That Leave from the Heart from Jena Schwartz.

18. 7 Little Ways to Embrace and Enjoy The Moments That Matter from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

19. From Danny Gregory: What I wish for you this Christmas and How to get rich making art.

20. I Don’t Want To “Get Through” This from Megan Falley. “Loving the holidays after losing a partner.”

21. it’s okay to write a things-I’m-loving-list when the world is falling apart from Elissa Altman.

22. These are Dark Days. Don’t Lose Your Light on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.

23. Letting Love in Gretchen Schmelzer. I love this so, so much.

24. On these in-between days I’m ‘growing down’, sinking into the present moment and savouring small delights. “My centre of gravity has shifted. The holidays are no longer something to construct but something to receive” on The Guardian’s Making sense of it, a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life.

25. Speak the Truth in Love from Bill Johnson of Bethel Church. (YouTube short) 

26. More “best of” lists: 7 Podcasts for Bookworms on The New York Times (gift link), Here are some fantastic nonfiction ‘Books We Love’ recommendations from NPR staff, The 20 best podcasts of 2025, and Guardian readers’ best films of 2025.

27. Neuroscience Explains How and Why Humans Should Hibernate a Little in Winter You’re not just lazy or tired in winter. “Your body wants you to slow down and recharge. So go ahead and (semi-) hibernate.”

28. Boulder artist creates nature-themed stickers to cover new National Park Pass design. “A Boulder artist is creating removable stickers featuring her nature paintings to cover the 2026 America the Beautiful annual pass…The Department of Interior recently announced the 2026 annual passes would feature President Trump’s face next to George Washington’s.” McCarty said the goal is to refocus attention on nature. 

 

1. Poetry: The Reassembly by Isabella Nesheiwat, Dementia Sonnet by Justin Rigamonti, Fun by Patricia Fargnoli, Pain Scale by Richard Siken, Abundance by Amy Schmidt, Permission by Julia Fehrenbacher, Standing in the Dark on Winter Solstice and But Not a Moment Sooner and So Soon from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, The Artist Orpheus by Donald Justice, Enter Terror by Dalia Taha, The Sign as You Exit the Artist’s Colony Says “The Real World” by Aliki Barnstone, Christmas Tree and Let Everything Happen to You by James Crews, Winter Lemons by Alberto Ríos, Pokeberries by Ruth Stone, Elephants Born Without Tusks by Alison C. Rollins and This dark is the same dark as when you close by R.A. Villanueva and On Proliferation by Cass Donish shared by Maggie Smith on The Slowdown, what makes sense by Maya Stein, Assurance by William Stafford shared by Patti Digh, and Hallelujah Anyway by Moudi Sbeity on Heart Poems.

2. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Filtering ourselves and Our practice and Timing your overnight success.

3. Good stuff from Patti Digh: The question I cannot answer and For the first time in years, I am baking cookies for the holidays (because this: “That world feels very far away now. Not just the cookies, but the confidence that there would always be more time, more people, more Decembers unfolding the way they always had. Traditions don’t usually end with a bang; they thin and thin until they become memory” *sigh*).

4. More book lists: 30 authors on the books they give to everyone on The Guardian, and The 10 Best Memoirs of 2025, and The Ultimate Best Books of 2025 List, and The Best Books We Read in 2025, and Six Memoirs That Make Grief Feel a Tiny Bit Less Lonely, and Here Are All the Award-Winning Novels of 2025, and The Books Times Readers Were Most Excited About This Year on The New York Times (gift link), and The 24 Best Books We Read in 2025. In related news, Forget Gilead, this early Marilynne Robinson novel is unmatched, “Her 1980 novel Housekeeping follows two orphaned girls who spend most of their childhood fearing the dark waters of an Idaho lake.”

5. Dustings by Susie Mawhinney. “I want to tell you something. Again. I want to tell you that a morning of winter gorgeousness can unleash childlike excitement. How waking to a silence dressed in just enough white at sunrise can create gold dust. I want to show you the magic of snow.”

6. Some General Theories About Why You Might Feel Like Crap Right Now on Culture Study.

7. The Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall: A Tender Illustrated Parable about the Measure and Meaning of Love from Maria Popova on The Marginalian.

8. Let the Night be Long, “winter solstice and the work of staying” from Isabel Abbott.

9. Inhabiting the wide world, “On the poetry of Marie Howe” from Pádraig Ó Tuama on Poetry Unbound.

10. Living the Questions on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. “To live the questions is to loosen the grip—not on control exactly, but on the belief that I ever held it. The universe does not bend to intention; it flares, veers, interrupts itself. Uncertainty is the ground we stand on. What remains within our reach is attention: the discipline of noticing, the choice to respond with imagination and care.”

11. I hate this TV series I’m binge-watching, yet I’m on track to complete all 177 episodes. Why am I doing it? by Imogen West-Knights on The Guardian.

12. Zadie Smith’s heads up to young people: ‘You are absolutely going to become old’ on Fresh Air Author Interviews on NPR.

13. The Simple Ingredient That Makes Gingerbread Taste Like a $13 Bakery Treat. **Spoiler Alert**: fresh ground black pepper. Just like adding coffee to chocolate cake.

14. Food Banks Wish You’d Donate These 8 Items More Often. “Experts share how to make a food bank donation that best serves your local community.”

15. Homeowner shares before-and-after video after transforming lifeless front yard: ‘It gives you way more in return.’

16. I’ve been doing Yoga With Adriene’s January programmes for 10 years—here’s why I think the just-announced 2026 series is great for beginners. “With just four practices, it’s a more realistic way to start the new year off right.”

17. 600 Readers Told Us About the Best Gifts They Ever Got. These Are the Top 13. on The New York Times. (gift link)

18. Psychology says people who are naturally kind but have no close friends often display these 7 traits.

19. Meet the ‘Resistance Rangers’ Fighting to Protect Your National Parks.
“An anonymous band of off-duty park rangers has risen up to defend America’s public lands from budget cuts, firings, and political neglect.”

20. Betty Reid Soskin, Nation’s Oldest Park Ranger, Dies at 104 on The New York Times. (gift link) “She began working as a park ranger at age 85, educating visitors about the women and people of color who served on the home front in World War II, herself among them.”

21. Good stuff from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less: 8 Permission Slips to Simplify Your Stuff, Time and Energy and 5 Slow Living Gifts We All Need.

22. How to smell like a dog by Danny Gregory. Also from Danny: A few of my favorite things, “My annual inventory of tools, toys and inspiration.”

23. A Winter Quest, “going inward, together” from Alix Klingenberg on Earth & Verse, which includes two gorgeous poems and a list of prompts.

24. Pushkin the Christmas Gnome. “A Story for You (and anyone who could use a little light)” from Brad Montague.

25. Happy Holidays whether you like it or not on the Awkward Yeti from Nick Seluk. “I’m a little torn about Christmas. It’s filled with tradition, nostalgia, crippling debt, fun movies, dark and gray landscapes, pretty lights, endless obligations, happy kids and seasonal depression.”

26. Hope Is a Double-Edged Sword by Elizabeth Kleinfeld. “On ketamine therapy, chronic pain, and realizing that hope itself can create suffering.”

27. I need you to know how much I love you all, but I also need to scream what the hell by Garrett Bucks on The White Pages. “The dilemma is, we ware capable of great beauty and wonder and care, but we also keep killing each other.”

28. The Only Thing We Have Control Over from Megan Falley. “On shifting our attention toward what doesn’t suck.”

29. What Went Right in 2025: Our Favorite Good News From This Year on Nice News.

30. Danish postal service to stop delivering letters after 400 years. “PostNord’s decision to end service on 30 December comes after fear over ‘increasing digitalisation’ of Danish society.” This makes me so sad.

31. 30 Unique Ways Christmas Is Celebrated Around the World. In related news, 8 Winter Solstice Celebrations Around the World.

32. The Dead Mall Society by Lana Hall. “Standing in the wreckage of these spaces unlocks a sensation people often crave, but can’t name.”

33. The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2025. *ouch*

34. The Best *Everything* of 2025. “14 friends share their 2025 discoveries, including pretty nightgowns, a delicious spice cake, and the best night out.”

35. A small Christmas on a pale blue dot, “For the years when Christmas feels different” on The Tiny Joy Project.

36. Four thoughts about living in reality from The Imperfectionist.

37. Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever.

38. Worried about winter? 10 ways to thrive – from socialising to Sad lamps to celebrating the new year in April on The Guardian. “The temptation is to sit at home and hibernate, but beating the winter blues can be done. Here’s how to embrace the coldest and arguably most beautiful season.”

39. Keeping Score on Short Reads. “One day, I’ll look back on these trips and wish we could relive them together. Possibly there are many more ahead of us, but at our age we can never be sure. Questioning the future is second nature for me after so many decades of loss and uncertainty. Regardless, I’ll always be grateful for this life we’ve made.”

40. Have Yourself an Anti-Fascist Christmas on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz. “This Christmas, our lives can make the strong, steady, unwavering declaration that wherever we are: The immigrant will be welcomed. The hungry will be fed. The sick will be healed. The vulnerable will be cared for. The outsider will be welcomed in. The weary will be given rest. The mourning will be embraced.”

41. The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself, “Especially when times are tough” from Connie Sun.

42. Good stuff from Jamie Attenberg on Craft Talk: The Things We Need to Fix, “And how it makes us feel,” and The Ones Hanging Around, “A wee mid-week prompt.”

43. Endings are hard, but facing them helps us to heal. Moy Sarner’s final ‘how to build a better life’ column for The Guardian. “I understand the temptation to run away – I have felt it too. Try to stay in the room, and in the moment. You’ll be glad you did.”

44. ‘Don’t be disheartened by mistakes’: 10 lessons my artist father taught me. “David Gentleman’s brilliant career spans eight decades, from watercolour painting to tube station murals to drawing the Tottenham riots. Here his daughter, the Guardian journalist Amelia Gentleman, dispenses his invaluable advice.”

45. Cut Through the Bullshit and Notice the Sparks by Jena Schwartz. “A dream delivers a challenging teaching.”