It’s rolling into the very early hours of Christmas Eve on the west coast and I’m tucked in my old bedroom at my parent’s house (it’s now my dad’s office where I’m sleeping on an air mattress) eating takeout Thai food, gathering our links for Sunday reading. All of this to say, this feels right. I’m also hoping my dad didn’t count the number of peanut butter cookies he just baked off before going to bed because I’m going to get into those before the night is out.
I hope you’re ready to rest and holiday the way you do. I hope you feel like you’re where you belong. Here’s a short list of reading for this week:
• Here’s to radical liberty and just going to the movies. The Gift of Loneliness: a single woman’s secret to surviving the holiday season alone.
• A list for all of us- all of the time really. 8 Ways To Have Better Relationships in 2018. More resolutions coming soon.
• Goals for 2018, get us a pajama lounge.
• Have you listened to Jessie Ware’s latest album Glasshouse? It’s fantastic. See also: Jessie Ware is working on being a working mom. There’s gin involved which does make sense to me.
• Are you baking for Christmas morning? Are Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls on the docket? Maybe these Chocolate Babka Muffins? Each have make-ahead options (aka an overnight rise in the refrigerator) so there’s no excuse not to have warm cinnamony dough with Christmas presents.
• Have you taken a visit to The Kitchn’s Cookieland? Meet me over at the Temple of the Last Minute Cookie Baker.
• What good fortune! Adrianna made us this gorgeous Crunchy Brussels Sprout Salad with pecorino, apples, and candied pecans!
• I’m very excited about making a Vision Board at the start of next year. It’s true.
• Get the pole out of the crawl space: Festivus For the Rest Of Us.
My holiday love- comin’ atcha!
xo Joy
25 Responses
Oh- Jessie Ware is just fantastic. Can’t stop listening to Glasshouse. So excited to see an article about her! Thanks for linking.
We have a Christmas cinnamon roll tradition and these ones are now our go-to recipe!
Thank you for that first link. I’m fairly comfortably alone, but I spent Christmas eve listening to a family member talk about a niece who isn’t married, and how inevitably she would find someone. I just desperately wanted to say “or maybe she won’t, and it will be ok”. I don’t begrudge anyone that hope- I hold it myself – but I also seriously grate at the way in which we societally treat people who don’t ‘find someone’ as some tragic aberration.
Anyways, happy new years- I’ll be in Zion with a friend because sometimes you should just go to the movies :D.
Wonderful! I wish I had read it before. Hope you enjoy the time with your family and friends in the new year holiday!
You really make it appear really easy with your presentation however I to find this matter to be actually one thing that I think I might never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I’m looking ahead to your subsequent post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
Merry Christmas! I always make the cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning (proving overnight). This year I subbed some items and made them vegan-they still work fantastically!
Merry Christmas! Thanks for being such a bright part of the internet. ???
Merry Christmas and Joy to the World,
Thank you for being you Joy, love your generous spirit and kind smile. May all the happiness and goodness a New Year brings be yours for the asking. I baked peanut butter cookies too and chocolate cake for the family to share; holiday desserts are the best!
Merry Christmas Joy! Love your recipes, make them over and over to everyone’s delight!
Merry Christmas, Joy!
Thanks for another great year of recipes and have a good day. :)
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Merry Christmas, Joy! I love reading your posts and trying out your recipes. Have a wondrous
week!
Merry Christmas, Joy! I may finally try a Dutch baby (your gingerbread one is my top pick) tomorrow morning.
Merry Christmas Joy!! Thank you for another year of wonderful, meaningful, and timely words. They are some of my favorite words to read, and I always read them, even if I have no intention of cooking whatever you’re teaching me to cook. I appreciate you, Joy. Have a great holiday, and I look forward to what you bring to the world next year.
Merry Christmas! I’m relaxing the rest of the afternoon until lunch at my grandads tomorrow. I hope you have a merry Christmas Eve!
Merry Christmas, Joy – from a hot and sticky Brisbane – no early morning baking here! Thank you for your Let It Be Sundays throughout the year – even if I don’t comment often, I love reading them and the links you post – always thought-provoking and inspiring.
Merry Christmas, Joy!
Thanks for another great year of recipes.
Danke… Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!
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Merry, Merry Joy! Wishes for a wonderful time with you family.
BTW…I just tried the lInk for Cookieland and it takes me to the pajama lounge…oops! You must really have PJ’s and lounging on your mind.
corrected link to COOKIELAND
https://www.thekitchn.com/landing/cookie-recipes
Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Merry Christmas Joy!
Have a wonderful holiday. It was so great to see your brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe featured in The Washington Post recently! Bravo!!! Looking forward to trying the Cinnamon Rolls or Chocolate Babka ‘pull-aparts’ (or maybe both)!
I’ve become a regular reader just this year and wanted to thank you for making me laugh with the pop culture references that you weave into your posts, for making me think with your Sunday links, and for giving me the courage to cook and bake things I didn’t think possible. Merry Christmas and I hope you have a healthy and happy 2018!
Happy Christmas Joy! I very much appreciate you taking the time to write this for us on your holiday – it’s not at all taken for granted.
For tomorrow morning I’m hesitating between your babka muffins and a salted caramel brioche… tough call!
Love from Lyon (France)
Enjoy the time in your parent’s house and have wonderful Christmas with your family!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
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