Hello and good Sunday from me, Tron, and our little Christmas tree.
We made our Christmas mini this year since trees have gotten more expensive and I want to stick to my holiday budgie. Mom made ornaments from Hello Bargello, paired with a few handmade ornaments I made last year, and a few peacock feathers from Houston. Sweet, right? It’s small but mighty this year, and we love it.
I’ve got my eye on the prize this week and the prize is the week between Christmas and New Years – my week off work with a little end of year camping trip. What are you looking forward to this strange strange holiday season? Sincere question, I’d love to hear!
If you’re looking forward to just making it through this year; that sounds about right.
I hope this finds you with a few moments to yourself this morning. Take it all slow. The offering this week is below. I hope you find something you need. If not, I’m glad you popped in all the same.
โข Through the fire. 2020 The Year In Pictures (New York Times)
โข Jose Andres was the example even before the pandemic: What the pandemic can teach us about treating hunger. (The Washington Post)
โข Does your community have community fridges? I like to quick organize them as much as I like to stock them. (Instagram)
โข The year of Our Shared Unsharing. I mean… we’re not super well rn. Just do what feels right to you and stand by it. Ya know? (The Cut)
โข But at least Mt Everest grew. (NBC News)
โข My friend Ashley English of Small Measure is teaching a virtual Winter Beverage class next Sunday and I’ve personally enjoyed her Wassail so I’m absolutely signing up. You too? (Eventbrite)
โข I’m starting this true-crime podcast this weekend: Tom Brown’s Body. Thanks for the recommendation, Suzonne! (Texas Monthly)
โข I want to make a special date-night dinner this week. The sort of dinner I’ll put on a dress for, even though I’m just saying home. Time for Steakhouse Dinner at home! I’m leaning towards short ribs and mashed potatoes but I might land on cast iron steaks and twice baked potatoes. (Epicurious)
โข This festive dessert stopped me in my tracks. It looks like a labor of love, I’d claim two slices for myself: Eton Mess-Topped Cranberry Curd Tart with Candied Kumquats
โข My brain didn’t want to do much reading this year but I’m glad it held space for Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger by Lisa Donovan. If you haven’t read it, it’s recommended. (Bookshop.org)
โข The most popular recipe on joythebaker this week is Confetti Holiday Shortbread Cookies. (Joy the Baker)
โข We’re wrapping up our year of unexpected online baking courses at The Bakehouse. Yesterday I taught 100 people how to make a Yule Log Cake – ambitious but we sure did it. On December 23rd we’re making cinnamon rolls as a virtual group. Each class has playlist and here’s this season’s list: JtB’s Christmas Playlist 2020. (Spotify)
โข We have a few Bakehouse Live classes coming up this winter before we start in-person classes. Come have a puff pastry weekend with us in the new year! (Eventbrite)
โข A watch that teaches us the lesson that age flaws and imperfections make things more valuable. Bring on the wrinkles (just kidding, don’t like, come rushing in. Take your time.)! The 1985 Rolex GMT-Master Tiffany Dial explained… thoroughly. (YouTube)
Have a lovely Sunday, friends.
Thanks for being here!
My love to you.
xo Joy
32 Responses
I’m looking forward to our traditional Ski-N The New Year ski-camping trip. Crossing my fingers for good snow!
This Christmas will be quite difficult. I have been blessed, but it seems to be such a difficult time, it is bringing me down. I didn’t celebrate Christmas the time my son went to Iraq during the war. Did not even realize that I missed Christmas because of him in a very dangerous place. I think I just realize how I am feeling, when I visited your Sunday blog and it is Tuesday, didn’t even realize I missed Sunday.
Thank you for your weekly Sunday writings. I really enjoy them – and now I must wash my face, put on my big girl panties and get my house Christmas ready. I am blessed. WHAT GOOD THING CAN I DO FOR MY NEIGHBORS TODAY?
Listen, itโs Monday evening, but Iโm just getting here. I made the confetti cookies this week! But from your magazine <3 and with rainbow jimmies because itโs what I had and, you know, weโre not running to the store for Christmas confetti even though I Really wanted to! Anyway, I could hear you telling me to โdo meโ and โitโs fine.โ And I did and it was more than fine! Thanks for everything, Joy!
“Bring on the wrinkles (just kidding, don’t like, come rushing in)…” made me lol because that has totally been my headspace this year. And then at some point (september) I was like “I know! I’ll just cut myself some bangs!!!” like that was gonna fix it all. Oh dear. What a year.
I smiled (and might have giggled) when I saw Tron looking at your Christmas tree. So sweet!
Hello,
A forced move for work to the UK with ten days notice during the pandemic. College kids are stranded on one side of the Atlantic, with us on the other. For the first time ever, even after nine international moves, and one right in December, I cannot, just cannot open up holiday ornaments and nutcrackers. So…favorite Christmas cookies mailed to the kids, a few wreaths up, including one in my bakehouse, and a pink popup tree that can fit in a pizza box. We are in Tier Two here, and staying in a National Trust cottage for a week in Cornwall. Sometimes the best thing to do is to acknowledge how bad things are and not try to duplicate old customs, or soldier or, but to try something new. Better times next year at this time!
This holiday season, I am looking forward to a little less stressful holiday season. I am lucky enough to live in New Brunswick, Canada where as of yesterday we have had a total of 557 Covid-19 cases and 8 deaths. We only have a population of 750,000 or something but we are thankful that we have done so well. That being said, gatherings will be smaller and most activities like our annual open house and a cookie decorating day for some of our favourite kids are not happening this year. Our out-of-province family and friends cannot visit so it will only be immediate family for most events which takes a little pressure off everyone.
Happy Holidays, stay safe and take care of yourself and those you love.
Enjoy this time with your dad Joy. Iโm
Sure it will be filled with all the emotions.
And I made your confetti shortbread over the weekend for gifting. The biggest compliment I got from my neighbour was it tasted like the one her grandma used to make. That makes me happy.
Happy Holidays, Joy!
I’m in QLD, Australia so this moment right before work finishes is our hottest, wettest and sweatiest time. Time drags like it did in school before the summer holidays.
During the Christmas break I’ll be camping in the Lamington rainforest. It’s been raining a HEAP so all of the waterfalls and swimming holes will be doing their best by the time we visit.
I very much enjoyed looking back at your camping menus and planning my own – it really helped!
Currently browsing through your archives to find good treats to bring for colleagues in the last week. Our weather makes it a little tricky because most festive treats just melt and smush in the sub-tropics.
Keep well!
This Christmas is special, my dad is in Hospice so it will be his last. We bought a big too expensive tree, we have two wreaths ( fireplace and front door). My sister and her boyfriend decorated the trees out front with lights. We are enjoying all the time we can with him ( being laid off is one bright light in pandemic for me).Making your shortbread today, his favorite cookie. We are feeling blessed, he has his mind, Itโs his body thatโs failing. He gets to stay in his own home and be surrounded by love. the community fridge organization is a wonderful thing. Thank you for another beautiful Sunday post.
Oh, Cy. Sending you and your family love, comfort, and peace as you walk this difficult past. All the best. Xo
Sending you and you family much warmth this season, Cy. You all sound lovely and strong.
Morning Sunshine. Lovely way to start my day. This year you gave me permission to have a little tree, decorated only in dried orange slices (California girls) and I am packing my cookie tins with Brown Sugar Gingersnap Cookies. Our anniversary is the 22nd, so I will bust my bustle as an essential worker who is now getting tested daily before I report to the hospital (holy moly, this sh*t is no joke folks) I take the day off and pack a picnic for my man and drive up Hwy 1. We just might come home to a date night at home, or we may collapse in an exhausted heap. Either way, we will nail the best day of the year. Happy happy and Joy joy!
Looking forward to a first โicy hikeโ in the ADK mountains. My husband and I gifted ourselves with crampons, alpine snow shoes, and upgraded hiking boots. Although we frequently hike various North Country peaks, from spring through autumn, the trails were especially packed this year. Weโre hoping to enjoy the cold air with a little less foot traffic.
I look forward to your blog as it always feels like a precious gift from you. As I open it I receive a loving welcome and comments. As well as recipes to prepare for that something different. Happy loving something from the oven ?????
Thank you for sharing my class, friend! Much appreciated.
Hi! I want to thank you for sharing the Heather Robertson videos a few months back. They’ve really been a great option as I wait on someday getting back to the gym. Appreciated!
I second that comment! Thanks so much for Heather Robertson!
Yes likewise! I didn’t do her 3 month series but I’ve done a bunch of her other videos, and want to try the 3 month when I get some equipment. I’ve worked out w/the help of YTers for a while now, but am so glad to have been introduced to Heather!
Reading Let it Be Sunday is always how I start my Sunday! With your Everest article and 2020 in pics, I was even able to get my husband to sign up, too, since I’m always quoting things, or passing him my computer! Not ready for Christmas yet, but I am going to get on that real soon! We live in the mountains, so, with any luck, during the week in between Christmas and New Years, we will be shoveling, snow-blowing, putting our dog in her coat and heading out to ski and play in the snow! We had scary fires this summer, so even shoveling should be something to appreciate. I bought some “Peace Out 2020” decorations and champagne glasses for my sons and their wives on Etsy. We are hopeful for 2021. Maybe next year we can plan a party! Wouldn’t a good pot-luck just be awesome right about now???!!!
Also, Your No Bake Pumpkin Tres Leches was a huge Thanksgiving hit! YUM! I made some in small containers and gave them to friends!
Joy, thanks for the playlist! I hope you and your family have a happy holiday season.??
Happy Sunday, Joy! As always, these posts are the highlight of my Sunday morning. I look forward to the NYT Year in Photos each year, and I donโt know what I was expecting, but this yearโs was just….a punch in the gut. I couldnโt make it past April before I had to click away. There are times I feel OK, like life is almost normal, and there are times when I canโt imagine where we go from here, where we can go after a year like this. Trying to settle deep into the holidays this year, to hold on to that pocket of brightness…..
Same here, Caitlin. After April I just had to click away. So much pain. Itโs still fresh. Sending love to all those coping with the physical and economic effects. I believe things will get better, but itโs hard.
Hello Joy!
This year, I really didn’t feel any kind of holiday cheer.
It’s been a brutal nine months of isolation with a baby born in april and a very busy kid who just turned five.
It feels like nothing I do matters unless I stop doing it. Does that make sense?
Anyway, I felt absolutely lacking in the holiday happies, but then we put up the tree, and the lights and I started my holiday baking (Christmas cake, gingerbread, sugar cookies, and next up, I’m gonna try that sexy yule log recipe you posted).
Anyway, now I’m actually looking forward to that week between xmas and new years too. A break from homeschooling, an excuse to drink a third cup of coffee while i pretend i like gluing glitter to popsicle sticks, and dropping cookie packages on neighbor’s porches. Anything to prolong the long slog that is January.
Oh, Jess, I appreciate your honesty and feel for you so much. That sounds so, so, so hard. You must be carrying so much for your family. I have a toddler so we don’t have to deal with homeschooling, but I so recognize that feeling that nothing matters unless I stop doing it. I hope you have support and resources to think about what can help relieve that sense of meaninglessness (besides a vaccine, return to school, and your youngest getting more self-sufficient). For me, it was therapy and eventually antidepressants. I couldn’t find a way out of the unending slog until I pretty much reached the “I’ll try anything to feel better” stage. Everyone’s path is different. I just want to send you warmth and encouragement in this very hard time.
Thank you Jenna.
I finally made the decision to get a therapist. Of course this is the week that nobody is available, but I’ve admitted to my partner that I’m not doing okay, and the help of a therapist I might be able to make the time between now and a vaccine not just a prison sentence but time to enjoy my family.
Thank you again.
So much of the agony of this year has been this “unseen” feeling, and I see you too.
Toddlers are no walk in the park, and I am sure there are days you feel (in the words of another mother i know) like a butler to a tiny jerk.
I see you too.
I hope the therapy and the medicine are lifting you out of the drudgery. I hope the same for all of us, that we find whatever flotation device we can to survive this winter apart. Cheers to the future.
I know this comment is late but I hope you find it. I wanted to tell you that all if not a great many mothers feel this way so you’re definitely not alone. We’ve been socially conditioned to only voice the positive aspects of motherhood and if one feels otherwise, the gospel is that one is a terrible mother. Obviously that’s not the the truth. Moms have different temperaments and the kids do too. There are really really difficult parts of motherhood (toddlers and teens being common periods). I think it was wonderful you voiced your feelings both so that you can vent and so that others can see they are not alone. My kids are about all grown up and I will readily admit that the baby/toddler/preschool phase was the hardest time for me. I would not choose to go through that period again. I hope that therapy helps you soon. Hugs from across the ethernet.
Hi, Joy.
Always nice to read your Sunday words. You inspire me to celebrate even if you have to find a different way.
My husband and I camped for Thanksgiving and weโll do it again for Christmas. We felt since we werenโt going to be with family, being outside was best for us. I may have overdone it a bit trying to make the traditional Thanksgiving meal! For Christmas Iโd like a more laidback feel. Gumbo for Christmas Eve but not sure about Christmas Day.
Thank you, Joy. Have a good week!
Happy Sunday , hope you have good weather camping. I have not had a day off since March 3 .my wish would be to keep my seniors well .i have 40 senior to take are off. I read your blog at breakfast every Sunday. Stay safe.thanks.
Hi Georget, your post really touched me. What a kind and generous soul you are. What can I do for YOU?
Good morning, Joy! I so look forward to your Sunday musings. I automatically get a smile on my face when I see โJoy the Bakerโ show up in my inbox. Thanks for bringing such โjoyโ into a difficult year.
Happy Sunday, Joy! I hope you find a slice of quiet and peace today. Thank you for your readings. I look forward to each week.