Hello friends! Welcome to the the last Let It Be Sunday in the year of our Lord 2020.
This year I flailed. This year I stayed steady. I think I’m tired from both.
I spent this Christmas alone in New Orleans, thinking of all the big and small ways 2020 has changed us. I mean… we change every year, but a Zoom family Christmas is real whiplash. In some way, 2020 brought us the usual amending of habits, searching different things serve us. I, for one, got in and out my own way constantly and that story stayed the same. This year we were called to action – to save lives, teach our children, figure out Zoom. We were called to sit with ourselves, like it or not. We were called to fog up our own glasses and live with our own coffee breath.
I was thinking I should have kept some sort of daily diary, but these Sunday posts are a diary of sorts. Here’s a glimpse of who we were this very spring.
What are your bright spots for the year? I bought a piano and spent a lot of time not on Instagram, but instead learning how to play. I kept my cat, several plants and friendships alive and thriving. I fell in love. I wrote a magazine. I taught baking classes virtually and learned how to talk nonstop for just about three hours straight. I cooked outside. I cooked more than I wanted to. I resigned to washing dishes constantly. I got dressed, dangit.
I gifted my friend Suzonne a travel case and cashmere scarf for the holiday – something I pictured her wearing on travels to a new city, to see new sites, in new times. She thanked me in a text by saying “Thank you for making a deposit on my dreams”. Amen to that!
Instead of resolutions this coming year, let’s make deposits on our dreams. Let’s take time this week and figure out what that means for us. I’m invested.
The offering this week is below. You know the drill. Take only what you need.
• Let’s take this straight to the bank. Bake = our weary souls. 32 Hopeful Images From 2020. (The Atlantic)
• Categorize this as Other People’s Juicy Business: The Journalist and the Pharma Bro and the update. I can’t. I shan’t. I am screaming inside. (Elle and The Cut).
• The AI Girlfriend Seducing China’s Lonely Men. Ok but would it be reasonable to ask men to like, shoulder some of their own lives instead of asking a woman to mold themselves to be their perfect companion? We really can’t do that which is why they need a literal robot to do it for them? I’m waving the white flag. (Sixth Tone)
• 26 of the best new apps of 2020. Honestly, it’s a wild and very technological world. (Fast Company)
• Let us not forget Jon’s No-Yeast No-Boil Bagels for those dark days when everyone was a new baker and there was no yeast to speak of. (The Candid Appetite)
• Everyone rediscovered banana bread this year. Remember that? (Joy the Baker)
• Currently listening to: Morning Sun by Melody Garot. (Spotify)
• Watching (and completely obsessed with) a new show: Your Honor. Friends have been seeing Brian Cranston around town and this show is one reason why. It takes place in New Orleans and is suoer weighty and beautiful. (Showtime)
• What I’m craving: only potatoes, hello winter. I think I’ve linked to this before but I pulled it up again, just for my dinner needs. Maybe you need it to: 20 Ways to Turn a Baked Potato Into Dinner. (The Kitchn)
• I wonder if 2021 is the year I finally treat myself to a set of linen sheets I’ve wanted for years. The suspense is killing me. (Land’s End)
• New year, new calendar. I’m not going to fool myself and start a new day planner this year. I know I only have the discipline to get to mid-February with a daily calendar. I’m splurging on this wall calendar from New Orleans artist Kiernan Dunn. I’ve been gifted a few of her calendars from year’s past and they’re so beautiful they’re worth saving and framing. (Etsy)
• A sweetie lemon tea towel that sparks joy. (Overseasoned)
• I think this is such a sweet gift for a new couple on Valentine’s Day or a family: scratch off travel map. It’s the kind of thing that says – we love each other and we love this life. Ya know? (Etsy)
That’s it for today. That’s it for this year. I hope you know I’m so thankful you’re here.
Happy New Year!
My love to you!
xo Joy
Jennifer
I’m so happy I found your little part of the interwebz…especially this year. Linen sheets….aaaaah, the best. It’s like sleeping in clouds. Enjoy, see you next year!
Ashleigh
Joy, that bagel link was everything this morning. Thankful for weekly links and thankful for YOU!
Megan
Thank you Joy! These weekly posts are something I look forward to every week. Have a Happy New Year and keep up the good work!
Anna
Buy the sheets! Linen sheets are wonderful and we spend 1/3 of our lives in bed. (Yes, I know that I sound like a commercial.) Be as good to you as you are to us :)
John Popovich
We all need love in our life. So happy you found some. I have enjoyed your your work on Sundays and all the recipes you give us. Happy New Year Joy. We deserve it.
joythebaker
Thank you, John!
Susan Jackson-Rafter
Buy the sheets! Life is too short not to sleep on linen. Winter and summer, they’re the best!
Sherril Cohn
Joy, you give the heart of this California-living, 71 year old New Orleans native such JOY! Great recipes notwithstanding (that’s what brought me to you), where your head and heart are is what makes your site something to truly look forward to! Let us all continue loving and putting up with one another as we approach 2021. Keep the good stuff coming.
joythebaker
I’m really happy you’re here, Sherril!
Stella
Thank you Joy, for another mindful read. For all of us, may the promise of a Happy Healthy New Year be true. 2021 I’m looking at you.
Karen
Enjoy your new sheets and have wonderful, pleasant dreams. Hope that 2021 is better for everyone. Thanks Joy for bringing some light into my Sunday mornings.
Barbara
Happy New Year, Joy!
Don’t dunk too hard on Chinese men looking for love where they can: thanks to the one-child policy and sex-selective abortion, China has about 30 million more men than women. That’s a lot of guys that never get a chance to hone their relationship skills with a real woman, and many more whose only relationships begin and end with monetary transactions.
Cyndie
Happy New Year Joy!
Anna Robinson
Happy last Sunday to 2020, Joy. I can’t wait to say goodbye to this year! Thank you for your Let it be Sunday collection. This weeks potato article reminded me of a small university place in Berkeley, CA that fed us baked potatoes of all sorts on the cheap. I think you could even just order a plain baked potato for $1.50 (very in tune with a students budget back in the 90’s). This year really taught me to enjoy the small things in life and be kind to myself.
joythebaker
I remember those extra tight budget days! For me it was a can of beans and a bag of rice that would get me through a week.
Ro
Happy New Year, Joy! 2020 has been a punch in the gut. Trying to see the positives and keep the hope…but I’ve never been happier to see a year end. I love your advice on making deposits on our dreams. I will take that with me and spread it those around me. Blessings to you in the new year!
Jamie Langley
In February I gifted my daughter a spot for your spring Drake on a Cake, and then our world shifted. Event was put on hold, and then canceled. Hoping the future holds another opportunity to share the event with you in the future.
joythebaker
Yes it definitely will!
Barbara N.
Joy..to me it sounds like you had a fabulous year with a lot of amazing things that have come your way. Here’s to 2021 and make more great memories..