The Magpie Diary: Dec. 24, 2023.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.

Quelle semaine! This week, I challenged myself to let go of the inessential (the “smidgies,” as we called them); attended several fantastic holiday festivities that planted me in the holiday spirit; and — my girl lost her second front tooth! She has been on cloud nine. Visits from the Tooth Fairy and Santa in close succession?! Moments like this remind me of how small my children’s worlds are, and how urgent it is to roundly celebrate these milestones. Attention is a form of love.

I cannot get over how adorable she looks with this proud toothless grin. (P.S. – I love the design on her little soft cotton dress — part of an inexpensive two-pack from Old Navy.)

We attended a cocktails and caroling event over the weekend, and while most of the children (mine included) gathered around the musicians with maracas and bells for the majority of the event, at one point, we found my son sitting on a chair at the room’s perimeter with ankles crossed, singing earnestly. He loves, and sings expressively, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and I am writing this down here to remind myself to record him singing it tonight when I tuck him into bed. We carry all the ages of our children with us, but it is a special treasure to hear their baby voices, recorded, years later. (P.S. Micro’s sweater is Trotter’s London.)

I baked the most delicious chewy ginger-molasses cookies over the weekend. They were from Jesse Szewczyk’s Cookies book, which I have referenced many times now. I find the recipes to be excellent, and slightly more interesting than your run-of-the-mill classics. These were a 10/10. Mr. Magpie loved them.

On Saturday morning, my girl woke up warm to the touch, appetite-less, and exhausted. I couldn’t believe it — we’d just gotten through the stomach bug, and Christmas was in sight! I spent most of the morning sitting on the floor of her bedroom while she dozed or quietly played with her LOL Surprise Dolls and we listened to The Magic Treehouse series on audiobook, working on my Christmas cards. (Better late than never — a smidgie kind of thing anyhow. I never think twice when a Christmas card strolls in a few days after the new year!). In a funny way, I knew even as I sat on the floor of her room that I’d never forget that morning: my girl and I huddled together on a chilly holiday morning.

Fortunately, she made one of those rapid recoveries only possible in young children who are basically regenerating their bodies every minute. By the afternoon, she was spry and running around as if nothing had happened.

Our cards are from Dogwood Hill, designed by my friend Riley. I shared my sweater in this week’s “What I Loved Wearing” post, but it deserves another shout-out. I find myself often reaching for it in lieu of a sweatshirt — it has the best weight and is ultra-soft/plush. Also a perfect match for my Beyond Yoga set! Have we talked about the Beyond Yoga leggings? They rival Aligns in my book in terms of comfort. Love the spacedye fabric, too.

The view from my desk at the top of the week. A girlfriend sent me a copy of High Vibrational Beauty: Recipe and Rituals for Radical Self Care a week or two ago. A good starting point for a week in which I was determined to “drop the smidgies.” Behind the book: Camilla Moss scripture cards and a little water color my friend Inslee painted me. Its colors draw me toward a place of playfulness when I glance over at them.

At the other end of my rickety desk (can you see it’s chipped, peeling, and quite literally on its last legs?! I’ve had this since college and continue to nurture a bizarre attachment to it): a photograph of my grandmother (I see so much of her in me now: “I saw my grandmother just now — I was looking in the mirror, and she stared straight back”) and a drawing from my son (one of the first times he wrote “MAMA”). Roots and branches. (So many of you asked where the frames were from — they’re these!)

Though these desktop companions occasionally encroach on my sense of space (every now and then, I will dramatically remove everything from my desk so I have an entirely open desktop), they are more consistently my muses. Calliopes, all. I am fortunate to be surrounded by these well-wishers.

On Monday night, I had a girlfriend over to watch the Kacey Musgraves Christmas special. I watch this yearly, with varying degrees of investment. Last year, we had a bigger group of friends over, drank martinis (some of our favorite martini recipes here), and put out an elaborate spread that included homemade Swedish meatballs (more details here), but this year, we dialed it back, and it was just as lovely. It felt like a pause in the rush of the week: low-key (mostly store-bought) nibbles, a bottle of champagne and some homemade egg nog (recipe here), and idle chatter, largely speculating on which other contemporary celebrities would or should put on a fabulous Christmas special. We decided Taylor’s would feel too produced, Miley’s too dark/irreverent, etc — and landed on Lady GaGa as the perfect performer for this kind of special. We also unpacked our twin attraction to Kacey’s show. My friend smartly observed that neither of us have any cultural reference point for this type of show (though they were very popular in the 50s, 60s, etc!), and yet we viscerally understand the kitsch and tropes Kacey deploys throughout — how? Where do we grab onto these things? Interesting, always, to reflect on how and by virtue of which inputs we piece together our impressions of various cultural phenomena, including the cult of celebrity.

My boy in his knit Minnow set and NBs. The colors are so good!

Not particularly seasonally appropriate, but Mr. Magpie and I mixed up some Mai Tais this week. Sometimes you need a palate cleanser! In the background, you can see that I keep all of the holiday cards we receive in a tartan tray similar to this. My daughter loves to leaf through them on the couch.

I’m concluding this week’s diary with something a Magpie wrote in a comment this week:

“I read something a few years ago that said you could ask members of your family at the start of December what ONE activity/moment they most remember enjoying from last Christmas (you pick one too!). Work together schedule those things. Then the most important thing: let go of the other things!! And if you don’t let go of them, remember that you are doing them because YOU want to. If at some point you decide you don’t want to: take the kiddos ice skating or go to the zoo lights or bake the cut out cookies, and those things weren’t on your list…then don’t! They weren’t on the list!”

I absolutely love this rubric — a practical method for “living out what matters to you.” Using time as a tool to express your values, your interests. How you spend your days is how you spend your life…!

And, finally, on the shopping front: a girlfriend of mine wore the most fabulous gold flats to a Christmas tea we attended this week. They were by Emilia Wickstead (these, in gold, sold out everywhere but you can find variations on The Real Real) and I am now OBSESSED with her footwear. Lots of good options on sale here and here. I think I must have this pair.

A couple of other great shopping finds from the week…

COZY CROPPED PULLOVER — EYEING THIS FOR MYSELF

THE MOST ATTRACTIVE FIREPLACE SCREENS

THE EYE SHADOW PALETTE AT THE TOP OF MY SHOPPING LIST

THE COOLEST SCANDI TRAY — EYEING THIS FOR THE SMALL TABLE IN MY STUDIO, WHERE I LIKE TO STOW CARDS, RIBBON, MATCHBOOKS, ETC

AFFORDABLE L/S PERFORMANCE RUNNING TEES

COZY OVERSIZED FISHERMAN SWEATER AT A GOOD PRICE — I’D BUY A FEW SIZES UP TO WEAR WITH LEGGINGS

I’VE SEEN MANY COOL GIRLS WEARING OSSA PHONE WRISTLETS

CUTEST LITTLE STOOL FOR A CLOSET / GIRL’S ROOM / ETC

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK THANK YOU NOTES FOR YOUR KIDS TO USE AFTER CHRISTMAS

SPECTACULAR WINTER GOWN

P.S. Shaking hands with the blank page.

P.P.S. “At least everything was important.”

P.P.P.S. What do you keep in your guest bedroom? (Comments are very helpful!) Also: some household favorites and repeat buys.

If you want more Magpie, you can subscribe to my Magpie Email Digest for a weekly roundup of top essays, musings, conversations, and finds.