I know that I’ve talked about this topic before but sometimes I think revisiting ideas is a good. Because a little refresher or reminder never hurts anyone.

Today I’m reminding myself of what’s important, both big and small. I promise this isn’t turning into any sort of weekly gratitude feature but occasionally there’s some shit going down and it’s good to focus on the big picture.

• Knowing how you take your coffee (or tea). Bonus points if you have someone in your life who knows it without asking you.
• Voting. Not just with your actual vote but with your money and your time. How you spend resources is just as crucial as what you do in the voting booth.
• Exercise. I genuinely don’t care if your form of exercise is schlepping laundry up and down the stairs or dancing in the kitchen while you make dinner. But at some point throughout the day, move your body.
• Family. However you define it. For some, their actual families are toxic and their friends are their family. That’s fine. Just take care of them. Be there for them in good and shitty times.
• Connecting. Nothing makes me like a person more than when I can spend time with them without thinking about my phone and when they feel the same about me. Find those people and keep them close.
• Disconnecting. Shutting the damn phone off, putting it away, and appreciating whatever’s around you. A book, a pet, food, a sunset, the sound of the people down the road screaming at each other…anything.
• Creativity. Everyone has a little creativity. Explore that, tap into it, and use it sometimes. It’s really relaxing. And if you don’t think you are creative, get a piece of paper and some crayons. See what you can do.
• Art. It doesn’t matter if it’s painting, music, plays, TV, books, movies, photography, or something else I’m forgetting. Put some art in your life. It’s pretty, it makes you well-rounded, and it’s an escape. Escaping is okay sometimes.
• Clean sheets. Bonus points if you’ve shaved your legs, too. Nothing feels quite as refreshing.
• Water. Never underestimate the healing and restorative power of water. Or a nap. Or a good laugh. If you can combine all three, even better.

You know what’s not important? Pretty blog images. This is not my forte, I’m no good at it, and I’m only slightly sorry for their shitty quality. It’s one of those things I want to improve but have zero desire to spend time learning to do. Kudos and props to those of you who are good at it.

So, what would you add to the list?

I thought maybe, in light of last week’s rants, I’d highlight some things in January that didn’t totally suck. Despite the political climate we live in, good shit does still happen, both privately and publicly.

Let’s discuss.

1. 1. My running pace improved. To be fair to myself, I give zero shits if I run fast or if I ever win a race. Hell, if I always place last, that’s fine. But I did a run the other day that put me at a 13 min/mile pace and that’s a full minute improvement from a few months ago. Yay me!
   2. I have happy clients. Most of the time I feel like an imposter at this whole editing business. But I’m working on a big project right now that I tell myself I’m totally incompetent to do when really, my client is happy with my work. I still feel like an imposter but I’m apparently really good at hiding it.
   3. Concert announcements. I’m working on my summer plans and thankfully, summer concert announcements are coming in full force. Since Tom Petty died, I made a vow to myself to stop waiting to see artists I’ve never seen and always wanted to because who knows how much longer they’ll be around. Which is why I’m planning on seeing Journey and Def Leppard as well as Elton John (wish me luck for those tickets) who I’ve only seen with Billy Joel. I’m still waiting on some other announcements before I commit to anything else.
   4. Lizzy. She is doing so well. From what I understand about puppy mill survivors, they have a hard time socializing and trusting and being dogs. But my Lizzy is not that at all. She acts like she’s always lived here, she has a favorite (me), plays with toys, and housetraining is going surprisingly well. And she loves other dogs. And she’s so lovable, even the cat is coming around.
   5. Handlettering. I think I mentioned that I was learning how to do the fancy letters that you see all over the place (thanks to Rebecca Jo for her resource recommendation) and you know what? I don’t actually suck at it. I’m not ready to share anything publicly yet but it’s nice to have a creative, crafty hobby. And I promise to share some stuff soon.
   6. This new rallying cry from Janelle Monae:

So there’s 6 good things that happened this month. How about you? What’s going well for you?

I love the whole three things post idea. I’ve even done a couple before. I love them because they’re organized, they’re in list form, and they’re really easy to steal borrow from someone else. So when Tanya posted her holiday version of three things, I knew I’d be all over it.

Except. Holidays are weird. Do I talk about Hanukkah? Do I talk about Christmas? DECISIONS ARE HARD. So I decided not to decide (or, to quote Rush, If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. FINE. I GET IT. But I’m not feeling philosophical right now) and I’m just going to answer with a mess of both holidays.

3 Things I Love about Christmas

1. Lights. I love Christmas lights. I even loved them before I celebrated Christmas. THEY’RE JUST SO PRETTY. And for those who are wondering: white lights on the tree, multicolored lights on the outside. This is nonnegotiable.
2. Donating to Toys for Tots. It’s something I’ve done since I graduated from college and it’s one of the highlights of the whole season.
3. A fully lit menorah. Day 8 is beautiful, even on my rickety, old, covered in candle wax menorah. This might be a subset of lights but I stand by it as it’s own thing.

3 Things I Dislike about Christmas

1. The Elf on the Shelf phenomenon. FUCK THAT SHIT. I don’t need or want a creepy stalker elf anywhere in my house and I sure as shit don’t want to have to think about creative ways to move it or give it personality.
2. Perfectionism. Or, the idea of perfectionism perpetuated on social media. If your holidays are really that picture perfect, I’m not sure if I can trust you. Because I think you’re a liar.
3. Never being able to find anything for Hanukkah. It’s getting a little better now (thank you, Michael’s) but up until the last year or two, I’d have to go to New York or have my mother send me things for Hanukkah. Basic things like menorah candles. This shouldn’t be. I mean, Hanukkah is not a major holiday at all but COME ON. It should not be a stretch to find a box of candles.

3 Favorite Christmas Movies

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol. I have an obsessive love of The Muppets so this shouldn’t be a surprise.
2. Christmas Vacation. A standard.
3. A Christmas Story. Mostly because I quote it all year. P.S. I am oddly curious to watch the live version of it but I fully expect it to suck balls

3 Favorite Christmas Treats

1. Peanut butter fudge. All fudge, really, but specifically peanut butter. Because peanut butter.
2. Potato latkes. My great-grandmother made the best ones in the history of ever but even ones that aren’t quite as good as hers are still pretty damn good.
3. Cookies. Any and all. And not the gluten free bullshit than I’m usually resigned to. I eat the cookies and I expect issues. But so worth it.

3 Favorite Christmas Traditions

1. Decorating gingerbread houses. I buy a kit because there is no way in hell I’m making all those pieces. But it’s something we do every year and while it ultimately ends up as the ugliest Christmas gingerbread village in all the land, it’s a lot of fun.
2. Watching The Muppet Christmas Carol. True story: I saw in the actual movie theater when it was released in 1992 and now I own the DVD and it’s my favorite Christmas movie of all time. I’d rather watch it than pretty much any other movie.
3. Making reindeer food and elf donuts. I’ve had to embrace some Christmas normalcy because of my daughter, which means the whole cookies and milk for Santa (he gets fudge at our house, though, and also thank god we’re almost done with all of this crap because it’s exhausting) and back when I was an ambitious mother, I found something on Pinterest for both reindeer food (oatmeal mixed with sprinkles and thrown in the yard) and elf donuts (Cheerios covered in powdered sugar, cinnamon, or melted chocolate and put in a mini Altoid tin).
4. Bonus tradition: growing up, we always ate Chinese food and went to the movies on Christmas day because THAT’S WHAT JEWS DO

3 Favorite Christmas Songs

None. I loathe Christmas music and “I Have a Little Dreidel” is a pretty shitty song. But if I had to pick, it’d be:

1. All I Need is Love by The Muppets and Cee Lo (heavy emphasis on The Muppets part of the song)
2. The Season’s Upon Us by The Dropkick Murphys
3. All the Hanukkah songs by the Maccabeats (this one about latkes is my actual favorite)

3 Favorite Christmas Gifts Received

I actually have no answer for this question because my mind is refusing to allow me to remember gifts of any significance. I’m pretty sure I got a Cabbage Patch doll for Hanukkah when I was a kid and I know I was ecstatic but I’m not 100% confident that it was for Hanukkah so it can’t count. I also remember being over the moon happy when I got a VHS copy of Major League (one of my all-time favorite movies). Those are the two that are jumping out. Maybe we’ll revisit this question another time.

3 Gifts I Want to Give the World

1. Empathy. The amount of bullying and racism and lack of compassion and shaming for everything is out of hand. Everyone has some amount of hurt and sometimes, we wind up projecting our own hurt onto others (hurt people hurt people is #truth). And that’s not fair. Considering other’s feelings and realizing we’re all just trying to do our best goes a long way.
2. The impeachment of Donald Trump. A girl can dream.
3. Equality. In pay, in the workplace, in the home, in society, in everywhere. No one gender or religion or race is superior and we’ll all be better off once we start recognizing that. It’s time to smash the patriarchy, xenophobia, homophobia, ignorance, and intolerance of anyone not exactly like us once and for all. It’s time to start treating everyone with respect and basic human decency.

Your turn! What are three holiday things I should know about you?