I love to spend the week of Thanksgiving decorating for Christmas and yesterday I got everything out except our tree. Every year I try to add a few new decorations to our collection including a few handmade things. This year it’s pillows with some of my big plaid red & green fabric. I have reopened my pop-up fabric shop through Monday if you’re interested in getting some fabric of your own. (If you don’t sew, the yardage makes a great tablecloth.)

I officially put my 2025 garden to bed last Wednesday (irrigation cleared, flowers pulled, anemones and ranunculus corms planted, garlic planted, potatoes growing, winter rye seed spread). Over the past two years I have used the 1 Second Everyday app to chronicle my garden progress. If you’d like to see the video I recorded this year with 176 one second snippets, it’s available to watch right here. (Yes, buried lede, I started a youtube channel called From the Art House. I am excited to share more there next month and in 2026.)

In early 2023 I started keeping an “empties bin” of skincare items I finished. Then in late November 2023, just before the annual Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, I looked through the bin to rebuy the items I would “need” for the next year. I have kept up the habit and will be restocking this week. It is nice to get a deal on stuff I know I will use but also, it helped me stop overbuying skincare products. My method (especially now that I am not getting much online influence) is “the more boring the better” and I am trimming down the products and steps in my night and morning routine. The Internet absolutely does not need another list of skincare recs, but I have rounded up the seven items that I have consistently emptied and continue to purchase year-over-year right here.

My book club read This American Woman, a memoir by Zarna Garg this month and it was excellent. Laugh out loud funny but also thoughtful and inspiring. Zarna’s life story is wild but my favorite part is that she made such an amazing career shift at 44.

I finally(!) completed my Cripe Cottage cross-stitch sampler. This project sat on hold for over three years until early this month when I recommitted to getting it done. I had six boxes to fill and I ended up adding a brass Christmas bell, butterflies (representing both our closet wallpaper and the ones I see in the garden), tiny flower vases, tomatoes on the vine, a basket of flowers and a quail (we always have families of California Quail running around our yard). I am so happy to have it done plan to get it framed very soon.

Related — I loved this article (that’s a gift link but it will request you enter your email address) in the Washington Post about the extraordinary benefits of all fiber-crafts, including cross-stitch. Two great quotes: “Detailed hobbies create small zones of predictability, which regulate the nervous system and restore a felt sense of agency.” (I can’t help but note how that is the opposite of scrolling; think of how unpredictable your continues feed of 15 second videos feels) and “Women identifying as ‘art makers’ (people deeply connected to creative expression) reported significantly higher levels of flow, personal expressiveness, skill and self-realization during crafting.” (Fact check, true.)

Paul and I road-tripped down to Solvang, CA this past weekend to celebrate my last college friend turning 40. (85% of my close friends were born in 1985; It was a BIG YEAR for birthday events.) We had a great time and I used the travel time to work on yet another knitting project. This is the Petite Knit Olga Sweater. It’s flying around my needles so we will see if I can get it done before 2025 ends.

One of my favorite friends is an excellent gift giver and she gave me the Anthropolgie advent candle this past weekend. What she didn’t know is I had been eyeing the listing for weeks. I am so excited to light it Monday. (Here’s another fun one!)

Outside of my skincare stock-up, the only Black Friday (feels like Black November these days) sale item that got me this year is the Prana Encinitas Vest. Color is great and crop is just right (I am short though — 5’3”.) It’s lined and cozy but also lightweight. Fits true to size, even over my knit sweaters.

Before I sign off, I want to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving week. I am so thankful you’ve joined me as a Scattering Seeds paid subscriber. Your support is motivating and inspiring. I will be back in your inbox early next week with the 2026 Daily Goal Tracker, some thoughts on goal-setting (of course!) and a few more fun downloads.