christmas in january

thrifted gifts, cookie boxes, and a poem 🎄

our first christmas tree

A poem for the end of the season:

putting up the tree

You give the fake pine needle Christmas

tree one last grasp for the season

Hugging the branches in on themselves

in a way that nature is not so convenient to give to us,

But they fold, small unseen ornaments shivering from the foliage

onto the floor. An embrace in thanks of service, no,

rather, it’s a hug like the one you give

your favorite cousin that comes to visit once a year,

The one that you would rather live next door to,

The one that you wish you could have over

for dinner every evening, as if to say

Stay, you make this home better.

But you can’t say that, so instead you say

Thank you for the gift. Please come back soon.

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holidays around the hometown

The Christmas tree stays up until the end of January in our home. Last year, I even managed to convince my house mates to let me keep the tree up until April rolled around.

I know many people are quick to embrace the changing seasons and wrap up their holiday decor by January 2nd, but I’m not that person.

Winter is my favorite season for all of the festivity and warmth that comes with it. No other season has such a clear dress code and activity list to embrace. As I get older, I count my years by Christmases lived – the memories of the season mark the year. When I reminisce, I thumb through recollections of who was present each year, what we ate around the table, the gifts that were exchanged, and the shape of our family each time we gathered together.

I chose to be intentionally present this season. I was tired of feeling guilty about spending time watching holiday movies with my mother or wrapping gifts with my husband instead of writing a Substack post. So, I decided to take a couple months off of writing and social media. I was able to cherish so many moments deeply because of the space carved out to be intentionally present. This will likely become a yearly tradition for me (Stay tuned next year!).

In the spirit of treasuring the season, there is no better way to capture the moments than through words and photos. Without further ado, here are my notes on Christmas. 🎄

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picked up at my local thrift store

thrifted christmas gifts

I hopped over to my favorite thrift store to see if I could find the last few gifts I needed for family members. I was able to find a few precious trinkets and a beautiful candy dish for the season to boot. I bought my aunt a ceramic fruit container since she often keeps an assortment of fruit on her counter. I also gifted her a decorative cutting board and a hand beaded Christmas ornament for her tree. The burgundy cloud plate was the candy dish of my dreams, vintage from the 1980’s and tagged at only $4! Thrifting for the holidays will definitely be on the list for the season next year.

cookie boxes

I ingest a great deal too many cookies leading up to Christmas. Partially because there is nothing more comforting than a warm, soft treat. Rather than baking for myself, I was excited to finally get to make cookies for others.

I sourced Pinterest, Instagram, and Substack notes for several weeks for inspiration on curated cookie boxes. To my surprise, I found the perfect paper boxes for this project during a stroll through Aldi! The line up for this year’s boxes were:

• Cranberry sable wafers

• Sable cookies

• Butter cake squares

• Brown butter, pistachio matcha cookies (These have since become a household favorite.)

• Orange shortbread cookies

christmas at home

holiday decor

This was the first Christmas after getting married, and I was very eager to decorate our home in its own unique style. Though quaint, I had fun squeezing in holiday decorations into our tiny apartment. I particularly loved getting to decorate our tree with a large crepe fabric bow that was leftover from our wedding. Both of us brought a few of our childhood ornaments to decorate our tree which was a sweet nostalgic note to how our lives are joined together now. And of course, I thrifted much of our decor which was perfect to curate a vintage aesthetic. I loved making paper chains, dehydrating oranges, and pairing together deep greens and reds whenever I could.

gift layouts of 2020, 2022, and 2024

gift layouts

When I was a child, the day after Christmas I would open the blinds to my room, pull close the bag of presents I had received the day before, and take each one of the toys out of their box and set it on the windowsill. I would stare at them for hours, admiring them and occasionally fixing them. Once I was done, I would package them back up in their boxes exactly how I unwrapped them. I never played with them – they felt too special.

Now, I have kept this tradition in a healthier way. After Christmas, I lay out my favorite gifts and take a photo to remember the small treasures I was grateful for that year. Looking back on these has been so special, because it immediately reminds me of where my things come from. now each time I pull on my boots, I remember my late uncle. When I wear my pink ear muffs, I think of my aunt. And this year’s gifts will remind me of my loved ones each time my hands hold them.

how memories are made

Every year since I can remember, my family would go look at the lights on Christmas Eve, driving around all the beautiful Victorian gingerbread houses in our town that strung up their decorations. We would each take turns exclaiming, “That one! That’s my favorite!” My mother, aunts and I are like magpies to the pretty details of each home, gathering beauty to store away in the nests of our mind. Then, once we finished our loops, we would go home and open presents (yes, on Christmas Eve, we are Latino through and through).

This year, however, time slipped away between navigating new family members and attending church, until we realized that we had gone the holiday without seeing the lights. To be honest, I mourned what felt like the end of my childhood tradition. But it felt apropos since this was the start of Christmases where I celebrate with my husband as our own family.

I wasn’t quite ready to let go though. I found myself yearning for Christmas past. The years I spent at craft stations at my church making Christmas ornaments, the years of Christmas pizza parties in elementary school, even the years spent with my late uncle who claimed to be a Grinch, but always wore the Santa hat and brought a bag full of presents. In the reflection of nostalgia, I noticed I only recall one of each memory. Though I know these traditions spanned years, I can only remember the first instance of it.

I’ve come to realize that the same way time is change, memory is created by change as well. The contours and turns of our life is what gives it shape, and allows us to find the detail of specificity in the passing of time.

On Christmas morning, for the first time in my life I woke up and opened gifts. Ethan and I settled onto the couch, quiet and unrushed, taking turns passing our gifts to one another. We exchanged books first, since I discovered that in Iceland they have a tradition called Jolabokaflod where books are exchanged on Christmas Eve. Utterly charmed by this idea, I begged to start gifting books as a tradition in our own family. Ethan was easily on board. He and I unwrapped a Tim Keller Memoir and Holy Hygge respectively. This moment is captured so clearly in my mind’s eye, a tenderness rising up in me to how our lives have changed in the last year.

Maybe traditions have a life, like our own, with points where they begin and end. They may only be here for a short time, but that’s what makes them precious.

Things are different. But that’s good. Change is where the memories are made.

E’s Christmas book

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postscript

Some exciting life changes have happened in the last couple of months while I’ve been (mostly) offline. I recently accepted a position as a High School English teacher! I’ll be teaching sophomore English, yearbook, and journalism at the high school that my husband and I met at and graduated from. It feels like a sweet full circle moment that the Lord has perfectly orchestrated over the last few years of my life.

Although this is bound to be an exciting season of transitions, it will also be a demanding season as I really lean into learning to be the best teacher I can be. I’m optimistic that I will still be able to write, but I just wanted to be transparent with you, my lovely readers, that I may be slightly more sporadic in the upcoming months. Hopefully the summer months will be warm, long, and filled with of lots of writing. Until then, I look forward to seeing you here on lifenotes when I can. <3