Friends,
Hello and welcome to Unpacking. Today, we’re taking on the bizarre space-time continuum that is 2020.
Here’s the thing we’re realizing: Thanksgiving was a tease. We geared up for a serious break, but after the stress of celebrating safely, we found ourselves back to the grind before we let our masks drop. Now we’re asking: What did we learn about Thanksgiving that can inform the remaining 27 days of 2020, especially given that a) covid rages on and b) we approach more holiday celebrations?
Reading in one of Brené Brown’s (pre-pandemic) books about today’s trends of ideological polarization + social isolation, we’re thinking a lot about her idea of “high lonesome” and the spiritual fall-out.
“The world feels high lonesome and heartbroken to me right now. We’ve sorted ourselves into factions based on our politics and ideology. We’ve turned away from one another and toward blame and rage. We’re lonely and untethered. And scared.”
She pivots the discussion to consider what true belonging means. It might mean turning the rest of this calendar year into something that looks a LOT different than what we thought before the pandemic.
We think there are two camps here: the Preservation folks and the Makeover folks. Team Preservation is all for doing as much as possible to preserve the traditions and the nostalgia for a pre-pandemic time. Team Makeover is blowing the lid off those expectations, breaking out the pizza-making kits and asking what was so great about roasted chestnuts anyway. (Note: Carrie finds herself in the latter team here; whereas Emily thinks she’s closer to the adapting-traditions-to-pandemic camp).
And so we are asking, dear readers, how are you making the rest of the holiday season safe, restful and dare we say, merry?
Top 3 joy inducers
Carrie:
Nighttime Cruising: Driving around at night taking in the holiday-light decorations + hot tea + holiday music = merriest date of 2020. Theory: People are using their extra bandwidth to make over-the-top decorations this year.
Curbside pick-up for our Christmas tree: While I missed the pomp and circumstance of sizing up *just* the right tree, the curbside process was seamless, friendly and took about 20 minutes.
Monitoring the CPU load on my computer: Search “activity monitor” in your computer → believe you me, it’s like an oracle telling you what you’re doing with your life.
Emily:
Takeout: This is old-school pandemic fun but yeah, a dinner of saag paneer and malai kofta still does the trick for me.
TLC Hazel-Style: Getting my dog Hazel groomed for the first time ever brought me a lot of joy. She had an appointment yesterday, and reader, LOOK how cute and fluffy she is! (Note: part of the grooming service included a “therapeutic aqua massage”).
Decorative throw pillows: I have never been a household-decor person, until this past month. I’ve admittedly spent multiple hours on Target and West Elm’s websites tracking down throw pillows and blankets to match our living room couch and office chair. It was weirdly calming?
Water cooler convo
Carrie: This WSJ story takes a stab at imagining what business travel will be like post-pandemic. Business travel subsidizes the costs of personal travel, so we all might be looking at more expensive flying budgets in our near future. As someone who makes my home on a coast, I think this may impact my life choices? How far away can I truly live from my extended family?
Emily: I never liked plane travel.
Emily: Is it just me or are the Obamas everywhere right now? Feels like they are back with the Biden victory. I’m reading President Obama’s latest book now, which my friend Eliza kindly gifted to me. I’m enjoying the personal anecdotes but find myself skipping over his policy-heavy tangents...
Carrie: I’m reading that too! My favorite part so far is when his mom gives him advice and he takes it.
Carrie: I’ve been going deep into the Brad Mehldau catalogue. His “Suite: April 2020” entails 15 tracks entitled things like “V. remembering before all this” and perhaps my favorite, “X. in the kitchen.”
Emily: My Spotify Top 5 this year really revealed my Hamilton obsession.
Emily: After many months of avoiding podcasts (I think from over-COVID news consumption), I’m getting back into audio. Right now I’m into Conan O’Brien’s podcast. I love his miserly personality, especially how it comes out in banter with his assistant Sona.
Carrie: I couldn’t get past the bro vibes. Kai Ryssdal at Marketplace remains my daily dishwashing companion.
Responses from readers
We continue to bring in the reader feedback (huzzah), and this one strikes right at the core of our newslettering project. Greg writes:
“Great edition this week! Water cooler convo is my favorite section and this was a particularly good one. I think one thing I like and am now looking for in future editions is continuity of sections … Anyways, just some thoughts from a longtime reader, first-time commenter.”
Well Greg, thanks to your feedback we’re definitely keeping the Water Cooler Convo and will be thinking about that continuity bit. What other sections could/should we add? Shoot us a note at newsletterwizards@gmail.com or respond directly to this email.
Your newslettering pals,
Carrie & Emily