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How are you spending the holidays? I’d like to thank you so much for being here, whether you’ve been reading for years or are just stopping by. We are enormously grateful for this funny, wonderful community (and your funny, wonderful comments!). Next week, we’ll be visiting family in San Francisco — and sharing photos on Instagram and updates in our newsletter. Meanwhile, if you’re in a blog-reading mood, we rounded up the year’s top posts, Hunter-Harris-style — including Most Popular and Most Embarrassing Celebrity Run-In. Here goes…
In the Style category, the winners are:
Our Deepest Dive into Cool Sneakers: What to Wear on Long Walks
Best Argument for Fanny Packs: 5 Things I Spotted Women Wearing in Europe
Most Charming Week of Outfits: Alison Piepmeyer
Most Fun TV Outfits to Recreate: 6 Looks From ‘Only Murders in the Building’
Most Controversial Take: We’re Getting Into Khakis (and Mustaches)
In the Beauty category, congrats to:
Fastest Way to Brighten Up Your Face: The #1 Spring Makeup Trend
Most Heartfelt Beauty Uniform: Dulci Edge
Funniest Beauty Uniform: Grace Farris
Priciest-But-Worth-It Finds: What’s Something You Splurged On?
Holy Grail For Folks With Sensitive Skin: The Beauty Product I Always Finish
In the Food category, please raise your glasses for:
Easiest Recipe That Had Everyone Saying, Guys I’m a baker now!: Peasant Bread
Prettiest Make-Ahead Breakfast: Baked French Toast
Most Playful Showstopper: Tater Tot Cake
Hill I Will Gladly Die On: How to Ghost at a Party
Most Mind-Blowing Comments (500+ Tips and Tricks): What’s Your Kitchen Hack?
In the Relationships category, our winners are:
Most Enlightening Dating Decision: What Movies Do You Show the Other Person?
Most Life Lessons Crammed into One Post: What’s Your Pro Tip?
Most Vulnerable Post I Wrote: A Love Letter to My Anti-Anxiety Medication
Most Life-Changing Realization as an Adult: Why Am I So Socially Awkward?
Most Beautifully Raw Essay on Grief: The Dead Dad Club
In the Travel category, the superlatives go to:
Most Essential Reading: Traveling While Black
Most Foolproof Packing List: What I Packed For Two Weeks in Europe
Prettiest Makeup for a Flight: Three Reader Questions
Photos That Inspired the Most Wanderlust: 12 Readers Share Solo Travel Pics
Most Beloved Travel Toy: Our Summer Trip to England and Ireland
In the Parenting category, please put your hands together for:
Proudest Moment of Raising Boys: Why I Regularly Talk About Periods With My Sons
Best Argument for Moving Abroad: Motherhood Around The World
Essay That Made Us Weep: How I Learned to Understand My Absent Dad
Post That Led to the Most Marital Arguments: Have You Seen This Viral Comic?
Proof that Every Age Can Be Fun: The Teen, the Tween, the Toddler and the Bump
In the Design category, our top posts were:
Most Agonized-Over Paint Decision: Our Dining Room Makeover
House Tour That Warmed the Internet’s Heart: Catherine Newman’s Joyful Home
Easiest Flower Trick: How to Make Tulips Stand up Straight
Most Welcoming Family Home: LaTonya Yvette’s Colorful Farmhouse
Photos That Made Us Smile the Biggest: 12 Readers Share Their Cozy Corners
And in our Culture category, the winners are:
Most-Read Recommendations: A Big, Juicy Round Up of Fall Recommendations
Funniest Books to Enjoy This Winter: What Funny Books Have You Read Lately?
Most Life-Changing Films: What 9 Movies With Gay Characters Meant to Me
Most Personal NYC Restaurant Guide: Where New Yorkers Eat In New York
Question that Always Gets a Hero’s Welcome: Who’s Your Celebrity Crush?
Lastly, when it comes to our beloved Reader Comments, here are two:
Most Genius Parenting Hack: “Listen up Dragon Wranglers, AKA caretakers of children under six. My husband and I figured out a new tool in the War Against Bedtime: Bedtime Cheese. When it’s time to start bedtime, regardless of when dinner was, everyone gets offered Bedtime Cheese. It’s a slice of Tillamook medium cheddar, and this never changes. We buy it in apocalypse-prepper-sized bricks from Costco. Because it’s always the same, there is no negotiating, sales pitches, or faffery. Bedtime Cheese is a yes-or-no question. Either answer is fine. Bedtime Cheese solves many problems, but the main one is sitting up in bed, as if electrocuted, and exclaiming ‘I’m HUNGRY.’ This is AFTER tooth brushing, stories, jammies and songs, and it’s then followed by a circus of going back downstairs, wailing and the gnashing of teeth. No one goes to bed hungry thanks to Bedtime Cheese. Bedtime Cheese takes the pressure off trying new foods at dinner, because later there will be something familiar and calorically dense. Bedtime Cheese has cut top-of-the-stairs appearances the literal second you sit down with a sparkling water or beer by 90%. Bedtime Cheese For President.” — Kara
Buzziest Recommendation, IYKWIM: “This girl just bought her first vibrator, after spending the past few years deconstructing the religious purity culture I grew up in. Hooray! Thanks Cup of Jo for helping make this moment possible. Hot Girl Summer, let’s goooo.” — Mar
*****
Thank you again for reading! For the break, here are four games to play with kids while lying down and a helpful (to me, at least) reminder about happiness vs. wholeness. We’ll be back with new posts (including our updated house tour, which I’m excited to share) on Tuesday, January 3rd. Have a wonderful holiday. We love you. xoxo
(Top photo of Alex and me by Christine Han. And thank you to Hunter Harris for the round-up inspiration.)
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