a holiday gift guide!
December 2023 (Issue #41)
Welcome to a love letter, a monthly publication from artist, writer and yoga teacher Colby Mackenzie featuring stories of my loving practices and support for yours. Thanks for being here.
Hello loves!
HAPPY WEDDING EVE TO MY DEAREST SISSY AND HER HUSBAND! I am currently soaking up all the holiday wedding in New York City vibes.
And I am stoked to have already finished and auto-scheduled this email…. the very first love letter Holiday Gift Guide! For years, I’ve excitedly opened these exact kinds of emails from brands that I love full of interesting and intentional things and ideas for giving to loved ones. These guides are also usually just a gorgeous-looking list of beautiful things I want for myself and need to add to my “when we’re out of debt” wish list.
Cultivating a beautiful life full of little luxuries helps foster an artist’s flow.
This season, when all we really want (most of us anyway) is peace and love and rest and humanity and chill vibes and equality and those are all mostly intangibles, my anxious side needs things to hold on to. Making intangible values into tangible items, choices, or results also continually reinforces those values by making them seen to us materially and regularly.
We then create even more opportunities for us to take actions that feel good to us. It is a v cool and convenient feedback loop.
Also, shopping is SO FUN! I have my mom and sissy to thank for making me fall in love with shopping, clothes, and accessories. True, I really need to be in that kind of mood with that kind of energy (shopping is exhausting! more comfy seats in stores so I can join the husbands and dads!)
Also also, these past ~3 years have been BRUTAL collectively and, for some of us, individually. I feel the need to spend some time licking wounds.
Let’s let those with the gift-giving love language take the lead.
There are things we do in fact need (glasses, winter coats, shoes, underwear, soap, butter, etc) that we can buy intentionally that support our personal, family, and community values, invest in companies with a track record we can trust, and make us look/feel damn good. Bonus if it’s a bargain. [a recipe for healthy capitalism?!]
Thankfully, I learned to bargain hunt with the best of them, My Momma Ms Cynthia, in one of the best (former :( ) bargain haunts, Filene’s Basement.
Without further ado…
For those on a budget: FREEBIES. No one said gifts have to cost money. They can cost time, experience, creative action and thought, favors, etc. Some examples are: Hugs! Smiles! Laughs! Cries! High-fives! Side eyes! Holding hands! Singing! Dance performances! Stretching! Sketches! Massage! Deep breaths!!!!! Give and receive with aplomb. It is true that there are things that money cannot procure.
For those without a budget: give! here’s a solid guide for humanity-driven giving written by former Deloitte Chief Wellness Officer Jen Fisher.
For the home cooks and healers: high-quality olive oil. I love Wonder Valley Olive Oil. Drizzle (or pour) it on anything from fresh veggies to vanilla ice cream (trust me on that last one!). The health benefits of olive oil are insane and like everything your bodily systems need right now. HUGE ROI. It’s a great shortcut. Take it!
For the indoor cats: a new book or journal. I have never felt so seen as when Jennifer Lawrence shared in a People interview, “I am a total couch potato and the laziest person alive.” The amount of hours I could spend nestled in a cozy couch surrounded by books would alarm some. I don’t even need to read, necessarily. I just want them there. Books are friends, too. My favorite places to shop are local libraries’ small collections for sale ($1 paperbacks!!!!!) and Bookshop.org. My favorite notebooks for journaling and morning pages are Moleskine. And my Holiday Book Pick is Ivy Raff’s “Rooted and Reduced to Dust”, which we discussed in November’s Artist Interview!
For the experience lovers: a one-way plane ticket somewhere in 2024. Eek! Woah! How fun! You pick the destination, they pick their return. Can be a one-day extravaganza or the start of something big. Up to them. But you said “Here, go, have an adventure!”. One can travel from Boston to The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee for $52.
For the fashionistas: a fun accessory or a high-quality wardrobe staple. I love finding little beauties like earrings, scarves, and bags at local boutiques and thrift stores, and brands like Cuyana, Aday, Vuori, and Everlane for basic clothing that lasts. I love how fashion can be wearable creativity, make massive, healthy economic and environmental impacts, and cultivate joy, self-respect, and self-confidence for us all.
For anyone: a beautiful card. This is honestly my favorite present to give. I collect cards everywhere I go and if I see a card that reminds me of someone, I buy it immediately and store it in my creativity box until it’s their birthday or it’s Christmas and I am full of glee as I pull it out and begin, “Dear loved one, this card traveled all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland and across the Atlantic Ocean and across the United States and back to your hands and it was made by hand and it reminds me of you…”. Go for funny, happy, delightful.
Joy is not meant to be a crumb.
— Mary Oliver
May your days and nights be merry and bright, and, when they inevitably are not, may you remember the Good Dark,
Colby
ps. option to wish the community a happy holiday in the comments below! xx