I don’t usually leave my Favourite Things until the last day of the month, but here we are! November is an underrated month, in my mind. It’s the month of Tiny Secret Festive Season and Christmas shopping, it’s preparing holiday cards and baking gingery things. It’s Mint Chocolate season, which is my favourite of all the flavours, and it’s the month to start playing holiday music with abandon. There are so many happy things, that without further ado I bring you:
Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Gnomevember Edition
Gnomevember
One could argue that any month in the Boyhouse is Gnomevember, really, but if every month is a specific celebration of gnomes then perhaps no month is a specific celebration of gnomes, if you know what I mean. So when Michelle (HI MICHELLE) started talking about Gnomevember, I was clearly going to be all in. One of my favourite things this month is that Michelle’s dollhouse has now been overtaken by gnomes, and it is the most charming thing I have ever seen.
A few weeks ago I was getting the mail and there was a little package in there labelled Tiny Secret Festive Season, from my dear friend Allison (HI ALLISON). She had sent me this little guy, who lights up, which is a desperately needed thing as the sunset is now at 3:59 pm. 3:59 pm!!! What will happen by Winter Solstice? I’ll be lighting this guy a lot, that’s what.
He was in a plastic bag, with a note “Help, help, I can’t breathe,” which was the most delightful little surprise. Obviously I saved him.
The very next day my sweet friend Sammi (HI SAMMI) came by for a visit, and with her came this guy:
If I wasn’t overwhelmed enough with the kindness and love of my dear friends, this arrived in the mail from the beautiful and talented Suzanne (HI SUZANNE).
And, of course, my old Christmas gnomes have set themselves up on the kitchen windowsill.
Am I actually living in a full-sized version of Michelle’s dollhouse? MAYBE! Dreams do come true, people, and my home is happily gnome-tastic.
Brace Yourselves
I had received a number of questions about my bracelets, and so I wanted to show you my Christmas one. I wear it from November 1 to January 1, and it just brings me so much joy.
The bangle itself is engraved The Best Is Yet To Come which is a really lovely sentiment. A few of the charms are also engraved: the gingerbread man says Life Is Sweet, the mistletoe says Meet Me Under The Mistletoe, and the snowflake scene says, appropriately enough, Merry Christmas. Each charm was a gift from either my husband, the boys, or my parents.
A few years ago, I had trouble with the clasp spontaneously opening up, and sometimes I’d find that a charm had slipped off it, usually, and kind of depressingly, into my dish glove. But December of 2021 I was out shopping; there was a ton of snow, I was wearing my warmest coat and gloves, I was in and out of the car with my mask on, and everything felt just uncomfortable. I don’t wear a mask anymore, but I clearly remember the awkwardness of it, especially in winter with all the clothing layers and going in and out of the minus 20 weather. Anyway, I got home from groceries and errands, and noticed that my bracelet had unclasped and my cute little snowman charm, a gift from the boys, was missing.
It was December 2021, people. I think we all remember what that time was like. Everything felt challenging and depressing, it was the second pandemic Christmas, we were heading into yet another lockdown, my kids’ schooling was weird and constantly interrupted, and my missing snowman was the last straw. I sat on the floor and sobbed. I sobbed like a small child forced to sit on Santa’s lap against her will. I sobbed like a small child forced to interact with a clown at a birthday party, and then later losing the balloon that said clown had foisted upon her to reduce the sobbing.
I retraced my steps, including those to the snow-covered London Drugs parking lot, to no avail. And you might think there is a happy, snowman-charm-related ending to this story, but you will notice that there is no snowman on the bracelet. This is not about the snowman. My favourite thing is that my younger son, aged 16, went to the Pandora store in the mall on December 23 of that year to see if he could replace it. The thought of him, with his friend who was just our houseguest two weeks ago, being at the Pandora store looking for a snowman charm for his mom brings me more happiness than even that charm could. He was unable to replace it as the snowman charm had been, as they say in Pandora-speak, retired. Over the past two years the guys have looked for a snowman multiple times, only to be told either no longer exists, or that they could buy the snowman from the movie Frozen, which, I am sorry to say, is a subpar snowman and one which I do not wish to have.
Anyway, I love this bracelet for the two months of the year that I wear it, it brings me so much joy and happiness, and I will just hold the snowman memory in my heart.
Drink And Be Merry
With the exception of 2020, we have seen my husband’s cousin and her husband (HI DARCY AND DEREK) around Christmas every year, and they share my great love for Christmas Vacation. Last year they gave me these fabulous stemless wine glasses:
Years ago, knowing also my great love for Buddy the Elf, they gave the boys each a mug with hot chocolate mix and marshmallows; I have coopted these for my morning coffee:
Play That Christmas Music, White Girl
Almost universally, I love Christmas music. I love the classical and instrumental, I love churchy hymns, I love modern pop songs, midcentury ones, and everything in between. The only song I really strongly dislike is Wonderful Christmastime, which puts me on edge like you would not believe. My son would also like to tell you, dear reader, that in the Boyhouse we also loathe songs that feature out-of-tune children, such as Two Front Teeth, but I am pretending that such songs don’t even exist.
One song that I love so much that I have an entire playlist devoted to the original and all of its covers is Last Christmas. I play it on the piano. I sing it to myself in the shower. I can never, ever get enough of it.
Other favourites include Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Santa Baby, Baby, It’s Cold Outside (I KNOW BUT I LOVE IT), and Driving Home For Christmas. I always, always cry when I hear White Wine In The Sun, so may I recommend it to anyone who would enjoy a nice cathartic holiday cry? Ditto with River.
On the more modern side, I absolutely LOVE N’Sync’s Merry Christmas Happy Holidays. Although, now that I have said “modern,” I should probably check when it was released…okay, well, it looks like it came out in 1998. Huh. I also love Underneath the Tree by Kelly Clarkson, and that was released in 2013, so I’m within a decade. THAT IS MODERN ENOUGH.
Here Baby, There Mama, Everywhere Daddy Daddy
I have an important hair update for you! This past weekend marked exactly one year since I started taking Nutrafol for hair loss, and I can tell you it has made a huge difference. My hair no longer falls out in big clumps. I am no longer cleaning handfuls of hair out of my hairbrush or unclogging the drain. I wish I could say this was a sponsored post because that shit is EXPENSIVE, but alas, I am paying for it myself. The expense is worth circumventing my eventual nervous breakdown due to balding, and so I will keep it up.
I do have one teeny tiny grievance about this Favourite Thing, and that is my roots. The first week after I colour my hair, I am in love with myself and my reflection. The second week, as my white roots come in and I have a halo around my face, I toy with the idea of just letting it go, colour-wise. I think about my many friends who have embraced the grey and who look absolutely fabulous, and I think, hey, that could be me! The third week, I begin a descent into despair, becoming increasingly unhappy with not only the colour, but also the texture of my roots. Before four weeks have passed, I have a headful of hair colour and a timer set.
The problem, as I see it, is that my perimenopausal menstrual cycle is now, and has been for a while, three and a half weeks at best, and somehow this has synced up with my hair colour cycle. My extreme dissatisfaction with my hair and general appearance perfectly correlates with the days leading up to my period, and although I would like to break this cycle, I cannot. I am trapped in a problem of my own making. I am a snake eating my own tail.
That said, as with all the privilege in my life, I feel I cannot complain. Can a person take an incredibly expensive supplement for hair growth, and then complain about the hair growth? No. That is ridiculous. So I embrace my boxed hair colour. In any case, if you are curious, Nutrafol really has worked for me, and I had a grandmother who actually wore a wig, so let me tell you, genetics are not on my side, people.
Outfit of the Month
Some families have matching pajama sets on Christmas Eve, but in the Boyhouse, we have WWE Christmas sweaters for Decorating Day.
If you haven’t been around for the past two Christmases, I will fill you in: the guys bought WWE sweaters post-Christmas 2020 for 80% off, and I resisted strongly getting one of my own, for reasons which I feel are obvious. However, as the year went on, I started to feel a little left out about it, and so my husband looked into buying me a sweater. By that time, there was only one woman’s sweater at 80% off; the rest were at regular price, and regular price was far too high for me to want to spend. The one discounted sweater was cute enough, but it was only available in a size that was six sizes larger than the one I normally wear. My choices were a comically large but inexpensive sweater, or one that fit properly but was ridiculously costly. I suppose I could have gotten a men’s sweater, but I believe in lifting up other women, even if the women in question are lifting each other up only to body slam them in the ring.
You can clearly see my Scottish heritage, in my extremely oversized sweater. Anyway, the point is that Decorating Day is a Big Deal, and so we all wear them for the festive occasion.
It’s been a really great November – STILL NO SNOW, YOU GUYS – and now it’s time to bring on December! Do you have anything you’ve loved this month? Tell me everything. xo
We have a lot to talk about! First of all, my husband is the plant caretaker in our house so he is getting a “sometimes I wet my plants” towel for Christmas…and if I’d seen this before his birthday he would have gotten it then. He hates gnomes, so I feel duty bound to get us a light up gnome, and of course I would soften the blow with some holiday wine glasses.
I already told this story in a comment on Elisabeth’s blog, but I work with someone named Santa – he’s Indian and that’s his nickname. Everytime that I get an email from Santa…I hear “Santa Baby” in my head and I’m not the only one at work who’s made this connection. And let me be clear that Santa is great to work with and that his emails are like gifts. Also, we have a “Baby it’s cold outside” artsy little sign that we keep up year round. A classic is a classic.
I am taking a mental note about Nutrafol, since genetics aren’t on my side either. For some reason I’m a late bloomer in the thinning and graying department, but it’s a fact that I don’t fill out a ponytail holder like I used to. TBD whether I’ll go the natural route or not when the grays come in.
And finally…WWE sweaters would be a huge hit in my house. I’m always the worst at coming up with gift ideas, and suddenly after reading this post I have a list. This post needs a “buy now” button!
Birchy, why am I not monetizing this blog? I AM AN INFLUENCER! An gninfluencer, if you will.
“He hates gnomes, so I feel duty bound to get us a light up gnome, and of course I would soften the blow with some holiday wine glasses.” this is why we are friends, I am laughing so much! Also, yes, I would be Santa Baby-ing all the time. ALL THE TIME! How could you not? And I will go to bat every time about Baby It’s Cold Outside, because it reminds me so much of being young and hanging out with a guy and thinking that I should get going, but making excuses not to. Ah, youth. Now it’s all I can do to stay up past 8:30.
Yes, I LOVE November! I love it for all the reasons you do- sometimes I wonder if I even love it MORE than December, because December includes the worst day of the year (the 26th, sob.) In November you have all the fun anticipation, and it’s all still ahead of you! Once December starts, it goes so quickly. Well, i just need to embrace and cherish the next 25 days.
I’m glad the Nutrafol is working for you! That really is a big thing, and it’s worth the money. I remember I looked into it when you first mentioned it (I could definitely use some help in the hair department) and decided it was too expensive for me, because I’m already taking a really expensive bone building supplement. I’m going to look at it again though- it would be nice to be healthy AND look decent in my old age.
Every time Last Christmas comes on the radio (or when I hear it in a store, in other words 100 times a day) I think of you. I’m proud to say I’m a little more tolerant of that song now, but I’m still with Elisabeth- it’s on my bottom five list. I know Elisabeth and I are in the minority though- everyone else LOVES it!
Sunset is at 3:59 there???? You need all the light up gnomes you can get!
Make every day count, Jenny!!! (I really like that mantra and may just adopt it for myself!)
Yes, the Nutrafol is a game changer for me. It has made SUCH a difference! And you know, I’m pretty vain, so the thought of going bald wasn’t really sitting well with me. Well, who would be okay with it, I guess?
I love the gnomes! Decemeber 2021 was when my favorite family snowman holiday ornarment shattered and I too just sobbed. It was a hard time. One thing to ask for for Christmas this year is one of the locking Pandora charms for your bracelet. Even if the clasp comes undone, it holds the other charms in and has saved me many times.
Ooh that’s a good tip! Dec 2021 was SUCH a rough time, and the January following was a real low point as well.
Why am I crying about your son and his friend shopping for a replacement snowman, Nicole?!?! That is just the sweetest story and so exemplary of the kind of men you are raising WAHHHHHHH SO LOVELY.
I am so in love with the idea of that gnome asking for help out of his suffocation chamber.
THIS, EXACTLY: I also “loathe songs that feature out-of-tune children”
Your hair looks fantastic and also the monthly period/hair depression cycle sounds unpleasant.
Favorite things… hmmm… My bedroom. The sunshine and clear skies. Driving my kid to school, when she is chatty and actually TELLS me things about the other kids and what she is learning.
I know, Suzanne, I know, every time I think of 16-year-old him, all masked up ON DECEMBER 23, LOOKING FOR A SNOWMAN. I mean!
I’m sorry about your snowman charm! But the story of your son trying to replace it for you is utterly charming. I like Last Christmas, and Baby it’s Cold Outside doesn’t really creep me out like it probably should, but Santa Baby, I loathe. Have you heard Santa Buddy? It’s mildly better only because it’s SO BAD.
I love your gnomes!
I haven’t heard Santa Buddy, unless you mean the Michael Buble version of Santa Baby? I love all versions, to be honest. I feel like I could karaoke the hell out of Santa Baby, oh to have a Christmas karaoke!
Nicole, that is EXACTLY the song I mean. HA! And while you and I clearly have different taste in Christmas songs, I agree with you about White Wine in the Sun and River, both are wonderful songs. <3
They are so wonderful, and show so much that there are many emotions around Christmas, and they can be complex!
I am in love with your gnomes, well maybe second behind Rex who is my first love in your house.
You ask: Do you have anything you’ve loved this month? My answer: It’s been unseasonably warm and clear here. November can a drudgery but this year I am at one with nature, grooving on sunshine.
That is so fabulous, Ally, I love that you have the sunshine!
Your gnomes are so adorable. And it makes you an easy person to shop for if someone wants to get you a little something. I am a huge Francophile although you certainly don’t get that vibe from my blog these days what with all the virus recaps and kid stuff. But before kids, I went to Paris 3 times and absolutely adore the city. So I often will get Paris-themed gifts, and that is especially apparent when we pull out the Christmas decorations. I have so many Eiffel Tower ornaments and our tree topper is an Eiffel Tower.
Decorating the Christmas tree and coming down each morning to the beautiful glow of the tree has been the bright spot of November. It has been A MONTH and I am not sad to see it go, even though I know nothing special happens when we turn the calendar to December. I’m just ready to be done with this stupid month of illness.
The snowman story is so very sweet and endearing!!
You have had SUCH a month! But I’m glad you have your lovely tree and the associated light.
Have you ever been to Quebec? I’m planning a trip there in the spring!
I haven’t but I would love to get there eventually! I’ve heard it’s like going to France!
I love all of your gnomes! I also like how many people you care about provide you with gnomes and gnome-like items.
Aside from my mom’s accident, this was a pretty good month. But she recovered quickly, Mike is no longer wearing his boot, and we had beautiful weather!
I can’t believe you don’t have snow! We had snow last weekend, but it’s almost gone now.
I’m SO glad you’ve had a good month! And yes, how lucky am I that I have such people in my life!
The gnomes are so cute and I love the story about J trying to find a replacement snowman charm. I want to put in a good word for Olaf, though. Ever since North played him in a drama camp production of Frozen at the age of nine, I’ve had a soft spot for him.
What I liked best about any month that included a beach trip is too obvious to state, I think. I’m finding myself really glad I got up early enough to see the sunrise on the beach one morning. I’m not an early riser so that’s only going to happen in the late fall or winter trips, and even then it’s an effort. So worth it, though…
Hahaha I forgot North played Olaf! I guess I should be more open minded!
It’s so funny, I am definitely a sunrise person, rather than a sunset one, but it is so easy to see the sunset at this time of the year! I have no excuses to miss it.
Oh Nicole!!!! Gnicole!!! I love all your gnomes and I’m so jealous of your light-up gnome! It was so sweet of you to talk about my dollhouse takeover! You made my day! You are living a real-life version of my dollhouse, and I love it!
They need to make a gnome charm for your bracelet!
WHY HAVEN’T I CHANGED MY NAME TO GNICOLE! It’s perfection! Well, you and your creations just light up my life, just like the gnome!
I typically agree with your favorite things, but I just can not get on board with your fave Christmas song…even though I love other Wham songs! I also take hair growth vitamins and then complain when I need to shave my legs or pluck some random face hairs so often heehee.
Well we can agree to disagree! I love that song so much and there are so many cool covers of it too! Also, I just generally love Wham!
So many gnomes! The light up gnome is such a lovely touch this time of year. I myself have some LED candles that go on automatically in the evenings and it gives me great pleasure to have that ambient light in the darkest hours of the year. I am going to stop complaining about our sunset 4:22 tonight because at least we made it past 4!! 3:59!!! I would curl up and cry.
Michelle is spot-on! I immediately thought that you need a gnome for your bracelet collection! Or do you already have one?
I don’t have a gnome! I don’t even think I’ve seen one, but I will put the guys on the hunt!
3:59 is INCREDIBLY early, like I can feel it getting dusky just after three!
The light-up gnome is PERFECTION (and I would take a dozen for my own house).
You know how I feel about Last Christmas and I know how you feel, and yet we put it all behind us and agree that we both love Christmas and being festive, regardless of a bitter disagreement over one song.
Yikes – that IS an early sunset. But I think everything is more tolerable when it’s mild and it seems a lot less frigid than Calgary!
Thanks for showing the Pandora items. What sweet charms, though I am heartbroken on your behalf about the snowman 🙁
Isn’t that an early sunset? Sunrise is 7:34 which is nice and all, but when it’s TOTALLY dark just after 4, well, it makes for a short afternoon!
My Middle Child loves gnomes. She’s asked for a ‘summer gnome’ for Christmas to add to her collection. And speaking of mint chocolate, which I also LOVE, I cracked up when I learned that the only food my son-in-law does not like is mint chocolate anything! I was like, WHAT? He claims that chocolate should not taste like toothpaste. He’s the weird one, right?
About 10 years ago, I began to really dislike Christmas music. I think it’s because it started to be played on the radio earlier and earlier every year. My current limit is the week of Christmas only. Aren’t I a scrooge? My exception is my Barenaked For the Holidays CD by one of our favorite bands and that’s only because it has original songs on it that I have not heard ad nauseam.
Well, you know I share your love for the BNL! God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is a work of art.
I have a friend who also thinks mint tastes like toothpaste! I mean, I guess it does, but I love brushing my teeth so…I guess I’m all in all the time.
What a gnomefest! I adore your growing collection and their provenances!
J and friend looking for a replacement snowman is the sweetest Christmas tale–what amazing humans you’ve made, Nicole!
Regarding the grey roots growing out, have you tried the root retouch sprays? I use L’Oreal Magic Retouch, just on my part, and a little at the front, and it actually is magic! Also I love that you enjoy White Wine in the sun, despite it being meteorologically incorrect for you.
Kate, I have tried it but I think the red I tried was just the wrong shade, so I had like a mismatched streak across my part. It might be worth a try again – I tried it before Nutrafol so it kind of looked like I spray painted my scalp (which, I kind of did). I’ll give it a go!
White Wine in the Sun is SUCH a good song! Even though I have never in my life had white wine in the sun on Christmas, it speaks to me!
Re Wonderful Christmastime, my husband says the melody sounds like someone falling down a flight of stairs, and now I can never get that image out of my head whenever I accidentally hear that terrible song.
Your Last Christmas feelings are similar to my Please Come Home for Christmas feelings, especially the Bon Jovi version.
If you are interested in finding more modern Christmas music, Kacey Musgraves has a wonderful Christmas album from a few years ago, especially the song “Ribbons and Bows,” which is a certified bop.
Ohhhh I love Please Come Home For Christmas! I will look up Kacey Musgraves, the more the merrier when it comes to playlists!
Falling down a flight of stairs. Yes. This is a perfect description!
Haaa I forgot I put that note in the bag.
Why IS Wonderful Christmastime so bad? Is it not almost universally reviled? And rightly so? I don’t get it, it’s like they took all the attributes that would make a song perfect and did the exact opposite.
I love Last Christmas too – have you heard the Glee version? And you know I’m always all in on Baby It’s Cold Outside – so many versions in my Christmas playlist, fight me. I’m also partial to It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, particularly the Sixpence None the Riches version.
I do have the Glee version! A friend had made a playlist that probably had 20 covers and I love them all!
Oh, and I’m sure you’d look lovely gray, but I feel like your face is still too young for gray hair. What the heck, colour away. That is a bit of vicious irony accompanying the hair growth formula, though. Grow faster! Wait, not like that!
Hahaha I know! The grey makes my skin colour look a bit off. Ah, a box of Garnier is like $8, why not.
We just entered a gnome era! Lil Momma found two in my mom’s decorations and put them in prime position on our half wall – they are now Gnomeo and Gnomeward and she would like them to stay year-round. We then found 10 more in another box, so gnomes are popping up all around the house randomly; Luke’s desk drawer, my sock drawer, in LM’s jewelry box….
Oh! That is SO wonderful! I love the Gnome Era, may it last many decades!
Holy moly, that sweater is a gem, I tell you! A gem! First of all…even if it fit, it would be pretty epic, and I don’t use that word ever. However, the fact that it is like 10 sizes too big is even better and I would love to see it belted as it is essentially a dress anyway. Good times. I wonder…who is your favorite WWE entertainer? I am partial to Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, but also watched Hulk Hogan back in the early days. I have no idea who is still around now!
It’s been “cold” here, like just around freezing, but my Dad was going to go skiing today for the first time but there is not enough snow 🙁
Lol, I am SO glad you appreciate the sweater! I actually don’t watch wrestling myself but I will occasionally glance if the guys are watching. I really like that Scottish guy whose name I cannot remember. Oh, and Bianca Belair, I like her! Stone Cold made an appearance at an event a few years ago, his wrestling days are pretty much behind him but he was doing publicity for his new beer line.
This is so fun, except for the lost snowman. Sorry about that. I lost a beautiful gem from my necklace when my necklace unclapsed. I was at the grocery store and it was never found. I was pregnant and very emotional. Ugh.
I’ve never heard a snake eating my own tail. Funny. Glad Nutrafol helped you. Wish it was an option for me. Love the gnomes – gnomes from friends, no less. My fav flavor is also mint chocolate.
This was one of the hardest months I can recall, although I do like my haircut and we had a lovely Thanksgiving. Overall, I felt spread so thin, I thought I might snap. Hooray for Dec. 1st.
You’ve had a really hard month, Ernie, I sure hope December is a lighter for you!
The gnomes! OMG. Everybody is giving you gnomes as gifts so yes, you live in the full-size version of the gnome dollhouse LOL
Aww, how sweet that your son tried to replace the snowman charm. How thoughtful.
I was hoping you’d tell us that Nutrifol was hyped up and not worth it (although I am super-excited that it works for you) because now I have to think about it again if I want to shell out the money and try it LOL do they ever have any promotions?
Sorry, San, but it’s ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. It was kind of my last thing to try because I had tried biotin, every topical thing you could imagine, and honestly, Nutrafol is a game changer. I wish this was sponsored! I want some money from them! Or at least a discount. Sometimes they sponsor a podcast and that podcast will have discount codes – that’s what I used when I started – but I haven’t heard one for a while. I’ll let you know if I hear of one!
Thank you 🙂
What you have is a sweater *dress*, which is a very chic version of a WWE sweater. Well done!
Well, thank you so much *takes a bow with giant dress*
OMG, I cannot HANDLE the story of your son going to the mall to find a snowman charm for you. That is the SWEETEST. What incredibly caring men you have raised. Think about how they will care for their future partners – ahhhhhh.
Your gnome collection is amazing. Whenever I see a Christmas gnome in stores, I think of you!
I love the Pandora story— that’s so so so sweet. I also love your hair, and, like you, use box color and am thinking about stopping. Ugh. Aging.
The problem, though, is…do we just get wider and wider roots until the grey grows out? I guess? I am not ready!
Gnicole, I was so touched by your son’s dedication to finding you a replacement charm.
Why has no one suggested eBay? (Confidential to Gnicole’s wonderful sons: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=pandora+snowman+charm&_sacat=0)
And also… when I decided to continue life solo, I (sob) gave up all but the 2 gnomes that were already living with me. I need to rectify this situation stat.
Yes you do, you need more gnomes in your life!