little festive joys 🎄💕

ten things making my heart lighter this week

This edition of Cosymas was going to be an analysis of my Spotify Wrapped (conclusion: I am a lesbian) but I woke up this morning having a pretty rough M.E. day and instead of pushing through and making myself worse, I’m trying to really embody the SPIRIT OF COSYMAS and make things a little easier and a little kinder on myself. So instead, today I’m taking a leaf out of Michelle’s book and looking at ten little joys in my life recently, or, as Michelle so beautifully describes it:

There’s a lot to be said for appreciating the smaller, not necessarily finer, details of the everyday mundane. Here’s to another list of petite, open-hearted joys, the moments that’ve brought and woven poetry to my days.

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📺 The Wheel of Time recently released a poster for SEASON THREE and I am already fully feral about it. By the time you’re reading this on Sunday, we will have a season three release date and - maybe - dare I hope - a trailer?? I cannot even remotely talk like a normal person about The Wheel of Time show, but suffice it to say that Moiraine came crashing into my heart as one of my all time favourite characters when I discovered the series the day after my birthday three years ago and I have remained unhinged about her ever since.

📚I’ve started reading Death at Morning House* by Maureen Johnson like I mentioned in my last post and I read a neat 50 pages in one sitting as soon as I picked it up, which is the first time in a while I’ve been able to do that either physically, mentally, or, like, hooked-by-a-book-edly. Thank god for Maureen Johnson’s YA murder mysteries and disaster wlw protagonists.

🎄We put our Christmas decorations up last weekend and the flat looks so cosy and so festive and covered in twinkly lights, and it really makes my heart grow ten sizes every time I look at our Christmas setup. I mean, look at this:

the tsum tsums are high up on the tree because our smallest cat is OBSESSED with them

🥰 There’s a Christmas market in my town that I love going to every single year, and my wife and I have spent some gloriously happy afternoons wandering the small business stalls, stopping by the food court for some festive snacks, and saying hello to as many dogs as we can see. (Last time, I met a giant Great Dane who stood on my foot and leaned all his weight affectionately against me and it was amazing. Our smallest cat is maybe the size of his head.)

🎮 Sun Haven is FINALLY coming to Switch in the UK on December 16, and I could not be more excited. I backed this game on IndieGoGo way back in like 2021, and all the social media updates about it kept me sane through an unexpected, mid-pandemic house move, and I can’t wait to finally settle down with a cup of tea and start my new life in a fantasy town to farm, decorate, and fall in love to my heart’s content.

🍭 The latest issue of Girlypop has gone to print, and I can’t wait to get my little festive paws on the December issue! My friend Nikki creates this zine and it’s a perfect bitesize celebration of all things “for the Taylor Swift fans, the friendship bracelet makers, the bow wearers, the people who wore pink to watch the Barbie movie, and the girlies who love picking up cute hobbies.” I wrote a feature for the autumn edition with cosy book and game recommendations and felt like the fanciest person in the world.

📅I have a Lego Friends advent calendar again this year and it really does bring a spark of joy to every single day. So far, I’ve made a small girl who can either have hair or a hat but not both at the same time, a fireside smores kit, a snowboard ramp, a rabbit in a box, and a Christmas piano.

🎁It’s my birthday on Wednesday, and if you’re reading this when it comes out on Sunday, I will be in the middle of spending the weekend with my wife and my best friend, living our best lives drinking hot chocolate, rearranging my bookshelves, and watching Phantom of the Opera (2004) in what would be a birthday party if I in any way wanted to actually have a party.

🐈‍⬛Our cat/cryptid has been SNUGGLY recently, for a given value of snuggly, which is incredibly rare for our tiny eldritch creature, and it’s amazing. Even if I wake up in the night feeling like I’m being squashed by a sleep paralysis demon because she is a sacked out sleeping weight over my stomach, I don’t care. She wants to snuggle!

📱I recently started playing Picture Builder on my phone, which is sort of like a combination of model building and a jigsaw game with adorable pixel art, and it’s been quieting the ol’ brain screams like nothing else.

I’d love to hear some of your recent little joys in the comments! And I’ll see you next weekend for the next edition of Cosymas x

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