✨ The Most Relatable Holiday Ranking You’ll Read This Year ✨

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving, today is Black Friday, and suddenly we’re officially in the holiday season. There was a time when I was more of a Scrooge and less of a sparkle-and-snow person, but becoming a parent changes you. Suddenly, the holidays aren’t something you get through… they’re something your kid starts to notice, name, and demand being a part of.

And now that my daughter is picking up on every twinkle light from here to Wisconsin, I couldn’t be more excited to bring you along for the next few Fridays.

This week marks 20 consecutive Fridays of hitting “send” on Is This It?. Twenty weeks of showing up, holding myself accountable, and turning early-onset midlife confusion into storytelling fuel.

This newsletter has become a classroom where I’m figuring things out in real-time… with you as my classmates. It’s become a little weekly ritual that brings me joy, clarity, meaning… and a reason to step away from my phone for a couple hours.

So before we pivot: thank you. Truly.

Okay. Sentiment over.

This week marks the official, no-turning-back shift into holiday mode; the time when even the most exhausted among us slap up twinkle lights and pretend everything smells like pine and goodwill. Meanwhile, the real scent in the air is panic because we all just realized we have a couple weeks to buy gifts for people we barely text back.

And instead of bringing you a sprawling essay, I thought:

Let’s do something lighter. Messier. Potentially controversial.

A ranking of the very best things about this season.

(Feel free to fight me in the comments.)

10. The Commercials

I know we allegedly don’t watch commercials anymore, but every November I become the kind of person who seeks them out.

The tear-jerker dad assembling a bicycle at 1 a.m. 

The red Mercedes towing Santa’s sleigh and leading the lazier white Mercedes.

And the Hess truck - some executive clearly had one good childhood memory and said, “We are making this a thing forever.”

Manipulate me, Target. I’m emotionally available.

9. The Annual “Is This Too Early?” Debate

People who decorate November 1st and people who wait until December 23rd are spiritually incompatible. Choose your fighter.

For what it’s worth: we decorated before Thanksgiving this year. I thought I’d hate it. Turns out it freed up my schedule and my spirit.

Holiday hack: decorate early.

But make no mistake: everything comes down January 2nd.

8. The “Let’s Definitely Hang After the Holidays” Lie

The optimism! The delusion! The annual mutual agreement that we will absolutely not remember this conversation after January 3rd.

And yet we repeat the same lie next year as if we’re not in on the joke.

7. The Music

Mariah defrosts. Michael Bublé emerges from his cave like a well-hydrated groundhog. Kelly Clarkson drops the most underrated Christmas anthem of all time.

And for the questionable-but-iconic category: RuPaul’s “Hey Sis” and Cher’s “Drop Top Sleigh Ride.”

You’re welcome.

6. Fire Hazard Season

Homes become cozy, atmospheric fire hazards wrapped in pine-scented serenity. There is no such thing as too many holiday-scented candles. 

To feel less dangerous, I play a 14-hour YouTube fireplace video when I leave the house. The illusion of safety counts.

5. The Collective Amnesia About How Time Works

“Can you believe it’s almost January?” Yes, Linda. It happens annually.

But allow me to reintroduce myself:

Hi, I am Linda.

And now that I’m a parent, I finally understand the saying: “the days are long, the years are short.”

4. When Every Grocery Store Becomes a War Zone

One of my peak holiday memories is hearing a woman in Great Barrington, MA, loudly exclaim:
“Was there a run on sugar?” …as she got on all fours in Big Y to search for the last bag of granulated sugar.

The woman in question: Dorinda Medley.

So yes, the holidays are real.

3. The Annual Holiday Card Behavior Assessment

Who mailed one? Who didn’t? Who submitted a photo from clearly two summers ago?

And even better: the families who send letters. I will read every paragraph of your year-long highlight reel. Your surgeries, your promotions, your child winning “most improved saxophonist.”

This is our Super Bowl.

2. The Permission Slip to Slow Down

In my corporate days, I’d look forward to Halloween because it meant something sacred: OOO season was near.

Everyone starts disappearing. Meetings get canceled. Response times slow from “right away” to “eh, Monday.”

We don’t truly slow down; we just panic-scroll a little less aggressively.

1. The Excitement for It All to Be Over (And Look Ahead to Spring)

Memories? Check. 

Too many carbs but happy belly? Check. 

Family tension? Check. 

A backlog of life admin waiting for you? Check.

We had fun. We’ll do it again next year. But right now? Can we collectively fast-forward to April?

The holidays are a strange cocktail of nostalgia, chaos, sweetness, exhaustion, sugar, and hope. And somewhere inside all of it is that small, quiet moment where you catch your breath and realize you’re building a life - one candle, one cookie, one memory, one mess at a time.

Is this it? or is this just the reminder that even in the frenzy, we get to choose which moments matter and which ones we carry with us into the new year?

Thankful for you subscribing! I’ll be back next week… same day, same place, same time!

Chris

P.S. If holiday season has you running on equal parts nostalgia, sugar, and panic, consider this your gentle nudge toward something green that isn’t a pine needle👇🏼

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