The Christmas Issue: Reflections
Merry Christmas, my friend. What does it feel like to wake up to a universally happy day, with lots of red and green?
Merry Christmas, my friend. What does it feel like to wake up to a universally happy day, with lots of red and green? People smiling? People dancing? People cooking? Jollof rice and chicken? Coke and Fanta? Pot-bellied Santas? No worries about work? No worries about school? And thanks to the reindeer, Christmas is on a Sunday this year which means we don’t have to go to church twice. I am particularly happy about that one.
I love Christmas. When people ask for my favorite season of the year, it’s Christmas. I don’t know how it can be any other season. Christmas has songs. Christmas has colors: red and green. Christmas has symbols: caps, hats and trees. And it has a good story: the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Iconic.
Today, I will share a personal essay I wrote about last December. I titled it Decembers. When I sat in my room in Ogbomoso thinking of what to send out, I remembered the essay and I thought, why not send this out to everyone? It doesn’t seem perfect and I almost did not send this issue but then I remembered the words of my friend, Ms. Jentry: ‘You don’t have to be 100% every day. You just have to show up.’ So this is me showing up with the Christmas issue in your inbox.
I am sending this particular essay to you because of four reasons.
Because it is about last December and I titled it Decembers.
Because it is a good way to wrap up the year since it contains a lot of my new year resolutions for 2022.
Because the essay has a nostalgic feel to it, for me.
Because I want to show up.
Last December, I had Covid 19. What was supposed to be the best Christmas of my life turned out to be my best Christmas in a whole new way.
Decembers are important to me because I get to see my family, I get to spend time with them and also get to reflect and plan for the new year. I love reflections. I was in isolation last December thanks to Covid 19 and what did I do with the excess amount of time on my hands: I reflected, a whole lot.
I also made plans for the new year. Last December, I decided that I was going to open a Bookstagram account where I would share my reading journey with everyone. I also said by the end of the year, I would have gotten to 5000 followers and that I would post every day.
Here’s how that went: I did open the Bookstagram. I called it A Planet of Books with the handle books.mercury. I did not post every day and did not get to 5000 followers. Currently, the page has 1400 followers. Progress uhn? Later in the year, I changed the name to Oriade of Lagos with my name michaelinioluwa as the handle.
Perhaps the most beautiful thing about this Bookstagram is that finally I actually have an Instagram account I am proud of. I have never been a fan of posting my pictures on Instagram. I don’t think I want an Instagram page filled with pictures of me. That would be too much. My first ever Instagram page was simply for my writing. I posted my poems there. Over 500 posts. Before Mark and his family took it from me. Currently, I have two Instagram pages, my Bookstagram page, and my personal page and as you can guess, the only one thriving is Bookstagram. I still don’t feel comfortable posting my pictures on my personal Instagram page so we might just leave it like that for now.
Another amazing thing about this Bookstagram page is that it opened me up to art, to people, to readers, and to writers. I get books from publishers and authors who would like me to read and review their books. I do this to the best of my ability, although this is not what I want the entire page to be about. What I want the page to be about is art: books, stories, and photography. I am still gathering the confidence to start posting the photos I take on Instagram. You will see more of my photography in 2023.
Emily in Paris.
I watch a lot of TV in December. Generally, I try not to watch more than 2 hours of TV( Netflix, Showmax, etc) but in December, I go above and beyond. I throw caution to the wind and I watch mostly romance. I don’t know how this started. I blame it on Emily in Paris, which I started last December. I finished it and Netflix suggested more for me. I watched the suggestions and somehow, I now have to watch Romance movies every December. I like the teenage/early twenties, high school, hopeful romance.
This December I have watched:
Along for the Ride.
Love, Rosie
And one more whose name I cannot remember right now.
I am open to recommendations, please. I want happily ever after romance movies. Please suggest away!
This is the going to the last post for the year. And this is my way of saying thank you. I started this newsletter in August as a way to bring essay readers like you together to read essays every week. So far, this is my second biggest project for the year, following the Bookstagram. I cannot thank you guys enough for reading and most importantly for sharing. I wrote a mini appreciation here on Twitter but this is me saying thank you again! We are currently on 469 subscribers. Hopefully, we can double that number next year. In the next post, I will share my 2023 plans for this newsletter with you. I will also like to know what kind of content you’d like to read. Don’t air me.
This is goodbye until 2023. I leave you with the words of the American Poet, Mary Karr:
“Literature makes us better noticers of life; we get to practice on life itself; which in turn makes us better readers of detail in literature; which in turn makes us better readers of life.”
To read this week’s recommended essay titled Decembers, press here. If you have some thoughts to share or an essay you think we should read, you can write back to me by replying to this email or tweet about it using the hashtag #TheERClub so we can find it.
Merry Christmas. 🎄
Love this!
I recommend Yumi's Cell. It Is a beautiful Korean Romance Drama. It is actually interesting trust me.