Have a Cozy Weekend.

I enjoy handmade ornament projects too. For years we made the cinnamon/applesauce dough and rolled out dozens of shapes. A new riff on that dough includes dried orange bits IN the dough.

Making a note to try those for next year!

Chag Sameach, Hillary! Sending you love and blessings.

We saw the show at MSG (my son joined me) this year and join you in becoming so knocked out— by the performance, set, dancers, costumes. She is amazing!

Here is that post! https://joannagoddard.substack.com/p/best-affordable-pants

Thanks Maureen!!!

Thats behind a paywall 🙁 anyone willing to drop the brand name?

Yes to this. Days later , I’m feeling quite sad about the sex article. Been with hubs 30 years and the sex has never been better, mainly because I love to guy so damn much. Maybe us older women need to promote deep relationships for younger people. They should have hope that it is possible and they are so worth it. I work with older teenagers, they are fantastic and they deserve to be loved deeply.

Yes! Also, there are plenty of reasons for not get getting wet besides “not being aroused”, and her take on “swallowing or no” makes me uncomfortable: it’s all about what YOU want to do.

Just remember that synthetic fragrances are known endrocrine disruptors leading to fertility issues among a host of other things. Seek out and be willing to pay for natural alternatives if you care about your health.

Thank you for this Lilian!

Eva! Hopefully your grocery store sells frozen diced onion!

Aw, thanks, Eva! I hope you find someone out there who’d be up for chopping a few (dozen) onions for you.

I also have a big onion sensitivity! The things have helped me include: – Wearing contacts lenses or goggles while chopping an onion – Putting the onion in the fridge or freezer for a while before chopping – Finally caving in and buying one of those onion-chopping gadgets where you press down and it chops if for you!

Maybe find out if the local community college has a culinary program and hire a student to prep a freezer full of onions! Or go into your favorite restaurant and ask the head chef if one of his staff would prep a stash for you for a small fee! I know someone will be willing, they are mostly underpaid and happy to make an extra buck!

These are such great ideas and I will attempt them, thanks everyone!

My sister got me onion cutting goggles on Amazon – I think they’re available lots of places.

Such thoughtful friends! Also for the onion-sensitive: Onion Goggles. You might look silly, but they’re life-changing. My eyes used to sting and tear up so badly that I didn’t even buy onions, but the goggles eliminate my discomfort almost all the time. Once in a while, a really strong onion will still cause a mild reaction – but they are so worth it. Mine are from a brand called RSV and have lasted for years and years.

I was surprised that the imdb does not list Laura Dern’s name as a primary actor but they sure did feature her in the trailers! Kind of amazed by that…

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/jay-kelly-laura-dern-interview I read this coverage on Laura Dern’s involvement.

This is such a charming playlist – thank you for sharing!

I don’t believe we’re supposed to be using spotify these days. Cutting and pasting from the Indivisible email I recently received. I understand if you don’t want to cancel and lose your playlists, etc. But please don’t sign on until they remove the ICE ads. Don’t stream fascism – Cancel Spotify! Spotify is Running Ads Recruiting Agents for ICE. Until they stop, l we’re withholding our subscriptions and our support. Find out how to cancel your subscription and how to transfer your playlist.

This is similar to trivia but hopefully easier to put together. My brother in law makes personalized “shoutrageous” games for family gatherings. The topics are things like “10 previous family vacation locations” or “past Christmas gifts” or “10 things we’ve planted in the garden”. You divide into two teams and have one minute to name as many items in the topic as you can. Team with the most points wins.

Ok two more ideas.. Slideshow of family pictures. If you have time you could digitize physical pictures of when kids were young if you haven’t already. Seeing photos on a big screen is fun and lots of stories will be told I’m sure. PowerPoint night- everyone presents a slide deck on topic of their choosing- explaining on a niche topic in their field or teaching a hobby or sharing a random fun fact. Sounds boring but I have done this with friends and it’s very fun and funny.

I love this!!!! My idea that is adjacent but not exactly trivia is making up fictional scenarios and questions about each family member, something like “If we were all stranded on a desert island, who would be best at building the shelter?” Or maybe, what job would everyone have on the island? Or something kind of like the trend of “Who’s the most patient?” “Who has the best fashion sense?” And silly debates ensue!

So idk what would work for the age range of your fam but I once read of someone who surprised their children with a polar express night at home. Think kids in pjs in bed, all the sudden a whistle blows, dad runs in wearing a conductor hat “tickets please” and they enjoyed special hot chocolate and watched the movie past bedtime. Maybe there is some goofy version of a surprise movie you could make happen? We’ve also done special Christmas lights drives (maybe set to family favs playlist and fav treats) etc. go you bringing all of that holiday magic!!!

that is so cute, Maura!

I love this idea, Amy. I too need good suggestions for activity ideas with my 23 and 25 year old sons.

I love this! I agree that trivia is a bunch of work – I custom made my tween’s advent calendar this year, with clues resulting in numbers to open a combo lock. I love doing it, and it’s perfect for those evenings at the in-laws over Thanksgiving, but it’s work! I saw a family that did a mini version of “minute to win it” games, competing individually or in teams. That could be fun? Gets blood going and don’t need many supplies – marshmallows, balloons, or whatever else. Or a riff on Celebrity, using family moments as clues? Catherine Newman shared in her newsletter that they added another category after pantomime, which was to pantomime under a blanket!! She said it was hilarious and I bet it was.

@Susan James – this is an experience, but if you have an iFly around you they have a holiday deal right now ( 100 for four rides a person – so still expensive). My daughter just went to an event there for a birthday party and it was so exciting and memorable for her.

This is a bit lowkey regarding your last christmas, but might work as an add on: I am preparing a huge crossword for the whole family including our sons girlfriend and our dog. It’s about favourite food, colours, characteristics, inside jokes … I will print it in A3 and pin it on the kitchen door.

A game I played recently with family across a wide range of ages (teens to 70s) and was widely loved is called Ito. Basically you get a category (eg. people you would not want to be) and then a number 1 to 100 and everyone has to come up with something that represents their number and then work together to put those things in order without knowing the numbers. Then you reveal the numbers at the end to figure out if your ranking was correct. It was great! Everyone loved it and could play, it was interesting to see which references people made, and easy to learn. I’m now buying it to play with (20-something-aged) friends too!

Try this deck of cards with questions that stir up meaningful conversation, maybe? https://www.jankeck.com/ask-deep-questions/

Boredwalk makes wonderful versions of “get to know you better” trivia cards called Delve Deck. Each deck is color coded for depth so you can control the level of personalization (though none are super hard core). We use these decks at small diner parties and they’re a hit. Bonus points for being a very small business owned by artists! https://www.boredwalk.com/collections/games

Thank you for these recs, Rosie! I bought from Canaan Palestine last year, but I didn’t know about Handmade Palestine and just made a couple purchases from there after reading your comment.

Came here to say thank you for the recs. We get our olive oil and olive oil soap from Palestinian shops and makers. Can’t recommend the olive oil enough.

Thank you for sharing these, Rosie! Much love from a Londoner who spent two whole summers in beautiful Palestine many moons ago.

We watched it last night and I agree. It was…okay.

I’m literally scrolling this post while “watching” Jay Kelly. I’ve been complaining about the tone and story too.

this review is pretty positive, isn’t it?

YES THANK YOU. Arousal non-concordance is a real thing with a cool name. :)

Seconding the book recommendation—I found it super helpful for framing my thinking about intimate relationships in the context of real life, i.e. when you both have a lot of stressors and commitments outside the relationship.

And let’s talk about the post-menopausal Sahara that is currently between my legs. Is it just me?

Dree… You are not alone. Catherine Newman’s post with her all caps (I think or did my brain just read it that way) command to GET VAGINAL ESTROGEN for the tumbleweed situation finally after several years prompted me to ask about it. Freaking game changer. My husband thanks her, too.

Dree – you’re not alone and you have to consider the vaginal estrogen. My insurance doesn’t cover it – but my pharmacy accepts private pay on this script and that makes it more affordable. My over all vaginal health and comfort is much improved.

Came here to write this exact thing!!!! And recommend that book. “Wetness” is really tied to hormones/menstrual cycle. As soon as I read that explanation it all made perfect sense for me. Lube up ladies and gents!! Get recommendations from a local Pelvic Floor PT!

billy collins, frank o’hara, ross gay are three that might be fun and very grow into-able. the book of delights by ross gay is especially sweet!!

Kate Baer!

A dear teacher of mine gave me Caroline Kennedy’s A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children (https://dianesbooks.com/book/9780786851119), and it is a very nice collection of poems from a variety of poets.

I love Billy Collins poetry and have really enjoyed reading him aloud, back and forth, with my daughter. She’s a teenager now, but we started reading him when she was probably 10 or 11. Meaningful, beautiful, and accessible.

I adored and read and reread this poetry compilation as a kid. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-random-house-book-of-poetry-for-children/247435/item/78794/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_midlist_standard_shopping_customer_acquisition_20381777654&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=666157863328&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20381777654&gbraid=0AAAAADwY45iNLzgVDTDaUbOsIS6wvrah2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI44TLh4mokQMVGi7UAR0blBk6EAQYASABEgLafPD_BwE#idiq=78794&edition=2385025 My kids are still a little young to appreciate it at 4 and 6. But i am excited to read it with them soon!

I look forward to other recommendations here! I have found that AA Milne’s poems (particularly the When We Were Very Young compilation) are a wonderful introduction to poetry for little kids. They are the first poems I remember my parents reading to me as a child, and my young daughters have taken to them. The illustrations are simple but enjoyable. When my dad was dying, I bought a few used copies of When We Were Very Young, and I would pull out poems one at a time for my daughter to color (the illustrations are in black and white) and bring to her grandfather. I think he found it a little odd that I had pulled the pages from the book, but I hope for her to always feel connected to him through poetry (which he loved). In any event, the poems are very accessible and fun to read aloud, and my girls now like to recite portions of them.

Really really recommend sacraments of desire by Linda Gregg for poems you can “hold in hand.” They could be described as Kate Baer-esque in that way (if you’ve read her) but rather than many Mary Oliver or Kate Baer poems they really end on an image and have a different type of ongoingness. I recommend it as a starter book often. Anything Victoria chang — OBIT, also her book “dear memory” is not pages of poems poetry but prose poetry nonfiction, each sentence building a poem. I’ve never grown tired of the “Sing” anthology from Allison hedge coke — short poems, long poems, so many that can be glanced through and returned to — and also think her book “look at this blue” is important, soaring, poetry that makes the world more real. Ok and finally “a woman without a country” by Eavan boland which has one of my favorite sonnets “Atlantis: a lost sonnet”

I remember poring over Paul B. Janeczko & Chris Raschka’s a Kick in the Head, which has very fun poems + illustrations and little notes about different poetic forms. They feel sort of high energy, which was a jolt for a kid who assumed poems were all snoozy.

We like this one! https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-illustrated-book-of-american-childrens-poems-9780195145786?cc=us&lang=en&

I love this question! I used to read daily poetry to my daughter at bedtime when she was tiny, and she still loves poems. Our favorites were Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year and A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy. (Both are anthologies. I picked up the Caroline Kennedy one at a library book sale and was surprised by how well-chosen the poetry is! It’s a lovely book.) As your baby gets older, be sure to include childhood funny favorites like Jack Perlutsky and Shel Silverstein – they make poetry feel fun and funny to young children, and they mix surprisingly well with classic choices.

This is my life! Going in and Out the Window (collection) When we were very young Now we are six (both A A Milne) A Visit to William Blake’s Inn A Child’s Garden of Verses (collection) Book of Questions (Pablo Neruda) Happy reading!!

How about I Am Loved by Nikki Giovanni?

I bought my goddaughter “Everybody Sang -A Poem for Every Feeling” by William Sieghart. Beautiful illustrations.

I love the idea of reading poetry with your little one. Try Shel Silverstein.

If I may refer you to another website from this website, you might enjoy Jama’s Alphabet Soup. Jama reviews childrens books and poetry, and it is really a cute site; she also reviews artists from around the world, and you get to meet Cornelius and his brother Basil, two adorable bears. Give it a try; it’s fun just for the escape!

I have recently discovered and fallen in love with Sarah Kay. I can’t speak for all of her books but I personally own and love “A Little Daylight Left.” My fiancée and I are getting married next August and I want someone to read “Epithalamion” to us. I love how she combines such beautiful, moving words with humor (see the poem: “To Whoever Broke Into My Rental Car and Stole My Vibrator”). Check out her books and her spoken word poetry on YouTube as well!

Is this the poem you are looking for? It’s lovely. Coming Home at Twilight in Late Summer We turned into the drive, and gravel flew up from the tires like sparks from a fire. So much to be done — the unpacking, the mail and papers; the grass needed mowing … We climbed stiffly out of the car. The shut-off engine ticked as it cooled. And then we noticed the pear tree, the limbs so heavy with fruit they nearly touched the ground. We went out to the meadow; our steps made black holes in the grass: and we each took a pear, and ate, and were grateful. — Jane Kenyon

Michael Rosen’s poetry collections for kids are beloved in our house. We also love P is for Poetry (which we randomly picked up in a thrift store).

There’s a compilation by Allie Esiri called “a poem for every day of the year” and it looks lovely!

This anthology of poems by women, for girls, looks amazing – it’s on my list for my daughter: https://nosycrow.com/product/and-everything-will-be-glad-to-see-you/

Fellow poetry lover here! But have not yet explored poetry books for children and am now eagerly noting down all of these recs!! For all poetry fans out there though – I highly recommend “My dear comrades” by Sunu P. Chandy – one of my favourite poetry collections I’ve read in the past few years and I wish she got more recognition because she’s really really good!! I had never heard of her but picked it up on a whim and was blown away. Love when the universe works like that!! Other faves this year have been by Andrea Gibson (found through the CoJ comment section!!) and Amanda Lovelace.

On my wishlist I have the book Out and About: a first book of poems, by Shirley Hughes. Gorgeous illustrations of every day life poems just like her books.

Definitely agree that when they’re older Michael Rosen is a treasure. My 8 year old boy and I saw him at a reading and are fans. Benjamin Zephaniah is a great poet with a Black British point of view.

I highly recommend A Whale of a Time: A Funny Poem for Each Day of the Year. I wrote about my poetry reccs for kids here! https://champagnenotes.substack.com/p/celebrating-poetry-month

I want to second the recommendation of the anthology Sing a Song of Season. This collection is organized by month and has a poem for each day. 366 nature poems, and so many of them are just fantastic! I teach elementary school and read each kid the poem of the day on their birthday.

Hi, Koo! by Jon J Muth When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano For sillier but brilliant fare – particularly for the older elementary years: Shell Silverstein Chris Harris And don’t overlook all the excellent picture books: Dr Seuss, PD Eastman, Julia Donaldson, Andrea Beaty, Margaret Wise Brown (Color Kittens is my fav), Helen Docherty. Little Blue Truck is particularly accessible to toddlers and such fun.

I like Kalli Dakos’s poetry collections for kids. They are for kids but imo adults can appreciate them too!

This is amazing! The Cup of Jo community is wayyyy better than google. Thank you all, I can’t wait to dive into all these suggestions, and start reading them with my sweet babe xoxo

Shel Silverstein- Where the Sidewalk Ends or A Light in the Attic

Ohio transplant here: Mitchell’s is better than either Graeter’s or Jeni’s by miles. IYKYK.

100% Agree! Jeni’s for The Win!

I love Jeni’s and can confirm the dark chocolate is top notch. I’ll occasionally pick up a pint of Grater’s dark chocolate cherry. It’s creamy and delicious. Never lived in Ohio, but I can pick up both where I live.

As a native Ohioan, both can be true, i.e. Jeni’s and Graeter’s are both delicious and frankly the best ice cream in the country! I live in California now and have tried so many other brands, and nothing compares to those two. (My favorite flavors are their peanut butter and chocolate versions, peanut butter chip from Graeter’s and salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks from Jeni’s.) If your only experience of either is via a grocery store pint, it’s not as good as getting it locally…..good reason to visit Columbus or Cincinnati, where you can find both!

Hi Mandy, I grew up in Ohio and Jeni’s didn’t exist until my childhood was over, so that’s the reason for the Graeter’s love right there! I also prefer the vibe of the shops. But in all honesty, I’d take a trip to Johnson’s or (further away) Ye Olde Mill in Utica for Velvet ice cream, over either of them. We’re lucky to have so many great choices!

Truly, such a valid take.

So funny!!

Same, girl. Haha

lol SAME!

Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow is the best. I wish I could read it for the first time again : ) Also I keeo meaning to get to the Winter Market at Union Square!

Fun fact, Sandler is one of the highest paid actors. What I love about it is you’d never know! I’m a fan. Always.

I love this story, thanks for sharing. If Judith Faulkner was a man she’d likely be a household name.

She LOVES cows so this tracks!

Wow! I have worked in tech for twenty years and have never heard of Judith Faulkner … I asked a few colleagues and they hadn’t her either … how is this even possible? I’m just in the process of going down a rabbit hole, learning all about this interesting human …

100% will choose races based on the bling! Great plan for 2026.

GEMMA ❤️ Sending you wishes for a good week ahead.

Anna, thank you so much for sharing this article. It would be amazing if the writer was featured on CupofJo.

This article is mind-blowing! Everyone with a pelvic floor should read it! :)