Happy Sunday, everyone! With Emily’s Farmhouse Christmas reveal now in the books (don’t worry, there’s more:)), we officially feel fully in the holiday spirit. We oddly also feel pretty calm considering the time of year, which is a welcome change! Don’t worry, we are still nice and busy:) Hope you’ve been loving the gift guides and the shop page (only one more guide to go!) because we are pretty proud of them. Ok now on to this week’s links:

This week’s house tour is a strong case for MCM all-wood homes. This 1960s Australian beauty is warm, modern, and full of ideas. The kitchen island is SO cool. Go check it out!

From Emily: If you live on Earth near a kid or tween (maybe even a teen), you know the absolute obsession with “squishies,” “slime,” “dumplings,” “needoh,” and now “speks”. It’s a language all its own, and it’s not for us to understand (but it is for us to “get”, lol). For the kids/tween gift guide, I did some serious recon and asked my kids and their friends what their favorites/the best squishies are. Oh, and I wrote a whole Substack about my Squishy-themed Mall Scavenger Hunt that I did for my 11-year-old birthday that was SUCH A HIT. You can read about it here (we made it free for all). Meanwhile, these are their favorites right now: This banana, this slime, this slow-rise Swiss cheese, and if you really want to be labeled parent of the year, this Gui Gui Slime Mega kit.  Each generation has “their thing,” right????

From Caitlin: Did you guys catch 60 Minutes last week? (Never thought I’d utter those words again, but I digress.) I’m not normally a big Ross Douthat gal – I tend to fall on the Ezra Klein side of the NYT opinion columnist political spectrum – but I was REALLY impressed by Ross’ interview prowess on Sunday! He had a great (and revealing) sit-down with the President – if you haven’t watched already, I’d highly recommend checking out the full extended interview. Ross is really skillful at keeping the President on track; he knows how to balance everyday issues with the sensational to keep Trump’s attention, and he’s got a gift for pushing back without everything devolving into name-calling. It’s important viewing as we head into the second half of this term! (And if you have some time to kill, you HAVE to watch Ross’ 2025 interview with Peter Thiel, in which he posits – to Thiel’s face – that the tech mogul might, in fact, be the antichrist. IT’S WILD. The guy’s got a gift for boundary-pushing interviews. And Thiel gets, like, really sweaty and more and more lizard-looking as he’s answering these questions, so the whole thing makes for a pretty fun watch. I DIGRESS AGAIN.)

Also from Caitlin: My friend Emalie is one of two women behind The Serratore Report, which might be the funniest (free!) Substack in the world. They “serve the pop culture savvy but our target audience also includes ‘women who have visited a Brontë sister’s grave’ and my brother-in-law’s friends,’” writes Emalie in this week’s laugh-out-loud post about the NIGHTMARISH Skims advent calendar fiasco. (Schadenfreude and jokes abound. “Are we supposed to walk around with nude bra straps on our head? To what end?”) Reading the Substack feels like chatting at happy hour with your wittiest friend who used to moonlight at Vice, because, well…that’s who’s writing this one. YOU’RE GONNA LOVE IT, I PROMISE.

From Arlyn: I’ve talked about my recent “beauty regimen” journey as I venture deeper into my 40s. Don’t get me started on hair thinning. I’m currently trying to figure out what’s causing mine (is it low ferritin? is it elevated androgens? is it perimenopause? is it PMOS? IS IT ALL OF THOSE THINGS?!?!? YAY AGING! 🙂 I used to have an enviable, glorious, glossy head of hair. It was never thick; I just had A LOT of it. I used to joke with my sister—who has always had a low volume of hair—that I could probably make her hair extensions from my hair castoffs at every haircut when the hairdresser thinned it out. But now, well, I’m no longer throwing cocky comments her way. I feel the pain. I’ve tried a ton of shampoos, even an onion shampoo (!!!), but it all left my hair flat and dry. Last week, I ventured into Sephora with my kid to just get out of the rain and ended up talking to one of the helpful associates who pointed me toward this shampoo and conditioner. I’ve used Amika products before and liked them, so I was willing to drop the $60 on the set. WOOF. Anyhow, all of that long-windedness to say that I like it so far! It’s a volumizing formula, which normally didn’t have enough moisture for me, but this one seems to have a good balance. It leaves my hair shiny and silky, adds a tiny bit of body, and smells nice without being overpowering.

From Gretchen: November has been a month chock-full of friends’ birthday parties for some reason. I guess I’ve got a thing for Scorpios! But lately I’ve been spending my weekends attending back-to-back concerts, karaoke nights, even a fancy masquerade dinner party, to celebrate some of my nearest and dearest. And with these fun outings typically comes a decent amount of drinking. Look, I’m not proud of it, but it tends to come with the territory. And with nights out like these, I can usually count on a string of not-so-great mornings. That is until a friend introduced me to this life saver: The Recovery Patch. It’s so simple to use–just peel and stick this patch to your skin before you start drinking (ideally somewhere where your clothing can help it stay on, like a waistband) and wake up the next morning with zero hangover headache. I don’t fully understand what magic they put into this little patch (it seems like a lot of feel-good vitamins), but I can tell you it has really worked for me. I wouldn’t say I wake up feeling “refreshed”, but waking up without the splitting headache that typically follows a night of fancy cocktails or concert beers? Total game changer.

From Jess: While most of the team has already dived in, I finally fell into the Gap last weekend, and boy, was it a pleasure. My friend and I went in store, and it was both nostalgic and fresh! I ended up with this Merino wool turtleneck sweater in Vamp Red (but it’s more plum) from the Victoria Beckham collab. I sized up to a medium for a looser, more casual fit. The color is so pretty, and the cute matching buttons made it impossible for me not to take it home. I also picked up the great chunky beanie in Holiday Green that Emily got in red and these socks in Sail Blue. Living in LA means I don’t really get to dive hard into winter clothes, but all of these are perfect for the “winter” and will be great pieces for my colder-weather holiday travels.

From Marlee: Okay – I’ve shared a few really fun games to play recently, and I have a new one for you (well, new to me). With the holidays coming up, I would highly recommend investing in one of these to play with family – previously, I recommended the music trivia game Hitster: teams take turns listening to snippets of popular songs from the last 75-ish years and guess the year it’s from/build a timeline in order of oldest to newest music. It’s SO fun (especially when you play with multiple generations ) and is definitely a crowd-pleaser (plus the rules are so simple and easy). Fast forward to recently: I was at a bar, and they had a game cabinet, so my friends and I pulled out the game “Chronology”. This is the exact same concept as Hitster, except with historical events instead of music. I am definitely not a big history buff, so I didn’t think I would find this game very fun, but I had a blast. You try to guess the years of different political events, inventions, pop culture moments, and more. It’s a good mix of trivia, but it also prompts really fun discussions with your team – we got the giggles pretty hard too, trying to debate when something happened. Plus, I learned some new fun facts while playing! Also, it’s worth noting that I have a really low tolerance for slow-moving games. These both have a great pace and don’t take super long! You can sort of make the games as long or as short as you wish:) If anyone has any similar game recommendations for me, please let me know!

From Mallory: I am desperate for a really quick and easy way to pick up pet hair and am planning to invest in some sort of great vacuum during black friday. We have a heavy-duty vacuum that’s just too intense to pull out all the time (but is excellent for deep cleans), so I’m looking for something maybe cordless, quick and easy to snag some of our puppy’s hair (which I’m mentally preparing will become more intense as he gets older). I’m open to the robot vacuums, but we live in a multi-level townhouse, so I’m not sure it will make sense with the stairs. Any quick, easy pet hair vacuum recs would be MUCH appreciated!!

Also from Mallory: I recently went on a quick little weekend trip, and I’ve used this as my everyday computer bag/carry-on for probably 5 or 6 years. It’s still in great shape (I got the black on black, which shows fewer stains) and it’s so timeless that it stays in style all throughout the years. It would make a great gift for someone who needs a good bag!

Thank you for spending a little time with us, and see you tomorrow for another fun reveal! xx

Opening Image Credits: Photo by Kaitlin Green | From: A Bright And Homey Makeover For Our Favorite Senior, Beth (With VELUX Skylights)