December Monthly Musings // From The Inspired Abode
We’re right in the middle of the holiday season, which is so exciting – and also the reason for missing last week’s newsletter… the days have just been sneaking up on us, as I’m sure everyone is feeling right about now.
This month has been a whirlwind in the very best way! Brooke & her husband are officially homeowners and moved in days before Thanksgiving and hosted! We’ve been spending lots of quality time with friends (celebrating baby showers & having girls’ nights), and of course doing our best to create some Christmas magic at home ✨
With all of the joy that the holidays bring, we’re looking forward to staying as present as possible, making time to see friends & family, and setting goals for the new year – which will also be here before we know it!
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links we can’t stop sending each other, products, links, current faves
We have two “white elephant” gift exchanges this month, so we’ve been naturally going back to our own ShopMy list showcasing White Elephant Gifts under $30. Other favorites include cookbooks, coffee table books, quality candles, home decor & anything from Goodies (if you have one in your area, it’s amazing and there’s nothing over $25!)
Has anyone tried Origin for managing financing? We’ve been hearing about it on social, and think we may want to try it – it’s like an automated version of the Multi-Year Wealth Dashboard we use & highly recommend!
After seeing how expensive the Artipoppe carrier really is, B is considering getting the very-similar, but much-less-expensive Mabē Monarch Carrier for baby boy #2 since we’re sure baby-wearing will be a necessity with a toddler too!
We’ve also been so curious about this new robot vacuum! It’s $$$ but apparently it’s super silent, mops and vacuums (& actually does the job with no supervising) & avoids obstacles like coffee cups & cords instead of making a big mess. Intrigued! As an alternative, our mom recently got this vacuum/mop combo robot vacuum and it’s half the price.
what we’re watching
We still need to catch up on season two of Nobody Wants This! We watched the first ep and loved, but then we got sidetracked with other content.
After hearing so much about Dancing with the Stars this season, we decided to start watching with our mom & it brought so much joy to us each week!
So many movies are coming out (that actually look good), which we love! We’re looking forward to streaming Brad Pitt’s F1 movie, and going to the theater to see The Housemaid (since we never read the book but wanted to!) and Eternity with Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, and Callum Turner.
We’ve been loving the new season of With Love, Meghan! She makes us want to get more creative, try new recipes, create new crafts, and continue celebrating joy and appreciating the little things in a beautiful way!
what we’re reading
Since we skipped the book-club book this time around (though we can’t wait for our annual holiday book club / white elephant gathering this weekend!), we’ve been loving The Compound by Aisling Rawle. It’s like Love Island meets a kind of spooky, gotta-work-for-what-you-need dystopian setting. Such a good read so far!
Kel is still reading The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom as her morning book for little tidbits of wisdom to start each day, and it offers such a fresh perspective on wealth and how to build your dream life – focusing not only on finances, but also time, social, mental, and physical wealth as well to have no regrets.
what we’re listening to
Spotify’s Christmas Hits playlist has been on repeat & our go-to Yacht Rock playlist of course!
Liz Moody’s podcast with Nate Berkus had so many helpful tidbits on how to make your house into a home, so highly recommend listening to 5 Secrets for Creating a Home You’ll Never Want to Leave if you’re interested!
We also loved listening to Dr. Aliza Pressman’s podcast on 10 Science-Backed Ways to Build a Closer Relationship with Your Child – taking notes now so we can build great relationships from 2 to 22 and beyond!
what we’re eating/drinking
It’s Kel’s goal to start baking her own sourdough bread in 2026, so we’re taking all the tips & considering starting with this sourdough starter kit!
As a lover of pad thai, we’re also hoping to try this spaghetti squash version from The Defined Dish for when we’re feeling extra healthy 🤍
Kel was gifted Manukora’s manuka honey starter kit & has been having it from the spoon or in hot water first thing each morning – highly recommend for a tasty start to the day that’s also supposed to help with immunity, energy & more!
If you’re looking for a quick & easy holiday appetizer, we’ve been loving baked goat cheese 😍 It is SO easy and even more delicious. Just cut up a log of goat cheese, pop it all in an oven-safe dish, add some pesto + any spices/herbs of your choice, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes & serve with toasted sliced baguette with olive oil & sea salt.
little joys
Now that they’re almost 2 1/2, this is the first year the kids are absolutely obsessed with everything holiday-related, especially Avery. They love the songs, the decorations, Santa, and it’s just the cutest thing seeing it all through their eyes 🎄
Being able to walk to the farmers market on Saturday mornings!
Hitting all of the Christmas markets, neighborhood holiday festivities & getting Santa pictures for the first time ❤️
Spending quality time with girl friends we only get to see a few times a year – it’s an effort to travel these days, but it’s so worth it for even just 12-24 hours ✨
We’d love to know what you’ve enjoyed watching, listening to, eating, drinking & what you’ve been eyeing and are looking forward to. Let us know in the comments section or send us a DM on Instagram – or better yet, join the group chat when you sign up for our newsletter! You can also follow us on Pinterest to see what inspires us & our abodes!