What are your plans for this week? We are celebrating at home with pumpkin pudding, apple crisp and other delicious treats. As Sam Sifton wrote in his book Thanksgiving, “Let us speak plainly: you are going to need a lot of butter.” Hope you have a good one, and here are a few links from around the web…
What a beautiful piece by Duchess Meghan Markle about her recent miscarriage. So much love to those who have experienced this special kind of loss. (New York Times)
How to make your own chocolate croissants.
Hint, hint, Alex: This is at the top of my wishlist.
“What Thanksgiving means to my Indigenous family.”
If Anything Happens, I Love You is a gorgeous short film about grief.
Stave off holiday loneliness by watching old sitcoms.
What a cool, colorful home in Illinois.
Made me laugh. (New Yorker)
Princess Diana’s most underrated style moments.
Finally, here are 6 amazing sales:
* J.Crew is 50% off with code EARLY. (Their cashmere is so good!)
* Madewell is up to 50% off with code VERYMERRY. The gift guide is fun.
* Dermstore is up to 30% off with code SHARETHELOVE. (Stocking up on this everyday essential.)
* Lulu and Georgia are 25% off with code THANKFUL. (How pretty are these?)
* Nisolo is 25% off everything with code COJHOLIDAY.
Have a good one! Here’s our 2020 gift guide so far, if you’d like some ideas. xo
(Photo by James Ransom for Food52.)
144 COMMENTS
Thank you for including the article by Daunnette Reyome (0maha) – as a Native person myself (Prairie Band Potawatomi) it is great to see folks share our perspective and the true history of Thanksgiving. Igwien! Thank you!
My mom has been making something very similar to this “pumpkin pudding” for years now, except she puts it the crust. Because it is thicker, the crust doesn’t get soggy. I never was a fan if pumpkin pie until my mom had the idea to make it this way, then it became one of my favourite desserts. Soooo gooooood!!!!!
I think maybe a trigger warning for gun violence for the short video would be appropriate. Would not have watched if I’d realized; that trauma has been a lived reality for too many of us.
The warning is on Netflix, as are all Netflix content warnings: “strong thematic content including gun violence.”
Thank you for highlighting Meghan, Duchess of Suxxex’s beautifully written piece about pregnancy loss, and essentially, all the losses we share. Having experienced two miscarriages myself in the last year and a half, the one I most recently had this past summer felt even more isolating due to the pandemic. I love her message about “seeing one another” even while we wear masks. Empathy and connection are more important now than ever before. Thank you.
I moved from New York to California after college and couldn’t afford to fly back for holidays for a long time; by the time I could afford it, I was a we and our holiday routines were set. We’ve Thanksgiving-ed with the same friends for decades now. They always make me a ramekin of pumpkin pie filling since I can’t eat the crust. Your post inspired me to make my own, and we had a lovely conversation about it. Thank you!!
I read Meghan Markle’s NYTimes article and thought it was well done. My major hang-up is that as an “activist” Ms. Markle uses her British peerage title, a class based system of nobility and aristocracy in direct conflict with the egalitarian notions she claims to pronounce.
I noticed that, too, and also was pretty confused why she is still using her title.
Hello!
Just wanted to ask where exactly does she call herself an activist after her marriage? There is no need to nit pick. Take the message she’s sending or ignore it. She’s living her life and we should live ours. These not so subtle attacks on women of colour need to stop.
Hope this is okay to share. I made an ongoing list of BIPOC businesses with a (mostly) focus on ethical and sustainable goods.
Please support small, local, and BIPOC this year. I have no affiliation with any of these brands, just trying to amplify. Get your orders in early so they have time to ship safely!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xgu6MdZ5ZycmY3ZU8UG9_YbAa9N4h3kVh-_v30nzXTg/edit?usp=sharing
Love this Alexis!
So I definitely took inspiration from this blog and made pumpkin pie with a gingersnap crust yesterday. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out as hoped: the crust was both soggy and burnt-tasting. SO, like the Food52 article suggests, from now on I’m going to make pumpkin pudding, but will serve with crumbled gingersnaps as a topping!
Happy Thanksgiving Cup of Jo community!
Psst.. any pointers on sales in Europe?
Do you have recommendations to support shop owned by indigenous people and people of color? I like that we are more conscious about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and the pervasive oppression of those with marginalized identity. Hopefully, 2021 is the year we will start shifting the way we consume and support businesses.
yes! our holiday gift guide is actually focusing on supporting women- and POC-owned businesses. we are so happy to do so! thank you so much, joannaxo
Hi!
Several indigenous owned businesses:
http://www.beyondbuckskin.com
http://www.byellowtail.com
https://www.emmerichny.com
https://www.thentvs.com
Yep, just had a big cry with that one.
.. Sent this in the wrong place! This is in reply to a comment about “If Anything Happens I Love You”.
Cup of Jo, My skin (especially my face) thanks you for alerting me to the Derm Store sale!
That short film was absolutely heartbreaking. Oh, my heart
I read the part about adding alligator PJs for the cousins and just thought, “from a far, I like you joanna goddard.” I’m pleased to be able to support your cousin sharing, galaxy viewing, aclu donating impulses by reading this blog. Happy Thanksgiving!
Awww thank you so much <3
While it’s great to have celebrities bring attention to pregnancy loss, always good to keep trying for greater sensitivity. There are people who have suffered loss or many losses and instead of the constant reminders of the key dates that should have been instead focus on International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. That was the day the Duchess chose to announce her previous pregnancy. Again it’s nice to hear her lend a voice and I am very sorry for her loss. I hope in due time, when and if she can, that she recognizes the importance of that day and builds a stronger bridge with a community she previously wasn’t sensitive to.
I remember that day Meghan announced her pregnancy and of course I can’t speak for everyone, but as someone who has experienced the trauma of two miscarriages (and we’re still trying) it didn’t strike me as insensitive on her part at all. Of course being in the public eye (and being one of the most criticized women) there was backlash but no one is perfect and I think it’s fantastic she wrote this article. It articulated the feelings of this trauma in ways I never could.
One thing this horrible experience has taught me is life goes on as normal for others even though your world is never the same and I’ve had to learn to be ok with that. When friends and co-workers announce their pregnancies although I feel sad I can be genuinely happy for them now.
I remember this very clearly as I just had my second miscarriage and that baby would have been die around the same time as Archie was. Many in our community of those who have had losses felt the same I did. I also hope Meghan and Harry can look back and understand now why that day is important.
What’s your favorite/recommendation from EltaMD?
I haven’t used a product of theirs that I *didn’t* think was great. As a long-time COJ reader Jo turned me onto the “UV Facial Broad-Spectrum SPF 30 Plus” that comes in a jar and is a really nice moisturizing gentle everyday facial sunscreen. So maybe that’s what she’d still recommend? :)
Also the “UV Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Plus” is great for a quick slap of sunscreen on the neck/arms/hands everyday.
The JCrew codes never, ever work on the cashmere. *weeps*
Cannot wrap my head around the seemingly universal fascination/admiration of Princess Diana (I was a little too young/disconnected when she was around)– would love to hear someone’s thoughts!
If you have Netflix watch ‘ The Crown’
I think you will see why she garnered said fascination. It’s also a well written series.
Supposedly the Crown portrayal of her, and her marriage, is pure fiction. Impossible to know the truth as an outsider and therefore a total waste of energy, imo.
Hmmmm, if someone was not around during her era/height of popularity, i don’t think the series “the crown” would actually sway them to actually “get” all that attention she garnered. As someone though who was around, even significantly younger, i don’t know, there was just something about her, you know how some people just draw you in? Have that light? I’ve since gone down a princess Diana rabbit hole AGAIN since watching the series.
I’m with Tina (above). Diana just had this aura… there was *something* absolutely gentle and magnetic and gorgeous and graceful about her. Looking through those photos in the link I started remembering how fascinating a figure she was in my young life… and I wouldn’t have considered myself a fan or anything! She just had the attention of the world in all her endeavors. She was the glowing, vulnerable heart of that cold aristocratic tradition that felt so unwelcoming. She was a welcome sign.
I’ll never forget when she died (I was 15). It was like a light went out.
Hmm, I was also quite young and a whole world away when she died. But I remember she was beloved and there was a Barbie version of her. I think it’s similar to the fascination with Meghan Markle now. She was very much an outspoken activist, I know she publicly hugged a person with AIDS which at the time was *huge* due to the stigma. She seemed very kind and a bit unconventional from the other royals, much like how the public views Meghan Markle now. As for her style, I don’t get it. It was the height of 80s fashion and definitely does not hold up well…but we love Meghan’s style now and perhaps will be saying the same one day! You don’t need to watch The Crown..I couldn’t get through Season One.
I’ve been enjoying the series of episodes on Princess Diana that the You’re Wrong About podcast put out recently!
You’re Wrong About does a great 5 part series on her, if podcasts are your thing!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/princess-diana-part-1-the-courtship/id1380008439?i=1000492796502
In a recent Netflix doc about her (I think it was In her Own Words), they described this fascination very well. They said that as it was pre-internet, and Diana was literally EVERYWHERE you looked in print, TV media, she was a global star, THE star actually. Everyone paled beside her and I mean everyone. That wouldn’t happen now, except maybe for Queen Elizabeth, I don’t think. AND, the world watched her grow up, from a little 19 year old marrying in front of the whole world, to a 36 year old woman. I shook her hand once when I was 14 and she visited my town, and was living near Kensington Palace when she died. In the days before she died, I remember being utterly tired of the constant news stories on her. And then – the shock of her untimely death. It was quite something to lay flowers at that incredible sea of them around the palace where so many others did the same thing, and to watch the funeral procession on big screens in Hyde Park. When the processional horses clop clopped by with the coffin, despite the thousands of people, you could hear a pin drop. I’ll never forget it, or her.
I remember being 5 years old and in my princess phase when she married Prince Charles. Our whole community gathered around the TV to watch the wedding, and everyone oohed and aahed. I remember everything about that wedding dress….. It was so magical!
Kind of agree here, until I read about all her charitable work and how she treated others. I still think the fascination with monarchy is silly, but she did seem to be on another level of kind, gentle and real.
thanks for all these responses! all truly interesting. Definitely gonna listen to that podcast! xo
I haven’t come across many children’s books that discuss the true origins of Thanksgiving, but one that does is 1621 A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780792261391
I clicked your link for your top wish and it is half off at Sephora today!
Thanks, CoJ & community – have a great Thanksgiving. Am quite thankful for this little slice of the internet.
Hi COJ Community!
I loved the post last week with all of the makers and creators so much and I wanted to do a fun little project so I compiled them all on a webpage here! I hope someone finds it useful <3
Emma!!! That is amazing, thank you!
AMAZING, Emma. Thank you!
Emma, this is wonderful! Thank you so much :)
You are awesome!!!
What a peach you are, Emma!! Thanks so so much.
YOU ARE AN ANGEL! I was just preparing to dive into that post to find some fun holiday gifts and then here you are, handing me a little piece of organized magic! THANK YOU!! CoJ – come for the content, stay for the comments!
oh my gosh, thank you so much!
Wow, what a great idea! Thank you Emma!!
Wow this is so great of you! Thank you.
thank you Emma! xx
wow, there are so many! Thank you!!
This is wonderful! Thank you so much <3
Thank you everyone! If I missed you or made a mistake (it got pretty late last night!) please reach out – my email is at the bottom right of the page <3
Thank you, Emma!! I’ve been scrolling those comments every time I get a free moment from chasing my little boy around and wow you just made things so much easier to navigate! Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for you! Xo. :)
Emma, thank you so much! You are the best!
Wow this is so helpful! Thanks so much!
Thats awesome!!! 💖💖💖💖
Thank you!!!
WOW. You are a gem.
Emma, what a thoughtful and generous thing to do! Thank you!
Thank you, Emma! My goal is to only shop small business and POC owned businesses and your website makes it so much easier to support makers from this community.
That is so cool Emma!
Wow!!! What a nice surprise to have everything so convenient. Thanks.
Oh my heart with that short film 💔
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all COJ readers! Is it too late to ask for one more gift guide? I was wondering if you could do a post about gifts or merchandise that support nonprofits both small and large. Thanks!
That Illinois home is PERFECTION!
Agreed – wow
It is truly a gem isn’t it? It didn’t have enough pictures though! I wish to see every single corner of every single room!
I also loved the pieces from Meghan this morning! Just a small thing, if Princess Diana’s title is included in the post, then I think Duchess Meghan’s should be too! (she and Harry still keep their titles even after ‘leaving’ the royal family) Thank you!!
Good point, thank you!
On a similar note – and I am by no means an expert on Royal naming conventions – I think that when you refer to Meghan in written form you are meant to refer to her as “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex” (not as “Duchess Meghan Markle” as her title references a place not a surname).
Great roundup today. I’ve seen the skinceuticals ce ferulic serum featured here before, but see you’ve linked to another one above – is it better? It’s certainly a more palatable price point!
I love them both!