Merry Christmas, my sweet friend! 🎄❤️🎅 I hope your tummy is filled with yummy Christmas goodies, and I hope you feel warm, safe and loved. If you’re flying solo this year, please let us extend a virtual holiday hug to you, and please know there’s someone out there thinking good thoughts for you on Christmas day. You’re not alone. Connor, Rosie-Pose and I send you best wishes and hopes from the little town of Novato.
This has been quite a year, hasn’t it? Again. I don’t know about you, but all of this “keep on keepin’ on” has taken a toll, and I’m all over the feelings circle this year!
I’ve felt sadness, despair, exhaustion, heartbreak and SO MUCH worry, but I’ve also felt joy, relief and hope, especially during this holiday season. I appreciate the basics more than ever before — health, security, love, having a roof over my head and food in my tum. Everything else, to quote Tabs the cat (miss you, buddy), is “Just gravy.” 2021 has been deeply humbling.
Thank you for always giving me a reason to smile every time you visit. 😊 Ever since I started this blog in — wait for it — 2007 (!), thank you for sharing your stories, your beauty recommendations, your hopes, your fears, your congratulations, your time and your wonderful company. Most of all, thank you for simply being a nice person on the internet, which seems to have become something of a rarity these days.
But not here. Not ever here. I can honestly say that my experience blogging every single day going on almost 15 years has not been the nasty, petty, hurtful, negative online experience we hear and see so much about nowadays. After 14,372 blog posts — yes, that’s right — I still love it because of you.
I’m so grateful for you and for the connection we’ve made online.
Have a restful and joyful Christmas, my friend. May your day be merry and bright. Happy holidays.
Sending so much love! ❤️
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Jen C says
Merry Christmas! And sending good thoughts your way!
May the coming year be hopeful, positive, peaceful and calm for you and your loved ones!
Daphne says
Merry Christmas Karen, Connor Claire El Hub, and Rosie! Thank you for all that you do, and for being the bright light this year that we all needed. Wishing you much peace and love in the coming year. I think 2022 is going to be much better!
Leigh says
Happy holidays, and thank you for giving me something to look forward to every day!
Fieran says
Merry Christmas, Karen! It’s been a roller coaster of a year and your posts — be it here or Instagram — always make me smile. Thank you for creating a small spot of positivity, joy, and realness in the vast Internet!
Lily Kelley says
Merry Christmas Karen, sending you love from Las Vegas!
Karen says
Merry Christmas Karen , thanks for all the laughs! Karen
Vita says
Merry Christmas to you Karen and that you for always cheering up even my most dreary, sad or worriesome days. Thank you for your Monday pills that I look forward to weekly and your Saturday recommendations to give me new things to look at. I appreciate you and all of your hard work in reaching out to all of us with your blog!!
I hope 2022 is the best yet for you and your family!
Julie says
Merry Christmas Karen, Rosey and Connor-Claire! I’ve been with you since around 2010 and enjoy every post. I look forward to your sage advise and thoughts! Thank you for your uplifting spirit in these challenging times. Have a Very Happy New Year! There’s more to come! Julie, Tux and Tilli
Eileen says
Well, we aren’t having a White Christmas here in SoCal or up in your Bay Area, but we certainly are having a wet one! I wish you a heart full of peace, comfort, and joy–enough to dispel the glum today, tomorrow, and throughout the New Year. Happy Holidays, Karen, to you and your precious family.
Brigid Johnson says
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas day and New Year. Thanks for bringing some smiles, some great advice, and a wonderful sunny way of looking at the world to all of us out there.
Chelsea says
Merry Christmas Karen! I’m so happy you created this so I could meet you online.
Susan Zimmerman says
Merry Christmas to you and yours. It’s been mostly low-key here. More subdued for the adults, more somber with the absence of faces from the year before. But the magic for the kids is still there. We all put in the effort to keep the bubble for our littles and in doing so, we save some for ourselves.
I missed my grandparents more than ever this year. My mother made her mother’s special chocolate pie and for a bit, I tasted the love I felt when I was little, Santa was real, and grief was not.
Anne says
Merry Christmas to you as well, and thank you for still being here to keep us company through what has been an exhausting last year.
Karina says
Merry Christmas! Cheers to the new year and the many blessings heading everyone’s way!
Julia says
Happy Holidays, Karen! I have been following your blog for many years from Montréal. Your posts always make my day! Thank you and best wishes for the New Year to you and your family!