Open-hearted joys 開開心心 81

Happy Friday, my loves!

I’m finishing up this post post-Pilates and with The Holiday playing in the background – yes, again! – so all is well. This week, I found myself facing all of the ‘last before Christmas’ meetings and tasks and messages, and it’s been the season of billions of tiny tasks. Work was relentless, but I’ve been pretty good at soaking up the festive feeling with detour drives home via Christmassy streets and adding some party food to the side of most – okay, all – of my dinners. I can hardly believe this is my last ‘Open-hearted joys’ of the year, since I’ll be taking a short posting break over the holidays. What a great 12 months we’ve had on Substack!

There’s a lot to be said for appreciating the smaller, not necessarily finer, details of the everyday mundane. Here’s to another list of petite, open-hearted joys, the moments that’ve brought and woven poetry to my days, this week:

一. Getting to say ‘merry Christmas’ to people, as we won’t see each other until New Year. It never stops feeling completely bizarre, especially waving farewell to colleagues that I see more often than my boyfriend and pretty much any of my friends!

二. A breakfast date with my boyfriend at my favourite vegan café. I spotted their festive menu a few weeks ago and had been meaning to visit all month, so we finally made time to last weekend. It was so worth the wait.

三. Saturday in Paris with my best friend. We hadn’t seen each other since October, and I loved finally eating at Le Potager du Marais, gazing at all the Christmas displays and lights, shopping for Sonny Angel blind boxes, and stopping to warm up with a hot drink. I even stocked up on vegan pastries at Land&Monkeys for Sunday morning.

四. Watching Our Little Secret and Falling for Christmas in quick succession. Apparently I’ve a thing for Lindsay Lohan Christmas movies!

五. The pure joy on my dog’s face when I returned home with a new toy for him. It was supposed to be his Christmas present, but he fished it out of my bag and claimed it! Note to self: pick up another this weekend.

六. 10 hours’ sleep on Monday night – I needed it! I returned home from the office with a massive headache, so I leaned into it and had a very early night.

七. That palpable bookish heartache and wrench after finishing a really good book. (Homeseeking by Karissa Chen, FYI.)

八. The roar of a just-lit match. Candle season, you’ll always be famous.

九. Hanging out at my cousin’s place on Sunday. His puppy is so cute, and it was really nice just to sit and chat for a little while during this busy season.

十. Hot chocolate breaks with my colleagues. I’m so surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed us adding an extra in-office day to our hybrid schedules. And this is coming from the world’s biggest homebody that writes for a living! I typically live for solitude.


Share a joy from your week in the comments, and I’ll see you again in 2025 for more little joys.

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