As you may know, my husband Robert writes a progressive newsletter nightly. Entitled "Today's Edition," it analyzes the news through the lens of hope. Something that we all need these days. Here's the link to his newsletter: https://roberthubbell.substack.com For New Year's, Robert reflected on the 4 top stories of the year that most impacted our family's daily life. Tonight he and I read the newsletter together, and I thought you might like to see behind the scenes. I must s

Well. This video was such a disaster, trying to fix it has me completely exhausted. So just a short note tonight. The wedding planning luncheon was a success! Good food, good company, and a lovely bride and groom! I need to start thinking about New Year's Eve -- and my New Year's resolutions! What are yours???

This isn't Fiona's first Christmas with Jeffrey, but it's the first time that she has visited me at Christmas! She is a darling, spirited yellow Labrador, and she is Jeffrey's best buddy. As I mentioned, I was good friends with Buster, Jeffrey's previous guide, and Buster would always steer Jeffrey to my office whenever he visited me at LMU. And, of course, I always had a treat (or two) ready for Buster. I did not have a treat today for Fiona, and I felt a little guilty, but

There is nothing more precious, more beautiful, more hopeful, than a child at Christmas. And when that child is your grandchild, the world seems new again. It used to be that grandmas would carry around brag books full of pictures to show off their grandchildren. Today, one simply has to pull out one's phone...and there's dozens of pictures to share. The problem these days is that there is no one to share them with! We're essentially under lockdown, so no ladies lunches for m

We had lovely Christmas Eve. Ten guests -- and all those not in our pod completed Covid rapid tests before they attended. So we were safe, and able to gather inside for our holiday meal. Robert really was thinking ahead and bought a box of rapid tests about a week ago, before the testing craze began, so we were grateful to him. Julia and Dan were really the chefs of the meal. Dan cooked his family recipe, manicotti with meatballs and chicken sausage, and Julia assisted as the

We wish you Christmas Joy! Let me explain this hilarity. First, we tried to do the greeting without a script. That didn't go so well...as you can see from the outtakes. So, if it looks likes Robert is reading from a script in the last part of the greeting video -- he is. And that's because after the 10th take, he refused to continue unless I wrote a script, because it looked like we would never get it right. We recorded lots of versions of our message, and I was able to piece

Ready to Party! Today I shopped for the three Christmas meals at our house -- Christmas Eve, Christmas morn, and Christmas Day dinner . Two things about that: 1) We're only having a very small gathering this year for Christmas Eve. Just my oldest and youngest daughter, and their partners and our granddaughter, Cora. We used to have 60 people Christmas Eve Parties -- with plays, and activities, carols, and the best pot luck you can imagine. It's hard to let go of that traditi

Finding good friends late in life is rare - but such a blessing. Sandy, Jim, and Patricia are those kind of friends for us -- rare and special friends that we cherish. This past weekend, I was so excited to go to the Arboretum Light Show with them. We had planned a Friday night excursion with dinner, and it was going to be the real "kickoff" of the Christmas season for us. Alas. It wasn't meant to be. I got sick, coughed all night the night before, and decided that I shouldn'

They turned out way better than I had imagined. I think the colored dough really took them up a notch. and they're delicious! I remember making cookies at Christmas in our little house on Kittridge Street in North Hollywood. My neighbors were all Italian, and they were always making very elaborate cookies like pizzelles, or butter balls, or other delicious heritage sweets. So I found the Spritz cookie tradition all that much more important -- because, I was glad to have a tra

Phew! That was a lot of work...but worth it! I hope that one day my granddaughters will remember me as fondly as I do my own mom because of the beautiful stockings that she made for us. Cora's stocking was particularly challenging because it had so many little toys and characters. A ball, a bear, a drum, a car, a doll, a doll house and a Santa in his workshop. I used satin stitch, outline stitch, cable stitch, a French knot, and appliqué. I spent a minimum of 2- 3 hours a nig

Many happy memories in my Christmas Jewelry Collection -- mostly of my daughters raiding my jewel box! I used to always keep my Christmas jewels on my bathroom counter -- and my 3 littles would love to sneak in and check out the sparkle even before they could wear it. That was all fine by me. I figured it was good training for holidaying -- and practice for wearing the real thing. Like lots of things, I think that wearing Christmas jewelry has gone out of fashion. When was th

Jenny is a genius and an expert crafter. She fixed the problem in no time! And all I had to do was watch! Howl lucky am I? Busy days...Christmas is always like that, and that's part of the fun!

I pretty much tell you all you need to know in the vlog -- but here's a few more tidbits. I think another reason that the Christmas newsletter went by the wayside is that Robert no longer wanted to write it. He was busy keeping his family (and others!) sane and wrote his progressive newsletter every night. He just didn't have enough bologna to write a funny newsletter anymore. And I'm just not the same kind of funny that he is. Also, I think everyone's life has gotten busier

There's simply too many ornaments on my tree (1200+) to recount the history of all of them. So I just chose a few to highlight. In general, though I believe that most of the ornaments on our tree tell a story. Some trees that I have seen are beautifully colored coordinated with symmetrical ribbons, and matching ornaments. Our tree is about as far from that as it gets. In fact, there's lots of things on our tree that really aren't ornaments at all -- but simply things that I c

The news has been dispiriting recently, and I have found some solace in planning for the season, decking the halls, and watching movies that lift my heart. I hope that my brief videos and blog can help you do the same. This blog forces me to think outside the headlines, and focus in closely on family, friends, and things that I love. It's a kind of self care -- that I hope you can share in as well. Christmas is right around the corner, and my presents are waiting to be wrappe

As a child, my parents always bought me a glittery advent calendar to begin opening on December 1st. Advent is a time of anticipation, when Christians wait for the birth of Baby Jesus. Today, for some, Advent has taken on a new, secular meaning, and the Advent Calendar has become a countdown to Christmas. Either way is fine with me -- my Holly Dolly Calendar certainly doesn't have any religious overtones to it -- but it is fun just the same. However, I really can't recommend

Let me be clear about this...my daughter is a QVC fan...but not a QVC purchaser! We watch together and talk about the quality of the items being shown, and how we might use it, or why it's just a waste of money. It's great fun. Jenny told me that this holiday season she's only purchased one thing -- and it was a gift for someone else! I really like my purchase, though. It's going to zip up my mantle in a big way. And I haven't seen anything like it anywhere else. There were l

Every ornament tells a story! Tomorrow a Tree tour! I have to say that this video really makes me laugh. The best laid plans...

When I was growing up in North Hollywood, we always had the best Christmas decorations on Kittridge Street. My dad would climb on the roof and install lights on all the roof peaks and then he would stuff a big fat Santa coming out if the chimney on the roof top! At the time I just loved it but had no idea how much work it was...but I do now! And I appreciate it all the more. God bless him. But we weren't the most decorated house in the neighborhood. There was a man who lived

My daughter Jennifer used to work at a high school that had an annual ladies Christmas Tea for all the moms of daughters at the school. Jenny was the hostess, and I helped each year -- we had such fun. The ladies really enjoyed it, and it was a day of love, empowerment, and beautiful spirit. Jenny has since moved on from that high school, but we wanted to re-create the tradition in our own home, so she invited one of our favorite people to enjoy the Christmas tea tradition wi