Plot Points #63🎄
Origin stories, nail biting, a clever angel, and this beautiful truth
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Hello everyone! Happy Friday and merry Christmas to each of you.
This was our last week of school for the year and it was fairly quiet. Over the semester, I’ve watched Theo go from simply knowing his ABCs to constantly pointing out words he can read and adding numbers like a champ. His vocabulary has exploded and watching him grow deeper in love with bugs of all sorts is so much fun. Lucy, meanwhile, is an absolute reading machine and is at the age where she’s so self-motivated that I can drop her off at the local bookshop to run errands while she does her course work. With both of them going to a full-day co-op twice a week, most of what we do at home is assigned from their tutors with “electives” chosen and taught by me. It will be nice to be fully at home for a few weeks with nothing else to do but read, eat, sit by the fire, and enjoy this quiet, dark season when all of life goes to sleep for a bit.
Today, we are headed to my friend Rosalie’s house for a traditional German Christmas together with our children. As I’ve been (slowwwwly) learning German this year, I’m practicing my “merry Christmas” for when I see her later. (Frohe Weihnachten!)
I have one more bookish post scheduled for the year, so this will be my last Plot Points of 2024. I pray these final few weeks are full of peace and joy for you and your family!
Lots of love and happy holidays,
Wendi
Word of the Week ✍🏻
Alamort: (adj.) Half-dead of exhaustion.
Point #1: 2025 will be The Year of the Nails
I have been a nail-biter since childhood. It got progressively worse in my thirties and for the past year I’ve been diligently working to heal my nails. Unfortunately—and for reasons I don’t even understand—all my progress went into the toilet this fall and now my hands look worse than ever. Lucy and I did this lovely no-polish manicure the other night and my cracked, bumpy, raw fingers thanked me profusely afterwards. Back to the starting line…
(Catholic friends, is there a patron saint for nail-biting? Pray for me, whoever you are!)
Point #2: “I choose to believe that I can be something other than the woman who used to be pretty.”
Three cheers for this beautiful piece from
. At what age will we look into the mirror and love our bodies because we know them? Because we appreciate what they’ve done for us all these years? Almost 40 now with crow’s feet, a soft tummy, and some fresh gray hairs, these are questions I wrestle with every time I get dressed. Joanna’s words are a reorienting towards the real story of our bodies. Honestly, I wanted to underline the whole damn thing.Point #3: I pray for tender, generous origin stories.
There is no one like
for getting to the heart of the matter. What does it mean to hope when you aren’t even sure what you believe anymore? As Sarah says, we are all “crafting origin stories out of the raw material” we were given (have I mentioned I love the way she writes???) and this piece is a beautiful testament to the things that keep us together, especially at this time of year.Point #4: Maybe your life is already wonderful.
I wrote this piece last Christmas and the lessons of Clarence Oddbody and It’s a Wonderful Life still ring true. (Won’t they always?) Broken dreams and unanswered questions come for us all, but “when we stand at the edge, believing we have nothing left to live for, the God of the universe makes Himself lowly so that we might be lifted up.
A baby in a manger. A clever angel.
Unexpected answers to the prayers of the hopeless.”
Receipts from a No-Buy Year 🧾
Gosh, I just realized that this is my final receipt for the year! It went by so fast, and in many ways it’s like I’m just getting started. A longer post on this is forthcoming but, for now, here are some last-minute thoughts on what the no/low-buy project has been like.
First of all, the whole experiment has involved a bit too much navel gazing, even for me. It’s tempting to either pat myself on the back or swing in the other direction entirely and bemoan how much I still want things. Like, all the time. Neither of those serve anyone well, so let’s talk a little about the practicality of the project instead.
The obvious benefit has been more money and less junk. That’s a win for both the bank account and the limited space in our house. I’ve used up so much of the extra “inventory” in the closets—items like extra makeup, lotion, toothpaste, etc.—and finally accepted that I know what I like to wear and it’s the same five outfits over and over. (Usually a dress or jeans, a tank, and a long cardigan.) Decorations for the house have largely consisted of rearranging what we already have, composting has become more regular, and so has eating/cooking at home. In short, practicing low-buy (because that’s what it has been: a long-ass practice) has made life a bit more simple. When no is the first option, complications diminish. Others inevitably rise in their place—What can I cook with one sweet potato and a can of green beans? Can I make this sundress formal?—but they aren’t stressors so much as opportunities to use my imagination.
It’s difficult to talk about money on the internet because it’s so personal. Is it a little obnoxious? Maybe. Does anyone care? IDK. The accountability of writing about my spending this year in a place where I have to share honestly has kept me from dropping all my money at Goodwill every week. (Though, to be clear, they’ve still gotten plenty.) I’ve learned to pay more attention to the why behind the what and that has proved more than valuable.
Coffee: $0.00
I used points one day and purchased the kids’ drinks, as well. I also got my Monday coffee while grocery shopping and brought one home for Lucy. Both of my drinks were allowed via the spending guidelines and the kids’ drinks didn’t count either since they weren’t for me. I guess that means I’m technically in the clear? I’m going with it.
Goodwill: Also $0.00???
We’ve purchased loads of secondhand and online gifts in the last month. Shopping for other people has stirred that same delightful dopamine hit from spending on myself. Better to give than receive, and all that. I did have some gift money and used it this week to thrift myself a green floral dress (surprise, surprise) and a v-neck sweater vest, which I plan to style like all my favorite Pinterest girlies.
So, yeah. I think that’s all.
Pretty boring, but hooray for finishing strong! (Maybe just a little pat on the back, then 😉.)
Weekly Total: $0.00
Reading in The Nook 📚
I’m close to my 100-book goal for the year, more than I’ve ever read in twelve months before! To finish off, I’m working my way through the truly delightful Truly, Devious series, a dark academia YA whodunnit with the driest humor and Agatha Christie nods sprinkled throughout. It’s so good!
Next up is
’s memoir This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks Into Our Darkness aaaaaaand I already cried. The way she describes her first experience with OCD—the guilt, the fear, the disgust—was so joltingly similar to my own that I had to put the book down for a second, breathless at her understanding. This is the book I wish I’d had years ago.
I hope the remainder of your 2024 reads bring you much joy and light in these darker days.
(Please note all Bookshop.org links are affiliates. Thank you for supporting The Nook with your purchase!)
“And God said, ‘Love your enemy,’ and I obeyed Him and loved myself.”
—Khalil Gibran—
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I'm a nail picker here! Lately, though, for some odd reason, I've stopped. I honestly cannot tell you how or why, but my nails actually need to be filed lately (as opposed to them being picked down to the tips of my fingers, often to the point of pain).
I'm trying to remember if I've read that book by Sarah Clarkson. I do remember reading an article she wrote about her OCD diagnosis and experience, which I appreciate so much. I haven't seen very many people write about their experience with OCD, and I'm still trying to figure out just what/how much to write about mine. I'll say, though, that the biggest piece of my OCD has been my nasty inner critic. He is Javert from Les Miserables, because he is the enemy of mercy and grace, and is relentless in his dogged pursuit of my destruction.
A Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Sarah's book is so beautiful -- so glad you came across it. Been delighted to follow you on Substack this year, Wendi, a very merry Christmas!! 🥰