When I was growing up, "picking out a Christmas tree" meant walking over to 43rd street with my mom and dad, looking at the selection of trees leaning against the side of the local Food Emporium, then lugging our pick the two blocks home and up into our fourth-floor apartment (and then retracing our footsteps with a broom to pick up the pine needles we'd strewn across the lobby and elevator floor). I've heard of people cutting down their own trees, but figured that was a pastime bestowed exclusively upon the residents of, like, rural Vermont. I also figured you probably had to be relatively adept with an axe in order to actually do this.

Not so, as it turns out. Apparently going to cut down your own Christmas tree is a pretty normal thing to do in parts of the world that aren't New York City.

Huh!

{ via }

Hey Jordan,

Hope you're well!  I just saw Kendrick's gift guide, which reminded me that I need to buy presents for my brothers, which reminded me that one of them is about to move out of the house and in with his girlfriend for the first time. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on a good gift to get a couple just starting out?

{ Christmas candy! }

 OK SOOOOO my new book comes out in just a couple of weeks, and I'm having all the flutters. If you'd like to pick up a copy as a holiday gift for the mom-to-be or new mom in your life, you can preorder it here.

 Aaaah this sweater looks like the coziest (and simultaneously most elegant) thing ever.

glam | camp Sweatshirt | Stella McCartney Sunglasses | DIY-ed cutoffs

I've mentioned this sweatshirt before, but since I wore it 100% of the time that I was in LA (which was quite a bit colder than I expected it to be) I thought I'd put up some shots here. It would have been hard not to if I wanted to put up any photos from our quick visit at all, because not only did I wear it all day long; I also wore it all night long (because in the past few weeks, more often than not, I have been "sleeping" - a.k.a. "not sleeping" - topped with a sweaty toddler who insists on being planted on Mama's chest in order to fall asleep). I slept in the sweatshirt in LA because what happened was my daughter passed out on top of me, and despite the fact that I was fully dressed with unbrushed teeth, a full face of makeup, and an arm that had fallen asleep...I passed out too. Like, immediately. At 7:30PM. (It was as raucous of a visit as it sounds like it was.)

I've thought a lot about this particular sweatshirt over the past few weeks, since Erin wrote her post about what her body means to her now that she's a mother and since I wrote this, about my own struggle with my body over the years. Writing that post cored me for a minute, you know. Sometimes writing feels like pulling letters out of thin air, and other times it feels like you're using brute force to remove a thing that's already sitting there, fully formed, inside your head. For a couple of weeks after I wrote that post I felt done with words; tired of thinking about what happened and ready to think about what's happening now.

Tell me this isn't the coolest family photo you've ever seen.

You may have noticed in the credits at the bottom of some posts that I've been working with a new photographer (who I happened to find on Thumbtack, actually - that company is like the gift that keeps on giving), Sue Hudelson. I wanted to show you a few of the family portraits she does through her company, Su Casa Portraits, both because if you're in the Bay Area you may be in the market for this kind of thing, and also just for straight-up inspiration, because the holiday season is a good time to gather everybody up and force them to stand in front of a camera. (And if you let them wear Batman costumes and hold chickens, it may take a little less convincing, just saying.)

Posted a few more fun shots below. Love them.