Holiday Cheer & Authentic Living in December
A monthly wrap up of life, gratitude, inspiration and writing.
Hello Friends!
Here's what you'll find in today’s newsletter:
Authentic Living This Month
Gratitude Corner - Christmas break, water bottles and sticky tape
Making Memories - Christmas, Boxing Day & Sunsets
Reality Check - Toys, earpods & nappy bins
Fiction Writing Progress & Learnings - Y2K Love with beta readers
Inspiring Stuff - Fiction Audiobooks I listened to in December
Welcome to My Substack! My Name is Tania.
I invite you to join me on a journey of embracing authentic living. Through honest stories, personal insights, and reflections on authenticity, I seek to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Subscribe for free & tap the ❤️ if you enjoy this post!
Authentic Living in December
This Substack series is devoted to everything that adds authenticity and realness to my life and I hope it helps you focus on the authentic joy you can create and experience in your day-to-day lives too.
Gratitude Corner: Finding Appreciation in the Everyday
Taking time to find things to be grateful for in everyday moments is a great way to stay grounded and remind yourself of the things that really matter.
In December I was grateful for:
Christmas Break. Both my husband and I have been off work for two weeks, which has been excellent. It’s been full-on keeping the boys entertained and we’ve been busy the whole break, but it’s been so good for the boys to get extra quality time with their dad. We’ve got a few little much-needed projects done around the house too. Not as many as we’d like but we have made progress, and progress is good.
Spill Proof Water Bottles. With two toddlers in our house, spillproof stuff is necessary, especially when it comes to water bottles. I was surprised to discover how many water bottles did not abide by this seemingly essential feature. A good spillproof water bottle needs to withstand a full-strength throw from a high chair without the lid coming off, spilling the entire contents. After much trial and error, we now rely on B.Box water bottles for kids. Have owned multiple of these beauties since my boys were babies and they have stayed true to their spillproof promise. It’s an Aussie brand if you’re hunting for it. Not sure if they sell it in the US. These are the only ones that are 100% toddler-friendly. However, my boys have recently transitioned to Thermus water bottles. We call them their big boy waterbottles. Slightly less spill-proof but very durable.
Sticky sticky tape. I purchased decorative sticky tape with cute Christmas decorations along each strip, however they did not meet their most vital function. Sticking. Well, it did not hold to the expectations I would usually expect of a standard roll of sticky tape. I decided to opt for a secure hold of my wrapping over kitschy embellishments, so decorative tape was out, and standard old stick tape was used instead to wrap our presents. So thanks for doing your job standard old sticky tape. Keep on sticking.
What are you grateful for this month?
Making Memories: Cherished Moments & Milestones
Making memories and recording them has always been incredibly important to me. Our memories tend to fail us, so keeping a record of precious moments enhances our memory-keeping abilities.
Here is my favourite memory from this month:
Christmas Day: One of the happiest days of the year and I’m so grateful to share it with my boys. My eldest squealed with joy and ripped into his generous supply of presents immediately saying ‘Thank Santa’ and ‘Thank you mummy and daddy’ along the way. My youngest was a lot slower on the uptake and absolutely overwhelmed by the chaos but soon took to trying to open presents and playing with a few toys. Once the presents were done and dusted, we headed to our parents’ place for more presents and Christmas lunch with our small extended family. The kids of course had a blast, we ate cold meats with cranberry sauce, salads, hot buttered dinner rolls and prawns and we drank fruit punch followed up with desserts including rum balls, caramel slice and of course, my favourite, pavlova - a fluffy white meringue cake covered in whipped cream and chopped fruit. Yum!
Boxing Day Memories: My sister and I returned to my parents’ house with the kids and without our partners for a relaxed play-filled boxing day. Rather than the chaos of Christmas day, Boxing Day was like being in recovery mode. The kids played with new Christmas toys together while my sister, parents and I got a real chance to catch up and talk, which we didn’t get to do much of on Christmas day. My best memory of this day was sitting out on the deck watching the sunset while eating Christmas leftovers and asking our parents to share memories with us from when they were younger.
A Spectacular Sunset: It was the hottest day of the year so far this summer, 37 degrees, and we had been locked inside most of the day with the air conditioner blasting. As dusk finally hit, instead of making dinner, we headed to our favourite lakeside lookout and park for a play outdoors. Little did we know we’d be the only ones there to witness a spectacular sunset over the lake and mountains with a thunderstorm off in the distance putting on an amazing light show. The boys could even appreciate the beauty of it as they played nearby. Once the sun set we picked up Guzzmen and Gomze Mexican takeaway as a treat dinner on the way home.
What memories have you made this month?
Reality Check: Navigating Life’s Challenges
Writing about or vocalising the tougher and less pleasant moments in life helps us process them and knowing we're not alone in these struggles is helpful too.
Toy Storage: Where to keep and store the kids’ toys so they actually play with them while also not being too much of an eye-sore is a conundrum at the moment, particularly after Christmas and the recent influx of more toys. Currently looking into some storage options while slowly rounding up older toys to give to charity.
Broken Ear Pod: One of my ear pods went through the wash, so I have to make do with one to listen to my audiobooks while pottering around the house. I usually only put one in my ear at a time anyway so I can still hear the kids, but I’ve been extra vigilant to make sure I don’t leave this one in a pocket for another accidental drowning incident.
Nappy Bin: I had a small breakdown in front of the nappy bin because I had forgotten how to fill it properly with its weird non-bags and twisty clicky lid, despite my husband demonstrating it to me multiple times. It just wouldn’t sink in and I felt so stupid for blanking and needing help again. I’ve noticed that my hormones get seriously out of whack lately around that time of month, triggering big mood swings, brain fog and peaks of anxiety. Something I’ll be trying to manage better in 2025.
What do you feel like venting about this month? This is your safe space! No judgment here.
Fiction Writing Progress and Learnings
I’m currently focused on improving my fiction writing skills and working towards publishing my first novel. Follow me on my journey.
My Aussie Coming of Age Rom-Com story ‘Y2K Love’ with songs of the era woven through the plot is now with beta readers. Four of them in fact. It’s a super exciting step and I am both excited and anxious about the feedback I’ll get. In the meantime, I’ve already made a start of the 2nd book for this series titled Y2K Betrayal.
Y2K Love was originally going to be a stand-alone but the development of the side characters through that story screamed for a second and perhaps a third book to be written too. I must say I am loving the progress on the second book so far. I already know my characters and putting a basic outline together has been fairly easy. This one is a bit broodier and gritter than the first, but once you understand these side characters from the first story, you’ll understand why.
I’ve had lots of fun listening to late 90s tunes as inspiration for songs to include in Y2K Betrayal. Unlike Y2K Love which only includes Australian or New Zealand songs, I’ve expanded the scope to global hits from that time period instead.
Inspiring Stuff
Inspiration helps drive us to do more, be more and perhaps even take our lives in a whole new direction.
I have been heavily focused on my fiction reading and improving my fiction writing craft this month, so I have creative writing podcasts and fiction stories that I listened to in audiobook form in my inspiring stuff list for today.
Fiction Stories
I have gotten through quite a few fantastic audiobooks over the last month
Here’s what I’ve listened to:
Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan: A touching and unique small town love story with a lot of heartache and loss mixed through. An emotional read with a couple you will root for.
The Dollmakers by Lynn Buchanan: A fascinating stand-alone fantasy story about robot-like dolls created to battle off a beast that threatens their people. The character arc is impressive as is the unique world created here.
Zodiac Academy - The Awakening by Caroline Peckham: This story did hold my interest. A few cringe and questionable things in here but I did love the encapsulation and use of so many classical fantasy elements in a gripping high-stakes fantasy storyline. It did however have a cliffhanger ending which I am personally not a fan of.
Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver: I loved this! I’m not a horror girl but the rom-com vibes in this ‘two serial killers fall in love’ story were strong. Expertly written, the humour was on point and the chemistry too. Excellent.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells: An enjoyable short read about a sitcom-loving AI bot on a planet who is tasked to save the group of humans he is contracted to work for from some rogue attackers. The human elements brought into a robot MC make the story enjoyable and endearing.
Love Just In by Natalie Murray: Classically Aussie friends-to-lovers rom-com set in Newcastle. The character arc for both of the love interests is strong and the slow burn towards their ultimate HEA in the end is superbly crafted.
Strange the Dreamer by Lani Taylor: LOVED! What can I say other than read it! What an amazing mind to come up with a fantasy story like this. It had me smiling, crying and I was fully invested in the characters and the world.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson: FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR! And I finished it on new years eve. This story was perfection. Full of breadcrumbs, twists and turns, captivating characters with strong arcs, an insanely unique world that is like no other and a storyline that will blow your mind. Apparantly based on an anime with a fun blend of sci-fi and fantasy, this stand-alone has to be appreciated more. Brandon Sanderson, you are amazing for writing this masterpiece!
What books have inspired you this month?
Here are a few quotes from my own substack posts to round up the year:
“Like stars, our lives are an endless expanse of countless opportunities and experiences, many of which we will never come to know or explore.” - Tania Weatherley
“Don’t focus on the destination, focus on the journey it takes to get there, especially if the journey brings you joy and fulfilment.” - Tania Weatherley
“Clutter is a perpetual and evolving testimony of a life in motion.” - Tania Weatherley
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