Meagan’s Holiday Help, Day 18: Give yourself a little boost.

One day last week I went to CVS for toilet paper, paper towels, wrapping paper, and other motherly, necessary-yet-boring paper-related purchases.

But before long, I found myself wandering over to the cosmetics and tossing bottles of bright-red and forest-green nail polishes in my cart. Call it a whim, call it my personal resistance to the self-denial symptom of Holiday Mom Syndrome, call it my inability to ignore a coupon on Essie products: whatever the reason, within a few hours my hands were boasting a holiday manicure.

I won’t lie: the number of times I’ve looked at my own fingernails in the ensuing five days is a bit embarrassing. But every time I look, I smile.

The day after I painted my nails, Sarah texted me a picture of a lineup of her own supply of festive-colored polishes. “I saw your nails on our Zoom call, and I got inspired to do my own holiday manicure,” she said. “What colors should I use?”

Before I knew it, Sarah’s nails were equally festive.

Sarah and I agree: it’s nearly-impossible to take a photo of your own hands without them looking totally weird.

But we also agree on this: there is something about a fresh manicure that just makes us happy. Add a bit of holiday flair, and the level of pleasure we get from such a simple thing increases tenfold.

Multicolored nails may seem kind of frivolous and silly, but mine give me a rush of satisfaction every time they flash past my line of sight – and to me, that’s time and money well-spent.

Likewise, if you personally get a jolt of joy from reindeer barrettes or antlers for your car or really, any bit of festive-ness, why not?

Listen: it’s holiday 2020 and we need to take joy where we can get it. As we head into the weekend, is there some small, simple thing you can do for yourself that will bring a smile to your face, over and over again?

Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash