The Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 16

Festive nuggets from your favourite turkey

Hello, you. How’re you doing?

Christmas is nearly upon us. And it really can feel like it’s upon us, can’t it? Upon us like a sleeping labrador. It might appear lovely and harmless, but we can’t move for the weight of it.

This week’s Sunday Supplement is a selection of links and recommendations to help lift that weight a little.

If you find this helpful, you almost certainly know someone else who would, too. Do them a favour, and share this with them?

Something to listen to while you read

In Winter ‘is “a winter fantasia”, rather than a straight-up Christmas album, but the same feelings of love and joy, reflection and thoughtfulness are seen across its seventy-minute span. To the surprise of not a single soul, The Unthanks have made the definitive folk album for winter’, and here's how they did it

What went right this week

Spain moved to tackle fake news, US climate activists claimed a win, and two species made ‘epic’ comebacks, plus more good news from the good people at Positive News

Here comes the Christmas good stuff. Please click, read and share?

This Christmas make your own rules

Confessions of a festive fanatic

People have been freaking out about the ‘War on Christmas’ for more than a century

How might Christmas affect my mental health?

Rituals that resonate: Ten ways to make Christmas really meaningful to you

Transcendental Cheap Magic: Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ at 40

How to manage the mental load of Christmas; and why telling women to 'let things fail' is (mostly) bad advice

The WWF's guide to a sustainable Christmas

You don't have to apologise for saying 'no' this December

'If you get a chance to reach out to young people - particularly young men - during this holiday season, please do it. It might not make a difference in any global way, but it might matter to an individual’s life and sense of belonging'

This year, why not adopt the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod? It sounds like a cool thing to do, and a welcome break from frenetic preparation. You have two days to get ready for it. Your nearest independent bookshop would be a good place to start

Christmas is a hard time for more of us than you think

More of the good stuff in a moment, but first …

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Hello You 78: Sewing Sisters and the Band of Brothers

'I like making things to make people smile’

Join me on visits to two marvellous groups of wonderful people, in the run-up to Christmas.

Meet the Castlefields Yarn Bombing Crew, and the Telford Men’s Breakfast Club run by Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin in episode 78 of my Shropshire podcast Hello You.

Includes a knitted chicken, lager shandy, getting the right PVA glue, Mouldy Old Dough, a half-finished Freddie Mercury and plenty of Jingle Bells. Natch.

Hello You is about people, stories and ‘the complexities of life’. To make sure you don’t miss anything, whether it’s an episode of the Hello You podcast or the Sunday Supplement, why not subscribe? If you really love what I do, you can take out a paid subscription (and I’d be very happy and grateful) but you don’t have to. Hello You will remain free for everyone, for ever. You might just help keep it - and me - going, though

OK, back to your weekly good-stuff round-up!

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Three things, one tasty, the other two ... really not

How to switch off from work over Christmas

Tips for coping during Christmas

Keeping the Long Midwinter: How to celebrate the year's darkest days

Three Victorian Christmas recipes to try at home – including a potato pudding

Ten empowering ways to manage your media diet this Christmas

How to deal with narcissistic relatives over the holidays

Supporting others with their mental health at Christmas

How to cope with food anxiety during the festive season

Useful contacts for mental health and other issues at Christmas and New Year

When people became the decor: Vintage photos of people wearing Christmas tree costumes

You can’t have Christmas without angels

Want something exciting (and frankly atavistic) to look forward to shortly after New Year? Let’s go wassailing!

If you read one thing this week, make it this

I’ve got you something for Christmas. And New Year, too

On Friday morning (December 27), I’ll have a special episode of the Hello You podcast for you. It’ll be an antidote to the noise, activity and turmoil of this time of year. (You might need it by then.) It’s a soundscape recorded somewhere in Shropshire chosen for a particular historical reason, but in which nothing much happens.

The Sunday Supplement on December 29 will be a social media, media and journalism special.

And the first Hello You podcast of 2025, on Friday January 3, will be both a bench-type session (where I go somewhere and record random conversations with people) and a proper wake-up moment to get the new year off to a rousing start!

Don’t miss any of this!

The best way for you to be sure of getting all of this lovingly-produced locally-sourced content is to join the Hello You family by subscribing, if you haven’t already?

Incidentally (I’m still trying to sound casual about this), I’ve added to the benefits available to you if you take out a paid subscription. So now you actually get something more than just ‘my unceasing gratitude’, which, I acknowledge, had its shortcomings as a ROI.

Why not give two last-minute presents at once?

It’s just a thought. You could brighten the life - or at least, the Friday and Sunday mornings - of someone you care about by giving them a subscription to Hello You this Christmas.

And it would really brighten my life too.

Final Thought, à la Jerry Springer

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid (John 14:27)

How was that for you?

I hope you enjoyed the Hello You Sunday Supplement, Issue 16. If you have thoughts, questions, suggestions, whatever then leave a comment

And I’m always glad to hear from you

Once again, I’d be thrilled beyond words if you could hit Like on this, or wherever you’ve found it, or both. And my joy would be complete if you would subscribe

… and share Hello You with a friend, colleague or family member

Thank you for being there

Take care of yourself, and take care of the people around you. I hope they’re taking care of you, too