The Weekly Wrap: January 4, 2026

Last week, I set up my bullet journal for 2026. There's just something about a fresh, uncracked spine and blank paper that makes me feel energized. It's the aura of possibility. While things are mostly finished with the set up, I saved the design for my Word of the Year page for later. 

My word for 2026 is "Connect." It embodies all of the things I am hoping for in my personal and professional life. As I was planning, I discovered that "connecting" begins with disconnecting. I plan on doing my annual digital clean out this month and I decided that several things have got to go. First on the list, Facebook. It doesn't serve me any more. I kept telling myself that I needed to keep it to run my work Facebook and Instagram accounts, but that turns out to not be the case. On Friday, I separated the work Instagram from Facebook. I also decided my library didn't need Facebook anymore. We get no engagement so it's not worth it. So, next week, I shall begin the process of deleting my Facebook account.

In order to "Connect" to what serves me now, I need to do less of so many other things. I've been visualizing this like a power strip. You only have so much space to plug things in. I've always done a digital clean out, but this year, I'm going to be ruthless. If it's not useful, it goes. If doesn't bring me joy, it goes. If it in any way makes me feel things I don't need to feel, it goes. And then, when I'm done with my digital life, I'm moving offline. I can't exactly "unsubscribe" from things like laundry, but I can certainly stop doing things I don't need to be doing any more.

All of this disconnecting will let me free up space for what matters to me now.

​What changes are you making for 2026?

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• Could polar bears conceivably be pirates? [The Atlantic - gift link]
• Excellent event hosting advice. [Smitten Kitchen]
• One thing I hope for my kid is independence. This is a reminder to provide space for that. [The Argument]
• Making good use of the one F-bomb you get. [NYT - may be paywalled]
• AI meets the jingle. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• What Jane Austen created. [The Common Reader - reader submission]
• Equality is not up for debate. [Abortion, Every Day]

• But I would like a pet trash panda. [Short Wave]
• Electricity cost increases aren't just from new data centers. [Planet Money]
• To binge or not to binge? [Planet Money]

• When we host everyone for the holidays, we tend to watch a few movies. This year, we only managed one, Spirited, and it was a doozy. I wasn’t expecting a full musical. Admittedly, I was slow to warm to this one. It felt too campy. But, as things progressed, this comedic retelling of A Christmas Carol grew on me. There are so many references to other films and pop culture moments - it would take multiple rewatches to catch them all. There were also times I literally laughed out loud.  [Apple TV]
• Top Guns: The Next Generation is a documentary series produced by National Geographic which, in mind, is a marker of quality. It mostly holds to that. There are moments that have a bit of a reality TV vibe but I don't think it hurts things. This is mostly just a well produced documentary/interview show about military pilots. Also, I am so not cut out to ever attempt to fly a fighter jet. [Hulu]

• My husband makes the same feast for Christmas every year - beef wellington, roasted potatoes, green beans, and crescent rolls. It's delicious. The dessert, however, is up in the air. This year, he made sous vide creme brûlée. These were so good they may become our permanent Christmas dessert. They were decadent without being too much, sweet without being sugary, and, according to him, not hard to make. Plus, he had an excuse to buy a kitchen torch. [The Salated Pepper]
• Post-Christmas, I try to make recipes that use up all the random ingredients we had on hand. For meatless Monday, that meant spinach artichoke gnocchi with feta. I baked our gnocchi but, otherwise, followed the recipe. I really liked this one and plan on making it again. It has all the flavors of the popular appetizer but with the heartiness to be a main entree. [Eating Well]