Alright so it’s December! That leads me to my big question: what was your opinion on the twice-a-week posting on The Faithful Wanderer? The Sunday Encouragement post and then a regular post on Thursday? Now, it’s actually really important for me to know, so please tell me in the comments and fill out this Google Form to let me know your thoughts! Thank you so much!

Hey all! Okay so—this month has been a freaking whirlwind but also, December can’t come soon enough. I am so stoked for Christmas and decorating and driving around and seeing Christmas lights! All of it—I’m so excited. I’ve officially changed my wallpaper to Christmas-themed…

So let’s just dive right in!

What did I do?

Well we started out this month (or at least the middle of the month) with first, getting my nose pierced and then going to the NEEDTOBREATHE concert with my dad, brother, and cousin. That was super fun, I got a poster for my room, and we got some awesome Mexican food for dinner. Then a couple days later was my seventeenth birthday and we didn’t really do much, but we had cheesecake and opened presents and I got to watch Gilmore Girls all day, so I’d say it was a success.

Then my friend came to visit and we went to a Christmas parade, we went shopping, and then on Saturday night we watched three Hallmark movies. It was a beautiful and memorable five hours.

Speaking of Hallmark movies…you know what Hallmark movie I watched a couple days ago?

TREY KENNEDY’S HALLMARK MOVIE!!!

Y’all, this movie, A Very Merry Cherry Christmas, is a freaking masterpiece. It has witty puns, bad jokes, dry characters, romance, suspense, and most important of all: the Christmas spirit.

I loved every minute of it.

Anyways, back to November. Thanksgiving happened and I’d say it was a pretty good day! We had my dad’s side of the family over for a few days and we ate all the good stuff: ham, turkey, mashed taters, cranberry sauce, pie, and more.

That’s mostly what happened, but another fun thing (that’s only fun for a few people unfortunately) is that I registered for the YWW retreat that happens in August 2026! I’m so stoked to go and finally meet all those amazing people and learn tons of good writing stuff!

ALSO since Thanksgiving is now over, my family put up our Christmas decorations! Y’all, I’m so happy.

Alright, here’s some pictures from this month!

What did I read?

Well, to start us off I read…

Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile and let me tell you—this book was fantastic! I really love Brandi Carlile’s music and I’ve wanted to read this book for a while and finally did. Brandi’s story was fascinating and in all honesty, it makes me pretty sad to hear how Christians treated her when she came out. It’s a good reminder that the way she was treated is not how Jesus would have wanted us (Christians) to behave, even if her beliefs are different. But I really admired her faith and story and highly recommend this book!

The second book I read this month was Fun Fact: I Love You by Gina Lynn Larsen. Definitely not top-notch and not as sad as I hoped (I won’t spoil, don’t worry) but it was a light and easy read.

I also reread In 27 Days by Alison Gervais. I got it for my birthday and this is one of my favorite books—not necessarily because the writing is amazing (because it’s pretty average) but ARCHER MORALES—I love that guy so much.

But in all seriousness, I love the storyline, the enemies-to-lovers, the tries-to-hide-his-feelings-but-totally-falls-for-her-in-the-end, and everything!

I also am rereading Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins and y’all, I know there’s a lot of hate on this book which I totally get. It’s super similar to the original book, The Hunger Games, with Katniss and Rue and then Haymitch and Louella and/or Ampert. (I’ve heard both of them used as parallels for Rue in SOTR, so do what you will.) BUT Haymitch (aside from Finnick of course, he’s always the number one in my heart) is my favorite Hunger Games character, so I was really excited to read from his POV and Suzanne Collins never ceases to amaze me with her amazing stories.

Moving on!

What did I listen to?

Okay y’all, let me just tell you: it has been a good month of music. And you’re not just getting a list of top ten songs—no no. You’re getting a little breakdown of all my favorite songs and albums from this month.

First, if you haven’t already, go read my post on NF’s new EP, FEAR. That’s been my favorite EP and it’s been on repeat SO much this month! I love the lyrics and the music and his voice and it’s just too good. Too too good.

Recently I’ve had two songs on repeat as well and the first one is Burn Me by Jonah Kagen featuring Sam Barber. I love Sam Barber and his voice in this song is just PEAK. One thing I also really love are the lyrics in this song—it talks about the struggles of being of the world and loneliness, and although it’s not a Christian song and they’re not Christian artists, I admire their honesty about the Christian faith. It’s hard being a human, and when you’re torn between godly peace and human comfort, it’s a very harsh struggle.

The other song is Where Did I Go Wrong by Crowe Boys. Again, the lyrics! I love the storytelling, and their voices when they harmonize are pretty much perfect. It also has lyrics that tell a story about the struggles of being human and the desire to have peace and again, I really admire that.

The next song of the month is…a Christmas song.

It’s called Make It To Christmas by Alessia Cara and it’s a Christmas song, so I have to love it! There’s not much deep meaning to this one, but I like her voice and the vibes and so that’s good enough for me!

And finally, I’ve really been loving her by JVKE featuring ZVC (who is his brother.) I love all of JVKE’s music and this song with ZVC is just as good as all of his other songs. It’s a really sweet song with beautiful melodies and perfect lyrics. So yep!

What did I write?

This month your girl did not do as much writing as I had hoped, despite doing both the C.S. Lewis Fellowship and JWM. However, this month was really busy with people visiting and concerts and birthdays holidays and all that goodness. So I think it was a really great chance for me to break from fiction and nonfiction. (Although I did plenty of nonfiction writing for y’all—I couldn’t help myself.)

However…I did start a new WIP. I’ve abandoned The Devil’s Demand since it was just too overwhelming and I had no idea what to do without making it blasphemous. Writing like C.S. Lewis is no task for the feeble-minded…and I was the feeble-minded when it came to this.

But like I said, I started a new WIP. It’s (temporarily) titled “When I Said Goodbye” or maybe “When We Said Goodbye” but who knows because it’s just a little simple story that will probably amount to nothing but joy in my heart.

And to keep me accountable with this project (to at least see it to the finish line) I will be sharing snippets of it in my monthly newsletter. Speaking of which………….

I launched my newsletter! And the first email came out on this morning (December 1st)—which, unfortunately, means you missed it. (Unless it hasn’t sent out to you yet…I’m still figuring out Mailerlite, give me time guys.)

But that’s okay—unless you have FOMO of course, then that’s just painful. But again, it’s okay! Because you know what? Next month, you will get redemption!

That’s right! If you sign up to The Faithful Wanderer’s monthly newsletter, you’ll be the first to read snippets of When I Said Goodbye, monthly book and song recommendations, writing updates, and even be the first to know about….giveaways. Yes, giveaways. (Is that a hint at something that may or may not happen in the new year? Maybe, maybe not.) A whole freaking month in advance—before any of the regular, just-your-average-Joe blog subscribers know!

It’s only one email per month, so you won’t get flooded with random crap—just good normal crap. (Kidding, it’s all good stuff, none of it is bad.)

You can read all the info here!

(This is the part where you sign up by the way.)

SUBSCRIBE TO THE FAITHFUL WANDERER NEWSLETTER

(Also be sure to confirm your email or else you won’t receive any of the good stuff!)

What happens next?

Well, obviously…Christmas! But along with that, not much. I will be posting more regularly (hopefully, depends on what you guys say) and am going to be doing a Christmas snippet competition! So be sure to be on the lookout for a post about that!

I have some family visiting next week and then a Christmas party for work which I’m only slightly terrified about, but mostly I’m hoping to get in the Christmas mood!

It’s supposed to snow in a week or so, but we’ll see if the weather prediction is right. But trust me, if it ends up snowing, you’ll hear.

So that’s it for this month!

Thanks for reading! How was your Thanksgiving? Have you put up Christmas decorations yet??
~Willow

Don’t forget to let me know what you thought of the November posting schedule and fill out this form so I can hear your thoughts!