Admittedly, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the season, it's perpetually fair game for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to shreds. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she has returned with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). But this time, it's different. The standard components we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – remain, but set of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering unasked-for guidance, and contributing the odd random outburst. ("I love spinach!" … "A tradition has to have a beginning." … "A tree is part of my memory and love of the holiday season.") She's quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she appears pleased; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and glance will be dissected and criticised, but manages to seem relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – may well be true. Since, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and extravagant – but isn't that exactly what Yuletide is for? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking appears to be shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her gifts are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, overcome by festive joy and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where broccoli is arranged in the form of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but even so, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered from the moment she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her decision to alter or even tone down her routine, despite it being so constantly, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will always know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you aren't required to. There isn't mandatory conscription in this country, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a data administrator, few children truly appreciates the time and energy their mother does in December. So you can find comfort by picturing the young royals' faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a sweet treat.
