Yes, it's Packed with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the season, it's constantly fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the series' initial installments to pieces. The prevailing view seemed to be a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she is back with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (aka a Christmas special). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but within the context of a Christmas special, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – providing unasked-for guidance, and delivering the periodic peculiar declaration. ("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 a bit of a character, but her aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she looks content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She is aware her every micro expression, word and look will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. The reason is, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and extravagant – but is that not exactly what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she executes with flair. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her gifts are almost too pretty to unwrap. Not a single thing is average or ugly – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she folds wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is positioned in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her unwillingness to alter or even tone down her shtick, regardless of it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her message, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you are not obligated to. There isn't mandatory conscription in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are consumed by longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a duchess or a data administrator, few children fully understands the dedication and labor their parent does in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by picturing the young royals' faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a chocolate.
