Yes, it's Packed with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's perpetually hunting season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to pieces. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a holiday episode). Yet now, it's different. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but within the context of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan resembles the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – offering random tips, and supplying 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 an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she seems happy enough; she's causing any harm.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but manages to seem carefree and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. The reason is, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Christmas is about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the example she sets genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with flair. Her recipes looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or ugly – even the way she fastens her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she creases wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, obviously, but despite that, after the intensity of scrutiny she has endured ever since she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her decision to modify or even moderate her persona, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her message, a point that will surely come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. There isn't mandatory conscription in this country, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are consumed by envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, no kid truly appreciates the effort and hard work their mother does in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a sweet treat.
