Admittedly, it's Packed with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the time of year, it's perpetually hunting season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to shreds. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – remain, but framed of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan has become the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – providing random tips, and delivering the occasional strange exclamation. ("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 unexpectedly soothing. And she seems content; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She understands her every micro expression, utterance and look will be analyzed and scrutinized, but still appears relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Since, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Christmas is all about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the example she sets seems authentically beautifully curated.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she pulls off with style. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she crafts is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is average or ugly – even the way she fastens her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of attention she has endured from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this naturally. Her decision to change or even soften her persona, despite it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a reminder that will certainly come as a comfort: you aren't required to. We don't have national service in this country, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are gripped with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a royal or a data administrator, few children completely grasps the dedication and labor their mum puts in in the holiday season. So you can take heart by envisioning the young royals' faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
