Admittedly, it's Packed with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the season, it's perpetually fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when enthusiastically shredding the program's initial installments to pieces. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she has returned with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a yuletide episode). But this time, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – persist, but set of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she seems pleased; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, syllable and look will be dissected and criticised, but manages to seem unburdened and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. The reason is, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and extravagant – but isn't that precisely what Christmas is for? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she creates is stunning, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "has a moment", and she creases wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where greens is positioned in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her refusal to modify or even soften her shtick, regardless of it being so constantly, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can rely 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 her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a relief: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished national service these days, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are gripped with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a duchess or a everyday person, no kid completely grasps the effort and hard work their mother does in December. So you can console yourself by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a sweet treat.
