• In my travels to Europe, I've never come across a country I feel is more underrated than Estonia.
• It has much of what popular destinations like Italy or Spain have to offer but with fewer visitors.
• It's the perfect spot for travelers to see the colorful beauty of European cities and eat good food.

I've traveled around the world and to 15 countries in Europe, but I've yet to come across a place as special as Estonia.

The European country has retained a lot of its old-world charms, with architecture and history that rivals that of popular European destinations such as Italy and Spain.

Yet, it feels like a hidden gem because it doesn't attract the same level of tourists. In 2023, the country reportedly welcomed around 4 million tourists, compared to Italy's estimated 60 million and Spain's 85 million.

Estonia's relatively low tourism rates surprise me since it has what many popular European destinations offer: a rich history, delectable food, a unique blend of old and new worlds, and lots of culturally significant sites.

When I first told friends I was visiting Estonia, many revealed that they had never heard of it. Yet, as I walked through the cobblestone streets of its capital, I realized that it's actually Europe's best-kept secret.

Tallinn's Old Town feels like it belongs in a fairy-tale

Tallinn's Old Town is Estonia's capital and cultural epicenter. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This quaint and colorful town has historic defensive walls, which helped preserve a lot of the city's incredible structures.

Some of Tallinn's Gothic architecture dates back to medieval times — and the colorful designs create an enchanting setting.

It's an ideal destination for art connoisseurs and history buffs

Estonia is also home to many art museums and galleries. Tallinn alone houses dozens— so pack some good walking shoes and wander around town for a museum-hopping day.

My favorite stop was the Niguliste Museum, which displays in its collection a large fragment of the fascinating Danse Macabre (The Dance of Death). The late-15th-century painting is considered to be Tallinn's most famous artwork.

Niguliste Museum also has an observation deck that offers stunning views of the city that rival those from Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence, Italy.

Unlike the bell tower in Florence, the Niguliste Museum has an elevator that can take you straight to the sky deck if you want to give your feet a break.

Other must-visit museums include the Estonian National Museum and Kadriorg Art Museum.

For contemporary art, head to PoCo Pop and Contemporary Art Museum. I also highly recommend the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, which has thousands of product designs, ceramics, and other art pieces from Estonia and beyond.

Estonia is also a foodie haven

Estonia should be a top destination for foodies, especially with so many chefs experimenting with and reinventing local specialties right now.

Travelers looking for a gastronomical adventure should make a reservation at Olde Hansa, a popular restaurant that offers a feast with candles, waitstaff decked in costumes, and generous portions of delicious food cooked following centuries-old recipes.

For a more cozy dining experience, dine at the Rataskaevu 16, which has a rich history dating back to the 15th century. This was a highlight of my trip due to its top-notch service, possibly the best I've experienced in Europe.

• In the US, it's common for children to leave Santa Claus milk and cookies.
• But this tradition looks different for children around the world.
• In Ireland, some families leave Santa a pint of Guinness.

From the Yule Lads of Iceland to the traditionally green-clad Father Christmas of the UK, the Santa Claus Americans are accustomed to looks a little different throughout the rest of the world, and so do certain Christmas traditions.

While it's common for people around the world to leave their gift-giver a treat for their arrival, the choice of snacks and drinks vary.

Many American children, for example, are known to leave milk, cookies, and the occasional reindeer-friendly snack, such as a carrot, but it's common for kids to leave Santa Claus a stronger drink — like beer or wine — in European countries such as France and Ireland. And for children in Germany, snacks are skipped altogether in favor of handwritten letters.

Whether you're looking to mix up your Santa's snacks or just learn something new this holiday season, here's a peek at how Christmas is celebrated around the world through 12 treats families leave for the man with the bag.

United States

In the US, many children leave out a glass of milk and a plate of cookies for Santa.

Some families also leave carrots and celery for Santa's reindeer.

Australia

Although Australians leave cookies for Santa to snack on, they replace the glass of milk with a cold glass of beer. December is actually summer for Australia, so the beer might be just what Santa needs in the hot weather.

Ireland

Some families in Ireland leave a pint of Guinness for Santa on Christmas Eve.

According to Culture Trip, children usually place the cold beer near the tree to offer Saint Nick a quick pick-me-up for the long night ahead.

UK

Like in Australia and Ireland, children in the UK also leave Santa alcohol.

Families believe Father Christmas needs some sherry to warm up on Christmas night. It's also tradition to pair the sherry with a mince pie.

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, children often leave carrots and hay to help energize Sinterklaas's horses — yes, horses — on their trip around the world.

In some parts of Europe, like Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands, children don't believe Santa's sleigh is pulled by reindeer. Instead, they think he is being pulled by horses, so children leave food for them on Christmas Eve, and sometimes this food is left in their shoes.

Argentina

Rather than leave snacks for Santa, children in Argentina leave out hay and water for the Three Kings' horses. They also leave out their shoes, so their gifts can be placed in them, Ecela Spanish reported.

Children in Argentina usually receive their presents on January 6, Three Kings Day, which honors the day the Three Kings delivered their presents to baby Jesus.

Denmark

Kids in Denmark don't leave anything for Julemanden — the Danish term for Santa — to eat, but they do leave out treats for their nisse, or house elf.

According to Atlas Obscura, the Danish tradition calls for families to leave a bowl of risengrød (rice pudding or sweet porridge) out on Christmas Eve for the house elf.

Sweden

In 2017, then-press officer of the Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC, Kate Reuterswärd told NPR that her family would leave a bowl of risgrynsgröt (rice porridge) outside their door.

"The rice porridge is thickened with milk and flavored with cinnamon and a little salt. Some families add almonds, butter, jam, or molasses, but the traditional version doesn't have to be sweetend," she said.

Some families in Sweden may also leave Jultomte a cup of coffee.

Iceland

Rather than Santa Claus, children in Iceland await the arrival of the 13 Yule Lads, who, beginning on December 12, each bring them a small present, Nordic Visitor reported. In return, families leave out laufabrauð, which translates to leaf bread and tastes like a crispy wafer.

France

In France, children leave Père Noël wine and leave Gui, his donkey, treats like carrots or hay, which is left in their shoes, History.com reported.

Germany

Germans have a Christmas angel, the "Christkind," instead of Santa Claus, and they don't leave any snacks.

Instead, they write the angel letters. Some families mail the letters ahead of the holiday, while others leave them out on Christmas Eve, History.com reported.

Chile

In Chile, children leave pan de pascua, a traditional fruitcake, for Viejito Pascuero, "Old Man Christmas." Some of the fruitcake's key ingredients are dulce de leche, rum, candided fruits, and nuts.

• As a frequent traveler, I've spent many days in interior staterooms on different cruise lines.
• My interior cabin on the Holland America Line's Rotterdam had a lot of amenities and felt luxurious.
• I love the beds on Princess Cruises ships, but my Norwegian Cruise Line studio was the best value.

As a frequent cruiser, I always book interior cabins. They're often the most economical option, though they aren't identical across cruise lines.

So, I compared my recent interior cabins on Holland America Line's Rotterdam, Norwegian Cruise Line's Getaway, and Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess.

Here's how the spaces stacked up — and which cruise room I liked best for its excellent value.

One of my interior cabins was on Holland America Line's Rotterdam.

Last December, I sailed on Holland America Line's Rotterdam for a 12-day Panama Canal cruise that cost $849 plus $460 for taxes, fees, and port charges.

My rate included a $25 onboard credit but no gratuities or add-ons like drink packages, specialty dining, WiFi, or excursions.

The above rate was for my half of the cabin, which I booked to share with a friend. Had my original reservation been for one person, I would've paid a higher rate for the same cabin.

The cabin had a decent amount of space, especially compared to ocean-view rooms on the ship.

My 160-square-foot cabin featured two wardrobes, a queen-size bed, a desk, and a minibar.

It was only about 15 square feet smaller than some ocean-view staterooms on the ship, which start at 175 square feet.

The large bathroom was a highlight.

This bathroom is one of the largest ones I've experienced on a cruise.

I liked that it had a walk-in glass shower as big as ones I've seen in nice hotels on land and a ton of storage around the vanity, shower, and toilet.

I had a lot of amenities and basics in my cabin.

The number of in-room amenities was impressive and included a mini refrigerator, safe, makeup mirror, hairdryer, robes, beach towels, and umbrella.

Plus, this cabin had the most electrical outlets I've seen in a cruise room thus far.

Lastly, the cabin had a well-stocked minibar.

The cabin had an expertly-curated minibar area featuring a cabinet with things like red wine, white wine, rocks glasses, and a stainless-steel ice bucket.

Bottles of Mondavi chardonnay, La Marca Prosecco, and premade On the Rocks cocktail were also available for an extra fee.

Overall, my Holland America Line room was classy, and standouts included the well-stocked minibar and massive shower.

My next cabin was on the Norwegian Cruise Line's Getaway.

In February 2023, I sailed alone in a studio cabin on Norwegian Cruise Line's Getaway on a six-day Bermuda cruise for $699 plus $283 for taxes, fees, and port charges.

The rate included free WiFi, an unlimited drink package, one specialty dining meal, and $50 toward a port excursion.

Norwegian's studio suites are designed for solo travelers, so I didn't have to pay the single-traveler supplement most lines charge cruising alone.

If I'd had a travel companion with me and we booked a non-solo interior cabin, the rate per person would've been even cheaper.

The studio felt futuristic and well-designed.

My 100-square-foot studio was packed with thoughtful and stylish futuristic decor, like cushioned wall panels along two sides of the bed back-lit with strip lighting.

I also loved my porthole "window" that could transform the room from pitch black to colorfully lit. Although I couldn't see the ocean out of it, it made the room feel larger and more cheerful than a standard interior cabin.

This was the smallest room of the three on this list, but I felt the space was used well.

The studio was filled with space-saving furnishings and designs.

For example, the handles on the wardrobes' sliding doors doubled as towel racks.

The bathroom didn't offer much privacy, but I didn't mind.

As this room is designed for solo travelers, the shower isn't separated by a door — it's just across from the bed.

The all-glass tiled shower and separate stall with a toilet felt tiny but manageable.

Lastly, I loved the perks that came with the studio.

My room came with attractive perks like access to a private lounge for cruisers in studios.

Plus, my hallway was also only accessible by keycard for other people staying in studios, which made me feel extra safe as a solo traveler.

Overall, I found my interior Norwegian Cruise Line studio to be convenient, cozy, and stylish.

I also spent 16 days in an interior cabin on the Caribbean Princess.

In August 2023, I stayed in an interior room on Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess on a 16-day sailing to Canada, New England, and Greenland for $1,863 plus $270 for taxes, fees, and port charges.

I sailed with another traveler in this interior stateroom, so this was for my half of the cabin and based on double occupancy.

This rate didn't include gratuities or add-ons like drink packages, specialty dining, WiFi, or excursions.

The room didn't feel particularly special, but it was very comfy.

My 162-square-foot cabin had one large closet, a desk, and a queen-size bed.

The highlight was its famous Princess Luxury Bed, a comfy medium-firm mattress with a plush 2-inch-thick pillow top. It's the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on while cruising.

I enjoyed the many in-room entertainment options.

I forgot to photograph it, but the cabin's compact bathroom felt nice and standard compared to others I've had on cruises.

The ship's touchless technology made it easy for me to unlock the stateroom door and request services.

Plus, the in-room entertainment was superior to what I've had on other cruise lines. I could watch movies or live satellite television or listen to music and audiobooks that were preloaded on the TV.

Overall, I found my cabin to be comfortable and quiet, with tons of options for entertainment.

If I had to pick a winner, I'd say my studio on the Norwegian Cruise Line felt like the best bang for my buck.

Holland America Line had the most luxurious furnishings and impeccable service, and Princess Cruises had the most comfortable bed and the best in-room entertainment.

For me, though, the all-around pricing and perks of Norwegian Cruise Line's stylish interior studios can't be beaten.

It was the smallest room I stayed in, but it had nearly the same furnishings and amenities as competitors' cabins. Plus, as a frequent solo traveler, the lounge access, added security, and lack of supplemental fee is music to my ears.

Still, I was happy with my cabins on Holland American Line and Princess Cruises — and I'd love to see both lines offer studios in the future.

• The CDC randomly inspects and scores cruise ships to prevent the spread of stomach viruses.
• The average score of vessels in 2024 is 95.9 out of 100 — 85 or less is considered failing.
• The nine dirtiest ships scored between 86 to 89. Two others failed but passed in later reviews.

A "B" is considered a passing grade on most exams.

For cruise ships, scoring an 85 out of 100 on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program review is considered a failure.

In 2024, the CDC reported 13 bacterial and viral outbreaks on ships. Most incidents were of norovirus, a highly contagious bug that quickly spreads through tainted food, water, surfaces, or people.

Best not to be a victim. Its main symptoms — vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain — can quickly ruin a vacation.

To mitigate these outbreaks, the CDC conducts random and unannounced sanitary inspections on cruise ships. The public health agency then scores the vessel from zero to 100, with outcomes of 85 or lower considered inadequate.

The review includes checking common spaces like pools and children's activity centers. Obvious issues like vermin and improperly stored food will cost points. As will subtler problems, such as buffet handwashing stations with lights less than 110 lux and produce stickers left where cleaned cooking equipment is stored.

The CDC has performed 151 inspections in 2024, including repeat inspections on 23 ships. The average score is about 95.9. 27 vessels achieved perfect marks, while two failed but later passed in later reviews.

Nine vessels didn't break into the 90s range, including Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's ultra-luxury Evrima:

1. Hanseatic Inspiration — Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, scored 89 (inspected October 28, previously received a 62 on September 29)
2. Carnival Elation — Carnival Cruise Line, scored 89 (inspected March 14)
3. Adventure of the Seas — Royal Caribbean International, scored 89 (inspected January 23)
4. National Geographic Sea Bird — Lindblad Expeditions, scored 88 (inspected July 25)
5. Carnival Miracle — Carnival Cruise Line, scored 88 (inspected April 21)
6. MSC Magnifica — MSC Cruises, scored 86 (inspected May 17)
7. Evrima — Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, scored 86 (inspected February 9)
8. Carnival Breeze — Carnival Cruise Line, scored 86 (inspected March 21)
9. Caribbean Princess — Princess Cruises, scored 86 (inspected March 20)

Crystal Serenity received an 89 on February 2 but was bumped to a 90 seven months later. Similarly, Margaritaville at Sea Paradise received a failing score of 83 on May 1 but passed a subsequent inspection with a 92 on July 2.

What the cruise lines have said

A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd told Business Insider that Hanseatic Inspiration's initial lower score was a "very unfortunate incident" that didn't reflect the company's operational standards. "We have been consistently meeting strict hygiene requirements worldwide for many years with exemplary results," they said.

Following the inspection, the cruise line addressed the ship's "operational aspects" to meet its quality standards, as showcased in the vessel's follow-up passing score in October.

The spokesperson said lingering issues are "being addressed and will be completed in a timely manner," and the company will continue to improve its "quality management processes" particularly with regard to the requirements of the CDC."

Similarly, a spokesperson for MSC Cruises told BI in October it had implemented an "improvement plan" on MSC Magnifica according to the CDC inspector's suggestions. Many of the changes were immediate and only needed "minor" efforts, it said. The cruise line said that it believes Magnifica's score "is not a true reflection of the ship as it is today" and would "welcome any future inspection."

MSC noted that many of its ships frequently achieve above 90, including the MSC Meraviglia and MSC Seashore, which both received perfect marks in 2024.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Lindblad Expeditions, the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and Princess Cruises didn't respond to a request for comment.

• Gary Binkow was an Emmy award-winning and Academy Award-nominated movie producer.
• He left his multimillion-dollar career in Hollywood to pursue a new job in the longevity industry.
• Binkow now makes less than he did working in Hollywood but says he's happier and wouldn't go back.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gary Binkow, a former Hollywood producer who gave up his multimillion-dollar career to start a new business in the longevity industry. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I got into the movie business because my one talent as a kid was that I was really good at watching TV and movies — I mean, I just inhaled everything I could.

The way my brain works is that I would watch TV shows and movies and try to unravel what it was about them that moved me and how the storytelling worked. And so then, when I found out you can go major in moviemaking, I decided to do that. I went to Columbia University and majored in film because, frankly, I thought it would be easy. I'm always looking for the path of least resistance.

I started working for MTV in New York in 1980 and, after moving to California, worked my way up from an assistant working at 20th Century Fox to a development executive, then eventually a producer, mainly based at Miramax Films.

I had a long career in Hollywood. I made about 30 films on the independent side and had a successful run at Miramax. At the top of my career, I produced a movie called "Finding Neverland," which came out in 2004, won a bunch of awards, and got nominated for several Oscars.

Even though I had been successful, I still found my creative ideas blocked by industry gatekeepers like Harvey Weinstein, who repeatedly passed on them even though they'd made millions with other studios.

I decided I didn't want to be in a system where I couldn't control my own destiny and realized I was really an entrepreneur. When you make 30 independent movies, you are essentially building 30 independent companies. So, I decided to use those skills to start my own company in 2005, Collective Digital Studios, a new media company offering services like content production, brand management, and distribution.

Everybody in the movie business told me I was an idiot and crazy for leaving. But in the early 2000s — the early days of internet virality — we worked with content creators and comedians like Logan Paul and King Bach before they'd made it big and created a massive platform leveraging their expertise in hooking audiences with short video clips. As we expanded, we helped Katt Williams license his iconic comedy special "The Pimp Chronicles" to HBO in 2006 and produced thousands of YouTube videos, driving strong profits — but something felt like it was missing.

I decided I'd rather do something more powerful. I was good at helping people connect with audiences and telling better stories, but I wanted to do it with a purpose and a mission. So I left. In 2019, we sold the company, which is now known as Studio71, for a healthy exit to ProSieben, and I decided I wanted to use the same skill set in health and wellness.

So, my partner and I moved out of Los Angeles and onto an organic avocado farm in the beach town of Carpinteria, California. We've been working to rehabilitate it, and in 2020, I started The Swell Score, a membership-based online marketplace for holistic and clean supplements and other household products.

I've been interested in holistic health for my whole life. I'm always looking for more natural ways to stay healthy and out of the sick-care system. But there is a lot of misinformation and skepticism in the wellness space — and I understand that because I'm just as skeptical. So, at The Swell Score, we partner with medical experts to review wellness and beauty products and work with customers to teach them how to improve their health and live longer, happier lives.

The Longevity Lab, which I opened in October in Carpinteria, is an expansion of that. It's a retail space where you can buy these products and see the difference for yourself. We offer everything from non-toxic mattresses and housewares to wellness supplements, beauty products, and bath items.

So far, the wellness space has been good to me — it's not nine-figures good yet, but I have no interest in going back to Hollywood; the movie-making business is totally broken. I plan to keep building in this industry, and people have been really responsive. I think part of that is because I took some of the tactics of storytelling and brand building that I learned from the other company and applied them to health and wellness.

Now, when I get asked to advise people and help them hone their business stories and strategies, the one thing I tell anybody who's getting started is that I would think of yourself as a media company first, not a product company. You know, with just one video, you could create your billion-dollar business.

• As a sommelier, there are a few red wines I like to keep on hand for the holiday season.
• Sparkling reds can add a special touch to a festive gathering or big dinner.
• Cesanese and teroldego are some of my favorite Italian reds.

When I started my career in the wine industry over 15 years ago, I drank red wines I didn't enjoy just because I thought they were high quality.

Turns out I couldn't train myself to like them. Luckily, however, I eventually found a few reds that always seem to please me and any guests I'm hosting.

Here are some of the red wines I've been buying lately as a sommelier.

I live near Rome, so cesanese is plentiful.

Cesanese del Piglio is the first DOCG of Lazio, the region where Rome is located. This means it's been rated one of the highest-quality Italian wines.

The beautiful wine grape grows in the foothills of the Apennines Mountains.

Cesanese has aromas of cherry, sweet spices, roses, and often black pepper. The tannins are pretty light, too, so bottles don't have to age long to be enjoyed.

It pairs best with fresh pasta dishes, heavy meat sauces, and seasonal porcini mushrooms.

Zinfandel has a whole new image.

When most people think of zinfandel, they picture the pink-hued boxes of white zinfandel from the '80s and '90s.

This hasn't given it the best reputation among wine drinkers and professionals.

However, winemakers in California have started to reimagine zinfendel. They're making gorgeous, robust reds from the old white-zin vines.

These are well-constructed, spicy wines with lots of dark berry aromas. They're often labeled "jammy," so if you like a fruit-forward bottle, this is for you.

Teroldego reminds me of summer, even in the dead of winter.

I go to the Dolomites in the Italian Alps every summer to eat and drink the region's best food and wine.

Nothing tops a well-made glass of teroldego for me. When I open a bottle back at home near Rome, I'm immediately transported to those alpine summers. Think wild berries, pine needles, freshly turned earth, cut grass, mountain streams, and medicinal herbs.

The flavor is complex and bright, and it's perfect to pair with the region's heavier cuisine, such as polenta with chanterelle mushrooms, knödel, and fondue.

I always have a case in my cellar.

This is your sign to try some sparkling reds.

Sparkling reds aren't as well known as their white counterparts, but they are the perfect pizza wine. I like to keep some on hand for more casual dinners and gatherings.

One of the most famous sparkling reds is Lambrusco from Emilia Romagna. However, winemakers worldwide are producing delicious, naturally sparkling reds in the pet-nat style.

The best ones are made from high-acidity red-wine grapes. Look for sparkling shiraz, dry Lambrusco, Gamay-based vin du bugey, and my personal favorite, barbera frizzante. It's made from the barbera grape and is known for its high acidity and food friendliness.

Saperavi is one of the oldest domesticated red grapes.

Saperavi, originating in the country of Georgia, is one of the oldest known domesticated red grapes in the world. Today, you can find bottles from Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Australia, and even the Finger Lakes in New York.

These wines look almost black because they contain high levels of anthocyanins (water-soluble pigments).

The wine is often complex, with aromas of cassis, blackberries, spice, earthiness, cherries, leather, and licorice. A bold glass of saperavi is great on its own, but it also pairs well with lamb or game dishes and cheese-based sauces.

Rosé is popular for a reason.

Today's rosé wines go beyond the blush-pink bottles of yesteryear. I love that they can give you the flavors of beloved red-wine grapes without the heaviness.

I lean toward deep-hued rosés made from grapes like grenache, Sangiovese, teroldego, and even cabernet sauvignon. Italians also have a long history of producing darker rosato wines such as Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo and Cerasuolo di Vittoria.

If you can't decide between red and white next time you're hosting, this is a great compromise.

• I love the holiday season, but there are some things about it that stress me out.
• In the past, I've found myself doing too much and saying "yes" to too many things.
• This year, I'm approaching the season differently so I can enjoy it.

I love visiting with family and friends, gift-giving, and all that comes with the holiday season. Most years, though, as this time of year approaches, I'm filled with a sense of contradiction: excitement for what's ahead and an unavoidable subtle sense of dread.

As a mom for over 13 years now, I've finally pinpointed exactly the problem. I've been in the habit of saying, "Sure," "Yes," "I'll be there," or "I can help" too many times during the season, even if I didn't have the time or energy. It's left me frustrated, hurried, stressed, and downright exhausted.

I started by creating boundaries around travel

The first time I vowed to seek more rest for myself during the holidays was 13 years ago. After several hours of travel and multiple stops to visit family, all with a newborn in tow, I knew the pace could not be kept. I will never forget the trauma of trying to find a quiet place to nurse my baby amid the chaos of family members I barely knew.

Little by little, each year, I've pulled back on our Christmas Day travel. This might be the biggest and happiest change I've implemented for myself and my family. I'm saying "no" to hours of travel time this year, and we're staying home for Christmas.

Miraculously, grandparents and family members have all been understanding. In fact, many of them lamented the same issues with travel on Christmas Day and are choosing to stay home, too. The good news is my door is open, and if anyone wants to see me or my immediate family on Christmas Day, they'll know exactly where to find us.

But still, over the years — even as I've created more boundaries around travel — I've gotten in the habit of doing too much, and it's affected my ability to enjoy the holiday season.

This year, I'm doing less cooking and baking, too

Last year, and for most years in the past, my husband would volunteer to cook the turkey for my side of the family for the Thanksgiving meal. But this year, we said we couldn't. We'd already planned a road trip for my son's birthday, so the time we had to spend on a homemade dish was significantly shorter.

We simply didn't have the time to fry a large turkey and encouraged my family to have someone else cook it. My mom ordered one, and it was just as juicy as any home-cooked bird. It lightened the load, and I vowed to keep the momentum going.

Leading up to Christmas Day last year, kind neighbors dropped off homemade items on our doorstep. We adore our neighbors, and the homemade goodies were a delight each time we opened the door. But each time I discovered a homebaked treat, I felt pressure to make or bake my own gift to reciprocate the kind gesture.

In a panic, I whipped up some last-minute treats and hauled them to each neighbor's home. I love to cook, but there wasn't much joy in the process under the pressure. Looking back, I realize there was a better way, so I'm handling it differently this year. I now see that my neighbors actually don't expect a gift in return, let alone something homemade. So, to split the difference, I'm purchasing my favorite brand of store-bought shortbread cookies, plopping a bow on top, and wishing them all my merriment without baking anything.

I'm also pulling back when it comes to volunteering at my sons' schools

Volunteering at my sons' schools has always been a page from the same story. As with many parents, in years past, there's been the tug for me to attend the holiday sing-along, organize the holiday party snacks, or brainstorm and collect materials for a festive craft.

While I do love attending and being involved at my sons' schools, the issue is that with work, appointments, and my own holiday goals of reading more and sitting by a fire more often this year, I'm just not raising my hand first to head it all up. Instead, I've opted to send in supplies or choose the events I truly enjoy being at. My sons are older now, and I'm resting easy knowing they're more concerned with the football game at recess than the reindeer craft they created during the holiday party.

While my desire to do it all came from good intentions and expectations from myself and others, I didn't want the stress I had felt in the past by giving too during past holiday seasons. I realize now I do have a choice in the matter.

I'm saying "no" more than ever in an effort to protect my time and my family's time, and I'm enjoying more that makes me happy: fireside reading time, a cup of coffee with extra whipped cream, and the twinkle of the lights on my own Christmas tree this year.

Editor's note: Warning: Although we’ve done our best to avoid spoiling anything too major, please note this list does include a few specific references to several of the listed films that some might consider spoiler-y.

This was the year that Marvel Studios hit the pause button on its deluge of blockbuster superhero movies, after rather saturating the market in recent years. It proved to be a smart move: the only Marvel theatrical release was the R-rated Deadpool & Wolverine, a refreshingly irreverent, very meta take on the genre that delighted audiences and lit up the global box office. Perhaps audiences aren't so much bored with superhero movies as becoming more discriminating in their choices. Give us a fun, fresh take and we'll flock back to theaters.

Fewer superhero franchise entries meant there was more breathing room for other fare. Horror in particular had a stellar year, with numerous noteworthy offerings, touching on body horror (The Substance), Satanic Panic (Late Night with the Devil), psychological horror (Heretic), hauntings (The Oddity), a rom-com/revenge mashup (Your Monster), an inventive reimagining of a classic silent film (Nosferatu), and one very bloodthirsty child vampire with a wicked sense of humor (Abigail). Throw in a smattering of especially strong sequels (Inside Out 2, Dune: Part 2), a solid prequel (Furiosa), and a few hidden gems, and we had one of the better years for film in recent memory.

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Comments

• I'm a mom of two and share custody with my ex-husband.
• I prepare gifts early and focus on self-care when they are not with me.
• As they get older, they still want to do holiday things with me, which makes me happy.

I remember the last Christmas as a family. There was the star on the tree, presents wrapped for the kids, and eggnog in the fridge, all while I was fending fights with my now ex-husband.

When I signed a lease on an apartment a couple of months later, I left behind the Christmas tree, the stockings, the nutcrackers, and every ornament.

I bought a new tree and ordered Christmas stockings, new ornaments, and some decorations as a fresh start after the divorce. That first Christmas as a single mom, I wanted to get my kids something special and playful. The snow globes I purchased are engraved with the year everything changed in our lives, four years ago.

It's hard not having them every year

As a divorced mom, I'll admit it isn't easy to accept that I won't see my kids every Christmas morning anymore. I've had my kids two Christmas mornings since our family split. I'm overjoyed this year my kids are with me again. I feel immense happiness knowing my kids will wake up at my home and dash to the tree at the crack of dawn instead of when they arrive mid-morning after being with their dad first.

There's always a little grief when I wake up on Christmas morning, and my kids aren't here. The waiting is excruciating for me. The divorce decree states that spending time with the kids for Christmas is split between even and odd years.

Navigating holidays as a divorced parent can feel stressful, and what's helped is keeping traditions going, even if it means doing it myself. The first Christmas when it was just me and the kids, the reason I didn't fall into depression was because the kids and I put up the tree early together, we went to see the holiday lights at the zoo, and watched "The Polar Express," the Elf on the shelf carried on, and holiday songs were on repeat at my home.

The festivities showed my kids that the magic of Christmas is alive at my home. I assured them that the holiday would be a joyous time, even though the family dynamic changed.

I prepare early for the years they are not with me

I've learned to prepare early for gifts. I start talking to my kids about their wish lists before Halloween, and by then, I know the weeks we have together will fly by before it's Christmas morning. I focus on the gifts my kids want most because I don't know what will be under their dad's tree.

When my kids are with their dad for Christmas morning, I've learned to focus on self-care to shield myself from sadness. I plan a morning of tenderness: dunking cookies in my fresh coffee, putting on a face mask, journaling, and making a phone call to my mom to hear her cheerful voice. I look at photos on my phone and reminisce about memories with my kids from the year before. I focus on my positive energy and the good ways that life has changed.

I remember my son adding the soccer ball ornament to the tree and my daughter adding the snowman she made in first grade. As my kids get older, to my delight, they still want to do the holiday traditions just the same. We are going to see the zoo lights again, and they are tilting the snow globes back and forth to make it snow, just like they did four years ago.

• Holiday scams are rising. Phishing and smishing attacks are targeting online shoppers.
• Scammers exploit the busy holiday season, using fake delivery messages to steal data.
• Law enforcement also warns of porch pirates.

Law enforcement and security professionals are warning of increased scam activity this holiday season.

Most holiday scams are phishing scams that can be found year-round, though scammers will theme their fraud to fit the season. An example could be a fake social media ad for a holiday product that sends you to a scam website or an email saying that a package you ordered for a Christmas gift is delayed and needs your approval.

"Remember, don't click on anything unknown, even if you just ordered gifts and you're expecting packages to come to your door soon," IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a release. "Double-check before you click."

One of the most popular frauds this holiday season is a "smishing" scam involving text messages from people who claim to be the United States Postal Service, Melanie McGovern, the director of public relations at the Better Business Bureau, told Business Insider. The text message might say a package you ordered is delayed and include a link to a fake website that the scammers use to steal personal information.

"The biggest thing for people to remember is if they have opted into text reminders," McGovern said. "You have to opt in to receive any kind of text message from a retailer. Keeping track of what you ordered and where, how it's being delivered, is really important."

Scammers target the holiday season because it's a time when people are "super busy" buying gifts for loved ones, McGovern said. It can be easy to fall for a phishing scam during this time of the year, McGovern said, because of the commotion around holiday shopping.

"They're panicking, you know," McGovern said. "We're a week from Christmas, and they're like, 'Oh no, my package is being held up. It's something for my child. You're naturally going to go into panic mode."

One method to spot a phishing scam is to look at where the text or email is coming from, McGovern said. The USPS says it only uses "5-digit short codes" to send and receive text messages to and from mobile phones. One example of a fake scam text claiming to be from the USPS reviewed by Business Insider shows a +63 area code, which originates in the Philippines.

"They're phishing," McGovern said. "I got one the other day for my health insurance, and it looked like it was coming from your health insurance, until I looked at the address and realized it."

The most important thing to do if you think you are being scammed is to stop, pause, and look for warning signs, McGovern said. If you feel like something is off, there's a chance that it probably is.

Law enforcement agencies have also reported a rise in "porch pirate" activity, where thieves will steal a package delivered to someone's front porch. North Carolina Attorney General John Stein said in a holiday scam warning that it's important to track packages and make sure that you are home when they are delivered.

You can also set the delivery address to a neighbor's house who is home during the day, send the package to your workplace, or ask the post office to hold your mail and collect the deliveries there, Stein said.

• Recently, I visited London for the first time, armed with a list of touristy things I wanted to do.
• From eating in Borough Market to seeing Big Ben, I did so many quintessentially London things.
• I have no regrets about spending my three days in the Big Smoke in total tourist mode.

I'm a frequent traveler, but until recently, I'd never been to London. The Big Smoke has long been on my bucket list, so I planned a solo visit full of touristy activities like visiting Big Ben and touring the London Tower Bridge. While I wished my family could have gone along, my husband is often unable to take time off work and my teenagers have busy schedules of their own. I knew it would be a while before I could visit if I didn't take a solo trip.

Armed with a list of things I wanted to do, like visit a London pub and shop for quilted jackets in Notting Hill, I booked a flight and hotel and started packing. Here's what it was like to play tourist in London for three days, and why I have no regrets.

I went to London for the first time with a list of touristy things I wanted to do

While I knew I'd be doing touristy activities like snapping photos in a red telephone booth and riding a double-decker bus, I tried to balance the trip with some off-the-beaten-path things, too. I made a rule that I wouldn't eat at chain restaurants, and instead of booking pricey tours, I'd walk the city on my own and really dig into exploring everything I wanted to see.

I stayed in London's Stratford neighborhood because it was within walking distance of a major tube station and near Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, home of the 2012 Summer Games. In fact, I spent my entire first day in London exploring the Olympic Park, grabbing lunch inside, and checking out the Olympic-sized swimming pools used during the Games, along with other structures.

I had Indian food on Brick Lane, saw Big Ben, and went to Notting Hill for shopping

Indian food is my all-time favorite cuisine, and when I told friends I was going to London, each of them said I had to try the Indian food there. "Curry in the UK hits different," said one. And they were right. I spent my first evening on Brick Lane, home to many curry restaurants, and it was pretty empowering to wander out to dinner in a new city on my own and explore a bit.

I had other things on my London to-do list, too, like seeing Big Ben, shopping in Notting Hill, and eating the TikTok-famous chocolate-covered strawberries from Borough Market. Going into the trip with a list helped, and I was glad I'd done my research in advance.

Yes, British pubs are as much fun as they sound, even if you're sober

I haven't had any alcohol for the last year, but British pubs are such a fabled part of the culture in London that I knew I had to check a few out. To my surprise, pubs in the UK had just as many alcohol-free beer options as bars in the US. I could walk in, order a booze-less beer, and feel right at home while checking out the scene.

And yes, British pubs are as much fun as they sound. I loved watching everyone gather in beer gardens, cheers'ing with their friends, and laughing. There were live bands at some, and DJs at others. All of the pubs were thriving, full of life, and just as much a part of the culture as they sound in all the chick-lit I've read. Sober or not, seeing something I've heard about my entire life was very cool.

I spent time sightseeing and have zero regrets about behaving like a total tourist

I toured London's Tower Bridge, took photos in front of Big Ben, and visited Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Yes, much of what I saw in London was touristy, and I'm OK with that. As someone who woke up early with her mom to watch Princess Diana's funeral and grew up hearing about the Royal Family and their lives, it was surreal to see so many places I'd only ever seen on a news broadcast or movie screen.

I felt the most out of my element when I attended an evening show of Abba Voyage, an AI-generated Abba concert that makes the band members appear as if they are much younger and actually performing onstage. The show was an incredible and unique experience, but I realized I was not nearly as much of an Abba fan as the locals when I was among a crowd of young women, dressed up in sequins and belting out the words to "Mama Mia" with gusto.

I can't wait to go back and cross more things off my bucket list

I'm so glad I took the time to spend a few days in London, and touristy or not, my itinerary was truly the stuff my dreams were made of. With some online research, I created a full list of must-see items for my trip before I went, and I did it all. But there's so much more I want to see.

London is such a bustling city, and while I think I got a lot done for a first-time visit, I cannot wait to go back and do more. Next time, I hope to take my family along, and because I've spent so much time checking out parts of the city, I'm excited that I'll be able to play tour guide when they do visit.

• Aaron Goldsmid, head of product at Deel, has previously worked for Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter.
• Early in his career, Goldsmid said he over-indexed on emulating senior leaders.
• He also said he focused more on hitting OKRs than investing in relationships.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Aaron Goldsmid, a 44-year-old from San Francisco about mistakes he made early in his career. Business Insider verified his previous employment at Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I had a somewhat atypical journey into tech. My parents were Broadway performers, and I was the first person in my family to go to college.

I became interested in computer science in high school and broke into tech straight after studying computer science at Columbia.

Through the college recruiting process, I got a job at Microsoft in 2002 and spent nearly six years there, largely working in the security space.

During the 2010s, I held tech roles at Amazon from 2011 to 2012, Facebook from 2012 to 2014, and Twitter from 2014 to 2015, as well as working at several smaller companies.

I've been fortunate to work at some of the most iconic tech companies during interesting periods. I've taken tools from each opportunity and now apply them to my current job as the head of product for Deel, a payroll and HR platform.

Because my parents didn't have 9-to-5s, I sometimes struggled to determine how to succeed in the corporate world. I didn't have anyone telling me about things like checking boxes to get to the next level in my career and how frictional relationships can impact the workplace.

Now that I have two decades of career experience under my belt, I understand how to avoid some of the mistakes I made early on and plan a career more intentionally.

Mistake 1: Thinking one job ahead instead of two

When I informally coach folks about careers, I usually advise them to think two jobs ahead.

Instead of thinking about what you dislike about your current job and whether your next role will solve that, think two jobs ahead. I tell early career techies to ask themselves how their next role will get them to the role after that.

After leaving Microsoft, I moved from Seattle back to New York, where I grew up. I wanted to secure a job in the city, and because the tech scene wasn't as mature in New York in the early 2000s, I took a role at NBCUniversal, helping build their video streaming service.

I did good work in that role, but I'm not sure it necessarily advanced my career. I then joined a startup because they gave me a very fancy title, but I ended up leaving before completing one year because I felt there were problems at the company, and I realized I'd chased a title instead of thinking things through.

As I advanced in my career, I knew I needed to focus on the skills I needed to acquire rather than the prestige of a position.

When I joined Kiva, a microfinance nonprofit, in 2018, I didn't view it as a permanent job. I took the job to gain skills outside a product and engineering capacity.

During my time there, I learned about business development and communicated with UN officials and central bank leaders. Not only did I get to experience the challenges faced by other teams, but I also got to know different contours of the product, business, and customer experience.

When I moved into my next role, a general manager at the communications company Twilio, I had a broader scope of experience and could operate more effectively.

You can accelerate quickly into a senior role, but taking a less fancy role and diversifying your experience might mean your upside long-term is much higher. If you're thinking two jobs ahead, evaluate what opportunities will help you more in the long run. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Mistake 2: Not investing in relationships

Early in my career, because I didn't know how corporations worked, it was easy to think that everyone in a company was aligned and felt the same way, which is foolish.

When I worked at Twitter on their growth team, my job was to play in other people's sandboxes and tweak things. The company was having a difficult growth time, and we had to be hyper-focused on hitting our OKRs. This sometimes came at the detriment of my team's relationship with the rest of the product engineering org.

We had to step into other team's territories and move quickly. I felt I needed to hit a goal at all costs, and the problem was "at all costs." We often weren't on the same page as that team and had to go back and repair relationships afterward. In hindsight, I needed to do a better job of explaining why we were doing something from the outset.

Not everyone is trying to achieve a company's mission in the same way, and so by investing in relationships, you can more clearly communicate how you align with others in a company. Even if they don't align with you, they'll respect your process.

Mistake 3: Over-emulating senior leaders

Early in my career, I didn't have a role model in the corporate environment, so I questioned what "good" looked like and how I should show up.

Folks who are early in their career will often look at people who they think are successful and think, "I want to be just like them."

But sometimes, early-career workers have a hard time distinguishing the reasons for a person's success from their bad habits. They might not know things that the company has been willing to work around or that hold that person back.

Early in my career, I over-indexed on emulating senior leaders. For example, I'd see some of them making sweeping statements like "This is the future, or, this isn't the future." They can get away with that because they've proven themselves, but I'd do the same, and it would fall on deaf ears. I hadn't yet earned that level of credibility and still needed to "show my work" before I earned that trust.

As a senior leader at Deel, I'm very conscious about how I present myself to early career folks. In larger meetings, I remind myself that there will be people on the call who view my role through a limited set of interactions. I don't want to pass on any bad behavior or shortcomings for them to emulate.

Do you have a career story you want to share with Business Insider? Email [email protected]

• Small businesses on TikTok are telling their customers about their worst business struggles.
• "My small business is failing" and other messages have become common hooks.
• It's a good way to build authenticity, marketing experts say — as long as it's done smartly.

In the last couple of years, small businesses have littered TikTok with confessionals.

"My small business is failing," is how they often begin.

"If you've been following me for the last couple of months, you may think that it's not," craftsperson Laura Craine said in a post last year. "But in reality, I haven't received an order in weeks."

Another TikToker said: "On the outside, it might look like everything is going well and I'm making lots of orders, but I'm just not."

Ranging from straight-up claims of failure through to warts-and-all insight into the toughest days, each post aims to grab a precious few seconds of your attention, and maybe a portion of your cash.

They resonate well with users "who want to see more than the polished, curated success stories that once dominated social media and Instagram," Inigo Rivero, cofounder of UK-based TikTok marketing agency House of Marketers, told BI.

It also comes "as more small business owners are embracing radical transparency" on TikTok, Rivero added.

And in many cases, it seems to be working.

I remember thinking: 'I can't do this.'

Emma Molloy has long known the power of lifting the veil on her vegan-friendly doughnut business through TikTok, and being transparent about the ups and downs of making her four-year-old business work.

But the hardest moment for her company, Cat Burglar Dough Co., came in August. She had just given birth and was exhausted. Sales had been poor, and she had just learned that her maternity cover had fallen through.

"I was in a real corner and I remember just sitting there thinking, 'I can't do this,'" Molloy, 30, told BI.

She posted about her worries on TikTok, saying: "This month I've come closer than I ever have before to quitting," but added that she was determined to carry on.

A couple of days later, she was sitting on the floor with her baby when her phone suddenly started buzzing nonstop.

Notifications were flooding in. "Order, order, order, order," she said.

Over on Facebook, an influencer named Lisa Dollan — more familiar to her hundreds of thousands of fans as Yorkshire Peach — had just posted a glowing review.

"We had about £3,000 [about $3,800] worth of orders in a week," Molloy said, adding that the business turned a corner after that.

Business Insider wasn't able to independently confirm the amount.

Dollan didn't respond to BI's request for comment. It's unclear whether Molloy's emotional post prompted her reaction.

But some business owners told BI that posting some variant of "my small business is failing" has brought them unusual engagement, new customers, as well as encouragement at a time when they sorely needed it.

The pull of schadenfreude

Creative duo Caitlin Derer and Joseph Lattimer hopped on the trend in August, with a video that has been watched more than 1 million times.

"For us that's huge," they said.

They used the format as a vehicle to talk about how hard they were working and what they needed to turn the business into a success.

Their business, Collectable Cities, makes art toys for the high-end souvenir market, but the pair had reached the "soul-destroying" part of the business where practical issues turned the spark into a slog, Derer said.

"Then you see someone else make a video, where you can feel their pain through the screen and it's like, 'I should be also sharing some of this,'" she said.

The response to their video spanned thousands of comments, giving them exposure to new customers, as well as a wealth of feedback and suggestions.

Alice Bull, founder of Gratified, a TikTok-focused strategy and content agency, says she finds these kinds of posts compelling and has even ordered from businesses after seeing them. She characterizes it as a "storytelling hook," one of five tried-and-tested approaches that she says tend to produce results on the platform.

Bull regularly encourages her clients to not just showcase their products, but to pull back the curtain on their own stories.

"Telling stories, especially on TikTok right now, is one of the most powerful things you can do, particularly with a small business," she told BI.

"Anything you can do to connect with the audience that will potentially become your customers is absolutely vital," she added. "And one of the quickest ways you can do that is by being slightly dramatic."

She said that research shows that emotionally positive content gets the best engagement, but negative content has its own pull.

Indeed, one 2023 study that tracked the eye movement of TikTok and Twitter users suggested that viewers spend more time on negative rather than positive content.

It works because people immediately want to know what happened, Bull said. "You want to either experience that emotion with that person or understand what they went through" in order to save yourself from the same fate, she said.

It can also be a smart way of adding context to unpopular decisions like price hikes, Bull said.

Staying authentic

Done right, the hook can tap into the authenticism that has underpinned other TikTok trends in recent years, like deinfluencing and the "social media isn't real" hook.

But there's an obvious business risk to telling the world you're failing.

People who adopt this strategy need to weigh up the risk of harm to their long-term reputation with the benefits of appealing to people through honesty, Bull said.

There's also a potential ethical problem that comes with virality — if declaring your troubles is such an effective cash lever, there'll always be the temptation for successful businesses to exaggerate or even lie about their struggles.

Indeed, so many iterations have proliferated on the platform that it's been boiled down to something like a script, with audio from particularly successful versions borrowed by others, who simply paste it over their own visuals.

Rivero said that quality also matters.

"I'm not just going to buy a product just because I like the story," he said. "It needs to come hand-in-hand with a good quality product."

He added that a dropshipper who makes the same complaint as a one-person craft business is unlikely to get much sympathy.

Building trust

Laura Craine said that the massive response to her "small business is failing" post was part of what rallied her to carry on with her craft business when she was almost ready to close shop.

"At the time, my videos weren't doing great," she said. But this one took off, bringing her hundreds of new followers and a wealth of supportive feedback.

Craine's business, With Love And Dreams, preserves personal items like wedding blooms or human remains in resin to create memorial keepsakes.

The fact that she handles sensitive and irreplaceable items means her business depends on maintaining a deep wellspring of trust. Being completely authentic with her audience just made sense.

"I want people to see that I'm a real person," she said.

• Seven superhero movies came out in 2024.
• "Deadpool & Wolverine" was the only superhero film to get a Rotten Tomatoes critic score above 50% this year.
• Sony released three new movies in their Spider-Man universe, including the universally panned "Madame Web."

"Deadpool & Wolverine" may have made a whopping $1.3 billion at the box office but, overall, 2024 has been a bad year for superhero movies.

Disney's Marvel Studios and Warner Bros' DC Studios released a film each in 2024 in response to superhero fatigue criticism over the last couple of years and as they prepared to enter a new phase in their respective franchises.

This left space for Sony and other studios to enter the market. But critics panned most of this year's superhero movies, with only Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" receiving a Rotten Tomatoes score above 50%.

Here are all seven superhero movies ranked from lowest to highest, according to their Rotten Tomatoes critic scores.

"Madame Web"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 11%

Sony has made several blunders in its attempt to build its own Marvel Spider-Man universe (without any Spider-Man appearances), but "Madame Web" is possibly the biggest misfire.

Critics said the film was a mess. Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, the two biggest stars in the film, distanced themselves from it after it received bad reviews and did not do well at the box office.

Fans mocked it, too, and generally didn't turn up to see the film in theaters. It is the lowest grossing film in the Spider-Man franchise, making $100 million.

"Kraven the Hunter"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 15%

Sony's Spider-Man universe ended on a low this year with "Kraven the Hunter" debuting with the lowest domestic opening weekend for a Sony Spider-Man movie ever.

It earned $11,000 in North America, which is roughly $4,000 less than "Madame Web" and roughly $70,000 less than "Venom," the first spin-off Spider-Man movie that Sony released.

Critics were not as hard on "Kraven the Hunter" as they were on "Madame Web," but still thought the film had a dull story and poor special effects. While some critics thought the film was so bad that it was entertaining, others thought it was a waste of time.

"The Crow"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 22%

1994's "The Crow" is widely regarded as a cult classic. However, its reputation was marred after Brandon Lee, the lead actor, was shot and mortally wounded by a prop gun that wasn't supposed to contain bullets, eight days before shooting wrapped.

Lionsgate's attempt to revive the superhero franchise failed critically and commercially. This time, Bill Skarsgård starred as Eric Draven, a recovering drug addict who gains supernatural abilities after being resurrected from the dead and seeks revenge on the people who killed him and his lover.

Some critics defended "The Crow" reboot, saying it wasn't unwatchable, but most reviews were more negative, saying the film was incoherent and not better than the original film.

2024's "The Crow" made $23 million in ticket sales on a reported $50 million budget. The 1994 version made $50 million.

"Joker: Folie a Deux"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 32%

There were big hopes for "Joker: Folie a Deux." Its predecessor made over a billion dollars, and Oscar and Grammy winner Lady Gaga took on the part of the hugely popular villain, Harley Quinn.

It was also a musical, following Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck as he stands trial for the multiple murders her committed in the first film, and begins a relationship with Lee Quinzel (Gaga).

But somehow, "Joker: Folie a Deux" disappointed both fans and critics and only made $206 million in ticket sales. Variety reported that Warner Bros. spent $200 million on the film and roughly $100 to market it, meaning the film likely did not turn a profit.

"Hellboy: The Crooked Man"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 37%

If you missed the latest "Hellboy" movie, you're not alone. Millennium Media, the production company that owns the rights to the Hellboy character, did not heavily promote "Hellboy: The Crooked Man," releasing the first teaser three months before it premiered in the US.

"Hellboy: The Crooked Man" takes Hellboy (Jack Kesy) back to his horror roots as he tries to take down a group of witches and their sinister demon leader, the Crooked Man.

Critics were divided on this film. Some said it was dull and had a messy script, while others praised it for actually being scary.

"Venom: The Last Dance"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%

"Venom: The Last Dance," the final film in the "Venom" trilogy, follows Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote Venom, who fleeing the world's military and a group of aliens working for Knull, Venom's creator

The "Venom" films are the only commercially successful movies from Sony's Spider-Man spin-off universe. Critics panned the series, and "Venom: The Last Dance" has the lowest-grossing of the three films.

But audiences still loved the film, which had the eighth-highest ticket sales of the year with a total of $475 million.

"Deadpool & Wolverine"

Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%

Since 2009, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have been engaged in a playful rivalry over who plays Canada's greatest Marvel superhero. Now they bring this feud to the big screen with "Deadpool & Wolverine."

In the multiversal movie, Deadpool (Reynolds) and Wolverine (Jackman) work together to save Deadpool's universe, find redemption for Wolverine, and lead a team of misfits to take down Professor X's powerful sister, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).

The final film was not only a finale to the R-rated hit "Deadpool" movie trilogy, but it was also a heartfelt goodbye to Fox's Marvel franchise, which ended when Disney bought Fox.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" also dispelled the myth that audiences were bored with superhero movies. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and became the highest-grossing movie in the trilogy.

• The Too Good To Go app aims to help consumers save money and reduce food waste.
• I tried it for a week to see how much I could save.
• I found it was most useful for fresh produce, but the pastries weren't always great.

Everything is expensive right now. It's rare that I ever leave the grocery store having spent less than I wanted to.

I've heard of apps like Too Good To Go, which sell surplus food at a discount, but never gone much further than signing up.

To test it out, I spent a week in early December only buying food from the app. I wanted to see if it was a viable way of saving money, sticking to a budget, and learning to be a bit more flexible with my cooking.

I also want to be more mindful about the groceries I buy and, unfortunately, sometimes waste.

Too Good To Go's CEO, Mette Lykke, told me in a recent interview that the app now operates in 19 countries across North America, Europe, and Australia, and covers 170,000 stores.

Lykke said the company hopes to inspire people "to make that the first step in a journey toward having a more responsible relationship with food."

"If we look at the state of the planet and the climate crisis, then it's pretty clear that something needs to change," Lykke said.

It was fun trying out new places in my city, London. While the pastries I received were hit-and-miss, the fresh produce from local stores was a real highlight.

Monday

Monday was largely spent figuring out the platform. I found that its map feature was the best way to find local cafés and stores.

I saw that an expensive café on my local high street offered pastries, so I opted for that — £3.90 ($4.95) for a blueberry muffin, chocolate chip cookie, and slice of banana bread.

After the sugar rush I was still hungry, so I chose a bag of sandwiches and pastries from my local Costa Coffee for £3.50 ($4.44).

I got a slightly stale pan au raisin and two sandwiches — one seasonal turkey feast, and a BLT which my boyfriend took for lunch the next day.

In total, I spent £7.40 ($9.39) on items worth at least £22.90 ($29.08), so the week was off to a good start.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I switched things up by trying out fresh produce from a couple of local stores. They offered "surprise bags" of groceries for £4 ($5.08) each.

While I was slightly overwhelmed with what to do with it all, it was an absolute hit with my boyfriend, who is always thrilled to be met with a culinary challenge.

One of the bags had Padron peppers, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, radishes, and beets. I also received three packets of pita bread, a sourdough baguette, a fruit bar, some buttermilk, and fresh herbs.

The multivitamin patches were a curveball, which I have to admit I didn't try.

In the other bag, I got a melon, some Greek yogurt, lettuce, butter, rainbow chard, and sausages.

The sausages went in the freezer, but almost everything else was used to make a pasta sauce, roasted peppers, sauteed mushrooms, buttermilk pancakes, and basil oil. The beets got pickled.

The only thing we ended up having to waste was the watercress, which was already looking past its best.

In total, I spent £8 ($10.16) on items worth at least £24 ($30.48).

Wednesday

Tuesday's groceries went further than expected, so I bought another pastry bag to satisfy my snackiness during the day.

I'm not convinced the sourdough loaf and pastel de nata (which I squashed) I got for £4.09 ($5.19) truly had a full sale value of £12 ($15.24), but they were both pretty good.

The server recommended putting the loaf in the freezer and toasting the slices, which was a great tip that lasted me the rest of the week.

Thursday

I knew I was out for dinner with friends on Thursday so I picked up some Starbucks pastries on the way. This was the biggest letdown of the experiment.

Throughout the week, I realized that several cafés don't offer anything until quite late in the day, by which time the food has been sitting out for hours. This makes sense from their perspective, but it does mean that some of the food isn't at its best.

But for £2.50 ($3.18), a muffin, cookie, cinnamon bun, and cheese stick is certainly better than nothing.

In total, I spent £2.50 ($3.18) on items worth at least £7.50 ($9.52).

Friday

I'd been eyeing up a nearby Bangladeshi restaurant all week, so knowing I had a night in alone on Friday, I went for the £4.09 ($5.19) curry bag they were offering.

I got a few bhajis, some chicken and rice, two veggie curries, more rice, some okra, and what I thought was probably cabbage.

It was all good and spicy, though the bhajis were slightly stale.

In total, I spent £4.09 ($5.19) on items worth at least £12 ($15.24).

The results

For the whole week, I spent £26.08 ($33.11) on £78.40 ($99.54) worth of food.

Not every bag felt like amazing value. But some, especially the grocery bags, were genuinely impressive.

The experience taught me a lot about how to be flexible. I'm now committed to focusing less on "use by" dates on food and sticking to the safety assessment Lykke taught me — "look, smell, taste, don't waste" — before throwing things out.

My advice for anyone downloading Too Good To Go is to use it with foresight. The app is great for saving money for those on a strict budget who are OK with some compromises.

Too Good To Go is available in huge stores in the UK (such as Asda) and the US (including Whole Foods), so there are plenty of places to try.

Lykke told me the nice thing about Too Good To Go is you don't have to give anything up, and she's right. From a quick scan of my area, there is bubble tea, ice cream, Turkish food, burgers, doughnuts, and more. You don't get to choose exactly what you want, but as long as you don't mind a bit of a surprise, it's worth a try,

"You actually get good food, it's a good deal, and you do something good," Lykke said. "It's win-win for businesses, for consumers, and for the planet."

• Tech employees share their salary negotiation tips, which helped boost their pay by tens of thousands of dollars.
• Their negotiation strategies include practicing pitches, using data, and leveraging multiple offers.
• Research and transparency are key in negotiating better compensation in tech roles, they said.

Sarra Bounouh has worked at consulting giant Accenture and three Big Tech companies.

But she still deals with imposter syndrome, especially when talking compensation.

"Going into a negotiation is always, at least for me, a very uncomfortable discussion," Bounouh told Business Insider. "I just want to push through and ask for what I deserve."

She and four other tech employees from Meta, Google, and Cisco shared their salary negotiation tips before joining a company or when trying to get promoted. They have used these strategies to add tens of thousands of dollars to their original offers in recent years.

Product manager at Meta

Avoid offering the first number. If you must, back it up with research, said Bounouh, a product manager who joined Meta earlier this year.

She suggested using resources like Levels.fyi or Glassdoor and selecting your role and geography to see recent offers and compensation that makes sense for that job.

"I personally don't like having detailed conversations about level and compensation from that first call with the recruiter because I want to meet the team, I want to meet the hiring manager, I want to get excited about the role," she said.

Bounouh prefers to negotiate her level and compensation once there's an offer on the table.

She said she often gets asked about salary expectations early in the process because recruiters say they want to save time for both sides.

She politely declines to share a number by telling the recruiter: "I don't have a number for your right now. I will need to do some research before getting back to you. At this stage of the process, I'm more focused on meeting the hiring manager and team."

Rehearsal is key for conversations about promotions or raises, she said.

Bounouh said she practiced her pitch for every job after Accenture and increased all three jobs' initial salary offers: Microsoft by 32%, Snap by 19%, and Meta by 37%.

Product manager at Oracle

Internal transfers between teams or offices are also an opportunity to negotiate your compensation package.

Ketaki Vaidya, who moved from Oracle's India to California office in 2022, said she approached her negotiation with an "everything under the sun is negotiable" mindset.

First, Vaidya looked at Glassdoor and talked to people who'd made the move to gather salary data. She wanted to ensure she was getting a fair offer for the US' cost of living.

"I was being given this offer for the credibility that I had built in the organization. I felt like I had an upper hand in negotiating," she said. "I was much more confident in asking for the things that I deserve — so it ended up being a very smooth transition."

After negotiating her base salary up to $80,000, she discussed other compensation components, including the timing of her next review, sign-on bonuses, relocation costs, paid leave, and remote work. She negotiated a sign-on bonus of $15,000 and a relocation allowance of $15,000, which weren't part of the initial offer.

Now, her compensation is about $130,000 annually, including stock units and bonuses.

Product manager at Cisco

When Varun Kulkarni switched from consulting to tech to work on more artificial intelligence projects, he was careful not to come off as aggressive during his pay negotiations.

Once he had offers from Cisco and others in hand in 2022, he was transparent with recruiters and mentioned other offers, without introducing his own counter number.

He asked recruiters how high they could go and what they thought about other offers.

"You want to kind of not be too pushy" he said.

His offer from Cisco already matched the market rate and what several competitors were offering, but he managed to negotiate it by 5%, bringing his total compensation to $180,000.

Product manager at Google

During his 2022 recruitment process at Google, Yung-Yu Lin used his employer at the time, PayPal, to land better offers from both companies.

He interviewed and landed jobs at several places — but their pay did not compare with Google's offer.

Lin decided to negotiate a retention package. PayPal countered with a 10% pay bump. He then renegotiated with Google.

Google offered a 20% raise on his original compensation at PayPal, which brought his offer to the $350,000 to $400,000 range as a senior product manager, including stock-based compensation.

Software engineer at Meta

Hemant Pandey, a senior software engineer at Meta, used other offers and research in his most recent job search.

After two years at Salesforce, in 2021 he applied to Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, and two other companies. He used offers from these companies to negotiate his compensation at Meta.

"Be very transparent that you have other offers. Even if you have interviews going on, mention those, because it's also leverage," he said. It signals to the recruiter that they have to move fast and work with your parameters.

Meta's recruiters matched the base salary and restricted stock units from the highest of all offers.

Aside from being transparent, Pandey said it is important to be proactive and research how compensation works in different companies. For example, candidates should compare how stocks are refreshed, he said. A refresher is when the stock option portion of an employee's compensation is updated.

"I also negotiated my sign-on bonus and said, 'Hey, at Salesforce, I'll be leaving my $30,000 to $40,000 of annual bonus if I join you. Can you help me accommodate that?'"

Pandey was offered $520,000 in annual pay, including stock options, in that 2021 move.

"The most significant thing happened in my career when I made the move from Salesforce to Meta, which was close to almost 80 to 90% hike" in pay, Pandey said.

Do you work in tech, consulting, or finance and have a story to share about your career journey? Please reach out at [email protected].

• I'm the youngest of three siblings — and the only Gen Zer.
• When I graduated this year, I faced the realities of job-hunting and adulthood.
• I learned lessons from observing my sisters and other millennials navigate their 20s.

After 16 years in the education system, my time as a student ended on a random Wednesday afternoon in April. I was finally free from lectures, tests, and group projects — but thrust into the realities of a scarier world: adulthood.

In this world, there were no set milestones to tell me I was on the right track. Everyone seemed to be on a path to something greater, but I felt directionless.

I know I'm not alone. Every 20-something has probably felt at least a little bit lost in life. But amid mass layoffs and the threat of AI replacing jobs, stepping into the job market as a fresh graduate in 2024 felt like diving head-first into an abyss.

An August report by an early careers platform, Handshake, surveyed 1,925 graduating students. They found that 57% of the students felt pessimistic about starting their careers — an increase from 49% of graduating students last year. Of the 57%, 63% said the competitive job market contributed to their pessimism.

The stress of not knowing whether I could secure a job was compounded by uncertainty about my career. I had studied journalism but wasn't sure if it was the right fit. I had the irrational fear that if my first job turned out to be the "wrong" choice, I'd be relegated back to the start line of the rat race.

Amid a brewing quarter-life crisis, I looked to my sisters, aged 28 and 31. They do many things that people of my generation may scoff at, like watching Instagram reels exclusively and using the laughing emoji. But they seem to have figured out one thing: life after college.

Here's what I've learned from watching them conquer the Roaring Twenties.

Life doesn't end when school ends

Toward the end of college, I mentally prepared myself for the fast-approaching expiration of youth.

"You must treasure your university days," relatives constantly reminded me at yearly Lunar New Year gatherings. They painted adulthood as a bleak portrait of bills, mundanity, and loneliness. So, when the time came, I was reluctant to let go of my identity as a student.

But as the youngest sibling, I also watched my sisters graduate from college, get married, and build their own homes. I saw them achieve promotions at work, find new hobbies, and start a life outside the one I knew of us growing up together.

Adulting isn't easy — I now know that. But there are also so many new milestones and freedoms that come with it, and there is so much to be excited about.

A job is just a job

My elder sister works in communications and the other in architecture. Even when their hours stretched into the night and weekends, they built a whole life outside work.

One started a sticker side business, and the other is now an avid runner.

It wasn't always smooth. My second-oldest sister burned out after working too much in her first job and took a career break. She prioritized work-life balance at her next job.

In that way, millennials and Gen Zers are alike. A 2024 report by Deloitte found that work-life balance topped the priorities for both generations when choosing an employer. When asked which areas of life were most important to their sense of identity, both generations agreed that jobs came second only to friends and family.

Distancing myself from the idea that my job had to be my one true passion lifted a weight off my shoulders. As much as I still want a job that gives me purpose, I also make time for other aspects of life that fulfill me, like working out and spending time with friends.

Just give it time

As with most worries, the fear that I'd never find a job was unfounded. In July, I started my first job as a junior reporter. But when the first day at work finally ended, I trudged home in a daze.

"I have to do this every day for the next 40 years?" I asked my second-oldest sister, who laughed. It wasn't that I didn't like the job. It was the change in routine from school life to a 9-to-5 that unsettled me.

"You'll get used to it," my sister said. Six months in, I still don't know if I will. But seeing my millennial counterparts thrive has encouraged me.

It's not just my siblings who have set an example. At work, my millennial colleagues are a constant source of guidance to the Gen Zers in the office. On social media, millennial influencers brand themselves as "internet big sisters" and give advice on navigating the complex years of their 20s.

Older millennials are now turning 40, but they were once in the position of Gen Zers, being scoffed at by the older generations for being "lazy" and changing work culture.

Now, they've drawn the map for Gen Zers' entry into the strange world of adulthood. It's made adulting just a little less scary.

• My birthday falls in the week between Christmas and New Year.
• Other celebrations always overshadowed my special day.
• My twins were born on December 23rd, and I often can't make their birth as special as I'd like.

Growing up, I often gave my parents low-key guilt trips about my birthday. Being born in the week between Christmas and New Year's meant I never got to have a celebration at school and rarely had parties since my friends were usually out of town.

While I understood at some level that my parents hadn't chosen that particular day on purpose, I carried a lingering resentment that I'd been born at the worst time of year.

My day was overshadowed by other celebrations

My "special" day always seemed to be overshadowed by the rest of the holiday season.

I got over it eventually. As a young adult, I threw parties for myself in late January or spent the day hitting post-Christmas sales with friends. Sometimes, when days of nonstop family time had drained all my energy, it was a treat to gift myself a trip to the movies — alone.

While I eventually made peace with the situation, a holiday birthday was one family tradition I had no intention of handing down. After I got married and my new husband and I started talking about children, I was careful to make the nine-month calculations and ensure I didn't get pregnant in March.

My first child, Clara, was born in early September, a date that came with its own issues but was well ahead of the holidays. But things weren't as straightforward when we started trying for a sibling. Eventually, I started IVF, and any attempts to time my next pregnancy went out the window. I was at the mercy of shots and cycles that were very much out of my control.

My due date was in February

The first attempt at IVF didn't take, but a few months later, the second one did. Soon I found out I would be having twins in early February. Crisis averted! Or so I thought.

Pregnancy being pregnancy and twins being twins, I should have known the due date was an estimate, not a guarantee. Throughout that fall, as I started coming to my doctor for more frequent checkups, she reminded me that twins tend to arrive early. After some signs of possible early labor, I was put on bedrest in early December. A few weeks later, I was moved to the hospital.

And early on the morning of December 23, James and Alan arrived.

My first emotion was overwhelming relief that they were healthy, and my second reaction was an overwhelming sense of guilt.

"I'm so sorry, little guys," I thought to myself. "I never wanted you to get stuck with a December birthday."

The one consolation, I hoped, was the fact that they had a mother who could commiserate and help them make the best of it.

I made sure their birthday was celebrated

From their very first birthday, I made sure the day was its own distinct occasion, with balloons and streamers and cake. I discreetly suggested to well-meaning family members that it was better to buy the boys two separate, smaller gifts rather than a single, combined "Christmas/birthday" present.

No matter what other holiday events were planned during that week, my boys got to choose whatever activity they wanted on their birthday and whatever kind of food. Christmas cheer would take a 24-hour pause.

That doesn't mean my boys are any happier about their birthday timing than I used to be. They've missed birthday-at-school shoutouts; birthday sleepovers with friends have had to be pushed into January; and despite my best efforts, I'm often so busy doing last-minute shopping and baking that I don't always make the day as special as it could be.

But I like to think this experience has taught my boys a lesson it took me a long time to learn. In a culture where people are constantly curating versions of themselves online, it's easy for children to think that anything they don't like about themselves can be airbrushed or exercised away.

But there are certain things about your life you can't control. Getting pregnant is one of them. Having a healthy child is another. And if you've ever worried about either of those things, you quickly realize how little an actual birth date matters.

The whole point of a birthday celebration is to make a person feel appreciated and special, to let them know they're loved. And you can do that any day of the year.

• There are some Christmas traditions in the UK that might confuse people from the US.
• Every Christmas, families gather to watch pantomimes or meet their school friends at the pub.
• They also eat Yorkshire puddings, mince pies, Christmas pudding, and Christmas cake.

Christmas in the United Kingdom differs slightly from celebrations in America and elsewhere around the world.

People who celebrate Christmas in the UK have slightly different traditions than those who live in the US. From what is traditionally served at a Christmas Day feast to festive activities and childhood traditions, families across the pond have their own unique and quirky ways of celebrating the holidays.

Here are 18 British Christmas traditions that might surprise you.

Pantomimes, or "pantos," are plays performed around Christmastime in the UK.

Pantos are humorous, slapstick entertainment for the whole family, often featuring men dressed in drag. They are sometimes based on a famous fairy tale or story, like "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," or "The Wizard of Oz." 

Pantomimes rely on specific tropes. For example, there's often a villain who will sneak up on the protagonist intermittently throughout the play. It's then the role of the audience to scream, "He's behind you!" to the main character while he or she struggles to figure out what's going on.

Yorkshire puddings are perfect with gravy, but people outside the UK may have never heard of them.

A traditional British roast dinner wouldn't be complete without Yorkshire puddings filled with Bisto or homemade gravy. Yorkshire puddings — not to be confused with sweet puddings — are made of eggs, flour, and milk or water.

After they're cooked in hot oil in the oven, they end up with a distinct hole in the middle. They closely resemble what Americans know as popovers.

While Yorkshire puddings are commonplace at Sunday dinners throughout the year, they're also eaten at Christmastime, though some argue they have no place on a Christmas plate.

Santa Claus is referred to as "Father Christmas."

While some do refer to old Saint Nick as Santa Claus in the UK, it is widely accepted that Father Christmas is his more traditionally British name.

"Santa Claus" is seen as an Americanism, and The Telegraph reported that even the British National Trust said that "Santa Claus should be known as 'Father Christmas' in stately homes and historic buildings because the name is more British."

British children hang Christmas stockings at the ends of their bed.

In America, Christmas stockings are hung by the fireplace with care. However, some British children hang their stockings at the ends of their beds for Father Christmas to fill up while they're sleeping. 

Christmas Eve is a time for school-friend reunions.

Thanksgiving weekend is seen as an opportunity in the United States for students to reunite with friends from high school or middle school. In the UK, it's a tradition for school friends to come together on Christmas Eve, often at the local bar or pub.

Christmas pudding is a traditional British dessert popular during the holiday season.

A Christmas pudding is a dense fruit cake often made weeks or even months in advance. This time allows the dried fruit to soak up alcohol that's regularly poured onto the cake in the weeks before it's consumed.

On Christmas, the cake is set alight and then topped with a sauce of brandy butter or rum butter, cream, lemon cream, ice cream, custard, or sweetened béchamel. It is also sometimes sprinkled with caster or powdered sugar.

For many years, Queen Elizabeth II even gifted each member of her staff a Christmas pudding from Tesco.

Another dessert of choice is Christmas cake, a rich fruit cake covered with marzipan and icing.

While fruit cake is certainly a polarizing dessert wherever you are, Brits seem to make it a little better with thick, sweet white icing. Oftentimes, Christmas cake also comes topped with festive holly decorations. 

Mince pies are pastries filled with dried fruits and spices that are eaten at Christmas.

The BBC reported that the first-known mince-pie recipe dates back to an 1830s-era English cookbook. By the mid-17th century, people reportedly began associating the small pies with Christmas.

At the time, they were traditionally filled with pork or other kinds of meat, sage, and other spices. Nowadays, the pies are filled with dried fruits and sugar powder.

British Christmas desserts are often enjoyed with brandy butter.

The perfect accompaniment to Christmas pudding and mince pies, brandy butter consists of butter and sugar beaten together before brandy is added. Rum butter is an alternative.

The result is still butter-like in consistency, and it's served cold alongside desserts. Americans might know it as "hard sauce."

Brits say "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas."

You might remember a scene from the first "Harry Potter" movie in which Ron says, "Happy Christmas, Harry!" While this may sound strange to an American, saying "Happy Christmas" is commonplace in the UK, as opposed to "Merry Christmas." 

Christmas crackers are cardboard tubes wrapped in brightly colored paper and twisted at each end that two people pull for a fun surprise.

Christmas crackers are often pulled at the start of the meal, and the paper hats found inside are worn throughout the meal. Also inside each cracker is a "banger," which makes a loud pop when the cracker is pulled, a joke, and a small prize.

The jokes are usually cheesy and festive. For example: "Why did Santa's helper go to the doctor? Because he had low elf esteem!" 

However, be sure not to pack them if you're traveling to or from the UK on an airplane — they're not permitted to go through TSA in carry-on luggage.

"Top of the Pops" is a television special featuring performances of the year's most popular songs.

On Christmas, the BBC usually runs a holiday special of the since-retired show "Top of the Pops," which features performances from the year's most popular musicians.

The program ran weekly from 1964 until 2006, when it was canceled. People were so upset that the BBC decided to keep the Christmas special, which airs late in the morning on December 25.

Millions of people watch the King's annual televised Christmas Day speech every year.

Every year, families gather to watch the royal Christmas address, informally known as the Queen's or King's speech.

The Telegraph reported that the first Christmas address was 251 words long, but Queen Elizabeth II later came to average 656 words in each speech. It is often one of the most-watched television programs on Christmas Day in the UK.

Christmas commercials are as talked-about as Super Bowl commercials are in the United States.

While Super Bowl commercials are highly scrutinized in the US, Brits pay just as close attention to Christmas commercials.

Not only is the John Lewis ad, or "advert," a Christmas tradition, but almost every supermarket and clothing brand tries to get in on the buzz with a talked-about Christmas commercial.

Brits also anticipate which song will become the annual "Christmas No. 1" single.

The British "Christmas No. 1" has been a tradition for over half a century. Starting in 1952, the top song on the British singles chart has been a coveted spot every Christmas. Christmas No. 1 alums include The Beatles, Queen, Ed Sheeran, and more.

While some Christmas No. 1s have indeed been Christmas songs — "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid II in 1989, for example — they don't have to be.

School nativity plays are a popular tradition in UK primary schools.

While religious elementary schools in the United States may put on nativity plays, they are arguably much more popular and part of the culture in Britain.

In the popular British Christmas movie "Love Actually," the characters even attend a Christmas nativity play.

Brits take advantage of after-Christmas sales on Boxing Day.

Boxing Day is typically called British Black Friday, but there are some differences between the holidays. Boxing Day, which is a public holiday in the UK, falls the day after Christmas and has a rich cultural history in Great Britain.

Originating in the mid-1600s, the day was traditionally a day off for servants. On this day, servants would receive a "Christmas Box," or gift, from their master. The servants would then return home on Boxing Day to give "Christmas Boxes" to their families.

In the UK, it can be bad luck to keep your decorations up for more than 12 days after Christmas.

Another difference between US and UK Christmas customs comes after all of the festivities have ended. 

In the UK, it's tradition to take down your tree and decorations 12 days after Christmas — known as Twelfth Night — to avoid bad luck in the new year.

In the Anglican tradition, Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, is the day before Epiphany, which celebrates the coming of the Magi to baby Jesus and marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas. 

• Shelby Vanhoy has been personalizing her North Carolina home since December 2023.
• She recently decided to break up her open-concept living space with a glass wall.
• Vanhoy said the space is more functional and calming thanks to the change.

Shelby Vanhoy has been in home decor mode for nearly a year now.

Vanhoy, 34, lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, 2-year-old son, and two dogs. They relocated from New York City to North Carolina in December 2023 to be closer to family.

"My parents are here, and it just makes our life a lot easier," she said of the change.

Vanhoy and her husband became homeowners when they moved back. Since then, Vanhoy, a full-time content creator who runs the blog Pretty in the Pines, has been customizing their four-bedroom home, built in 1988.

She told Business Insider her style leans traditional with a twist.

"Some people say it's 'grand-millennial' with all the mixing of patterns and prints and kind of like grandma vibes," Vanhoy said of her decor style. "I love tying in antiques and vintage furniture and lights to make our house feel older than it actually is."

Vanhoy also said it's important for her home to function for her family — which is how she decided to enclose her open-concept living space.

Open-concept living didn't work for their home

The main floor of Vanhoy's home featured an open-concept space with a kitchen, dining area, and living room, which she wasn't excited about.

"When we bought the house, it was just something that wasn't my first choice," she said.

After they moved into the house, Vanhoy found the open area didn't work for her family.

"It felt very overstimulating," she said. "I would be in the kitchen cooking things, and then the TV room was right beside the kitchen and the whole downstairs. You could just see everything."

"Even decorating it, it felt like everything had to kind of go together because you're looking at everything all at once," she added.

Vanhoy also works from home and doesn't have a designated office space yet.

"I would be working in the dining room, which was connected to the kitchen and the living room, so everything just felt like you were doing so much at one time," she said. "It just didn't feel very calming when you were on that floor."

Vanhoy decided she wanted to separate the living room to section off the space.

A transparent solution

Rather than fully enclosing the living room, Vanhoy decided to add a partial glass wall to her space.

"Our living room is, natural-light-wise, a little dark," Vanhoy told BI. "I did want to add some sort of wall to enclose it a bit, but I didn't want to lose any of the natural light."

The living room also featured glass French doors that Vanhoy loved, so she took inspiration from them.

"We decided to make it glass and make it look kind of like a window while also making it feel like its own separate room," Vanhoy said.

The wall features an archway in the middle, and the sides are enclosed with walls covered in windows.

Vanhoy hired professionals to complete the project, who added wood beams for support and moved a few outlets to make the wall work. The project cost under $6,000.

The space is more functional

Vanhoy said the glass offers the best of both worlds, as it sections off the space without making it impossible for her to see into the living room.

"The best part about it is that it created other little functions, and it made the whole downstairs feel a lot more functional," Vanhoy said, adding that the design also brought character to the space.

"I made a breakfast nook on one side of the wall, so that added a whole other function that we didn't have," she said. "And then we have a little kids' craft table on another side of the wall."

The glass wall isn't complete, as Vanhoy intends to add more ornate molding to the windows for a personal touch.

But it's already changed the way Vanhoy feels about the space.

"I do like seeing through because that room also has a nice fireplace, and I like seeing the fire on," she said. "But at the same time, it just feels totally separated, and light shines through."

"The one downside, I guess, is it's just more windows to clean," she added.