Meghan shares the UK’s “sweet” tradition of pulling crackers and reveals she writes a love letter to the Duke of Sussex inside the Christmas special that was just released on Netflix.
Meghan urges people to try to make “every day” of December “special” as the year prepares to end, adding: “But don’t feel like you have to do it all”.
She suggests giving gift wrapping paper wax seals to make them stand out, and giving tree ornaments “find their light” as she shares holiday advice.
The Sussexes signed a new, watered-down, first look deal with the streaming giant in August after the first two critically acclaimed seasons of With Love, Meghan.
With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration aired on the same day the King and Queen are hosting the German state visit, and just hours after the Princess of Wales published a personal letter to guests attending her annual carol concert on Friday.
Kate describes how the holiday season “invites us to remember the power of reaching out to one another with generosity of heart.”
Meghan, who has been living in isolation from her own father and has made numerous accusations against the royals since stepping down, claims she enjoys Christmas trees, advent calendars, and Yuletide wreaths because they allow you to “really encapsulate your family story, really feel the passage of time and the different chapters of your life through the ornaments.”
She wears matching red pyjamas with her friends, creates personalised handmade crackers, adds Princess Lili, Princess Lili’s four-year-old daughter, Princess Archie’s six-year-old daughter, a tiny toy burger and fries, and a “little love letter” to Harry, and then creates a handmade personalised cracker.
Meghan remarks: “Lili really likes trying to be a grown-up lady at the moment”.
She goes on to say that “My husband’s has a little love letter, a chocolate, a little hat,” and that she prefers to label the cracker “My Love” rather than “Harry.”
She refers to Archie as “He loves the color red, and I’m on to him while we’re doing burgers.”
Meghan also advises “trying really embrace and lean into making that month special as you’re wrapping up a year.”
But don’t feel forced to do it all, though. Just embrace the special touches that bring you joy. “
The duchess, who was engaged to Harry for her first royal Christmas, recalls learning about the “connected and sweet” custom of crossing arms to tie Christmases together at Sandringham in Norfolk in 2017.
As they prepare to make crackers, one of her guests, American restaurateur Will Guidara, remarks, “I live in the UK, it’s just a part of… Christmas holidays, for sure.”
” Typically, people cross arms and do it… yeah, so they sit around the table and they all pull at the same time. It actually feels very connected and sweet.
They would always have a joke or riddle that sounded almost fortune cookie-sized and something sweet, as I really began to know them.
The Christmas cracker was invented by London-based confectioner and baker Tom Smith in the 1840s and inspired by the French bon bon – a sugared almond wrapped in a twist of tissue paper.
The business is still in possession of the Royal Warrant for giving the King Christmas decorations and wrapping paper.
The royals gather in Sandringham on Christmas Day each year, pulling crackers at the beginning of the meal.
The Sussexes joined the Windsors for Christmas in 2017 and 2018 but they spent 2019 in Canada before stepping down as senior working royals early in 2020 and moving to the US. Since then, they haven’t visited Sandringham.
The duchess, in contrast, defends the concept of advent calendars by putting tiny presents inside Archie and Lili’s named fabric pocket calendars, saying, “I wanted to do it for my own kids… All it’s really about is having a surprise and delight every day for 24 days until Christmas.”
And she also adds in handwritten notes – which she refers to as “little findings” – for her children, saying: “I’m writing: ‘ I love you because you are so kind ‘ and: ‘ I love you because you’re so brave'”.
The episode doesn’t feature Archie or Lili.
However, Harry makes his comeo in the kitchen as Meghan and visiting restaurateur Tom Colicchio prepare for dinner near the end of the second season of With Love, Meghan, but only briefly.
He greets the duchess with a kiss on the lips and says: “Hi guys. Gumbo smelt to me.
Meghan recalls how Doria Ragland, her mother, prepares her Thanksgiving casserole of chicken, sausage, shrimp, and spices on Christmas Eve and “always saves a little bit on the side” for Harry when there isn’t any fish in it.
Harry tucks into the spicy dish, before cheekily telling Meghan her version is not as good as her mother’s, and laughing as he waits for her shocked reaction.
“I can feel it piercing my head right now,” he said. It tastes delicious. I’m not so sure it’s as good as your mom’s, but it’s certainly close”, he says.
What does a mouth-tight Meghan say in response? Oh my goodness”! as she smiles, adding: “My mom will love you for that. What a wise statement to make for your mother-in-law, you know?
Harry also encounters a dish containing all of his dislikes.
Colicchio cooked his grandfather’s beet salad – a sentimental family dish the chef makes each Christmas Eve – made of beets, black olives, fennel, anchovies and pickled vegetables.
After Harry previously revealed that he “hates all those flavors,” the duke’s eyes widen and says, “Oh wow. That is similar to the “anti-salad”
He later adds: “Me and the salad, we’re having like this sort of eye-off. It amazes me how little of the world I don’t like is there. They are all contained within a single bowl. I don’t know what would happen to me”.
Meghan tells her husband, “Thank you for coming,” and she kisses him once more and places her arm around his neck.
In the final scene, Harry makes an appearance briefly dressed up in a zip-top jumper as Meghan welcomes the film crew to the theater for dinner in front of a crackling open fire and a festively decorated room to wrap up the filming. Meghan wore a one-shoulder emerald green silk Galvan gown during a photo shoot for Variety magazine in 2022.
In other parts of the episode, Meghan offers her advice on tree decorating, saying she strings the lights so the tree is “lit from within and on the border, right on the outside” – and “the same with ornaments, you want to find the placement for them where they’re gonna find their light”.
Meghan suggests folding “outwardly” rather than “inwardly” in a tip and trick for festive wrapping, and that is where.
She goes on to say, “The various ways you’re folding the paper make it really enjoyable.” If you fold it outwardly instead of inwardly, it creates a different world there”.
The duchess proceeds with the arrangement, saying, “A little bow right there could be incredibly darling.”
Meghan also reveals how much she enjoys adding a custom-made wax seal and how the wrapping paper’s color is “tone on tone” when matched.
“It’s the tiniest detail that suddenly feels elevated”, she says.
How on earth should a wine bottle be wrapped, Meghan adds? “Another anomaly for people at the holidays is…
She recommends using a scarf in a Japanese furoshiki way.
And she makes a rectangular cracker out of paper for wrapping tricky shapes such as cuddly toys.
The duchess also makes fun of food, saying, “Beets, beets, beets, beets.” “This feels like fondue,” and “Drop that beet.” You’ve never heard anyone say fon-don’t”.
Naomi Osaka, a tennis player, is among the guests who Meghan serves her “favorite go-to” crudite platter, this time made of green vegetables and warmed cider.
Meghan admits she is “painfully bad” at tennis, throwing, and catching, and then travels to the craft barn to decorate Santa cookie plates and mugs with pen and paint.
For a visit from her best friends Lindsay Jill Roth and Kelly Zajfen, Meghan wears red pyjamas, edged in white and embroidered with her name on the pocket, while she cooks and serves a festive brunch which the trio eat as they stand in the kitchen.
“I adore the custom of a Christmas morning brunch. The duchess says, “I do it every year with my family, and I’ve already gotten a little head start – something sweet or something savoury.”
As they later make Christmas wreaths, Roth tells Meghan: “I like how loose yours is. That appears fantastic.
Meghan responds, “Well, that’s just the beginning,” while Roth continues, “Yeah, but it’s fun.”
The episode, which begins with Meghan skipping through a Christmas tree farm, sees the duchess make gougeres with cacio e pepe – French cheese puffs made with cheese and black pepper – a festive cinnamon star, tiny quiches, and “Reindeer chow” – a sweet treat renamed from one of Meghan’s childhood recipes called “puppy chow” which mixes melted chocolate, butter, vanilla, peanut butter, two cups of powdered sugar and an unnamed cereal.
Meghan also emphasizes the value of making mistakes and not making them perfect, remarking, “I get so upset about everything being perfect that you lose the magic that even happens in the mistakes.”
And she mentions how she enjoys Christmas trees, saying, “There’s just something about it that, in one area of your house, you can really encapsulate your family story, really feel the passage of time and the different chapters of your life through the ornaments.”
