At Home for the Holidays With Christy Batta Fisher

Say hello to my lovely friend Christy who is one of the most enthusiastic holiday lovers that I know!

Christy is a graphic designer and we met many years ago through a network of small businesses in the town we both lived in. She designed our logo, we started a hand lettering society together, and we’ve been friends ever since.

Christy has such a strong design aesthetic in her work, and she also cultivates a fun vintage kitchey vibe in her home and everyday life. I was so excited to collab with her on this holiday At Home feature to peek at all the vintage fire engine red Christmas decorations in her home during the holidays, but I’m also so happy for you all to meet her too, and hear about all the things she’s passionate about, but most specifically, the holidays in this latest At Home With feature.

Introduce yourself! Where do you fit into the world?

Hey there! I’m Christy Batta Fisher and I’m a graphic designer, hand letterer, and disability advocate living with multiple sclerosis. I wear a lot of hats, including running my own design business, Christy Batta Design, where I helped nonprofits make a bigger impact through mission-driven design. I do the hobby / business dance with hand lettering and like to use my lettering to talk about the chronic illness life as HumanPlusKindCo on Instagram. I also enjoy partnering with the National MS Society to fundraise and advocate for folks like me living with MS. When I’m not doing work or side projects upon side projects, I really enjoy watching and talking movies with my hubby, thrift shopping for pre-loved treasures, and testing the fashion limits on how many stripes are too many stripes.

What does home mean to you? 

For me, the words that come to mind are safety and comfort. In a world full of so many unknowns, it helps to have a home base where I can ground myself and have a little more sense of control. And in terms of the pandemic, the safety element has been especially prominent. Being immunocompromised, I’m still laying low quite a bit more than most folks and working on making friends with that.

There is also an element for me of “home is where my stuff is.” Nate & I have collected a lot of memories in the forms of trinkets and souvenirs that help me remind me of all the connections we have to people and places we care about. It’s always refreshing to return to this scrapbook of a home after some time away. 

I believe that home is the center for our lives. What's one moment of zen you have at home?

One moment of zen I really enjoy is getting settled in at my desk when I start my day. I light a candle, write in my gratitude journal, and take a mindful sip of coffee. It’s a practice that helps me shift and let go of what’s happened in my morning so far and reminds me there’s always room to begin again.

How do you create holidays at home? 

Oh so many things! We are very enthusiastic about the holidays around here. We started a new tradition a few years back of cutting down our own tree at Davidson Christmas Tree Farm and that’s been a great way to kick off the season. I love getting a fire going to watch a Christmas-y movie with some kind of warm beverage–it’s so cozy and wonderful. We tend to watch a lot of the Muppets this time of year with Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Family Christmas often getting multiple watches. I also have a playlist that I listen to non-stop in December with all our favorite Christmas music. This year in particular I’m really stuck on Neal Diamond’s Christmas albums–there is a lot of nostalgia there because I listened to them a ton growing up and the tone of his voice is resonating with me right in the heart bone! And of course our festive decorations–collecting them, setting them up, we have fun with it! I especially love when I find anything with a bright, vintage, fire-engine red in it since that’s one of my favorite colors year-round. 

What is one thing you're giving for gifts this year and one thing on your list?

I have a lot of coffee lovers in my life so I love picking out some great blends from our local coffee shops like Vigilante, Kefa, and Bump n Grind. How can you argue with the gift of tasty and nourishing caffeine??

One thing on my list this year is I asked for one of those weighted stuffed animals. I love my weighted blanket especially this time of year–it’s so comforting and does help me calm down and fall asleep. I’ve heard people really enjoy weighted stuff animals for the same reasons so I want to give it a try and add another anxiety relief tool to my tool box.

What are you looking forward to in this season of life?

I’m looking forward to the slowing down-ness of winter. Learning to find rest and quiet is one of my lifelong challenges / journeys and each winter that passes I am more and more appreciative of how the weather and the darkness takes my hand and leads the way towards a bit more stillness. What that looks like for me is more stretching, more unplugging, and more listening. 

Thanks so much to Christy for sharing! Follow her on Instagram for design and aesthetic inspo, her hand lettering side hustle Human Plus Kind, and join her virtually for a hand lettering date sometime!