Joanna Gaines Reminds Us the Most Meaningful Holiday Moments Aren’t Always Picture-Perfect

Joanna Gaines is encouraging everyone to savor the quiet, unplanned moments of the holiday season, the ones that may never show up in the photo carousel.

The Winter 2026 issue of her lifestyle publication, Magnolia Journal, hit newsstands on Thursday, November 12. In her editor’s note, the former Fixer Upper star, 48, opens up about what makes this time of year so meaningful to her. She says the simple, easily forgotten moments matter just as much as the posed shots.

“Maybe there’s no physical evidence they happened at all, except for the fact that you were there — and you felt it,” Joanna wrote. “It’s these softer moments that give us life and ground us in presence. The days that held no agenda, the mornings I took slow, the smiles you won’t see in my camera roll because I was simply bearing witness.”

She added that each of those moments has earned a spot in her memory. “All of these moments deserve a place on the walls of my heart and mind,” she continued. “All of them hold beauty worth reveling in. All of them are cause for celebration.”

Even so, Joanna admits she has a soft spot for the more polished side of the season. She loves “making the splendor of the season feel palpable.”

“I love the ‘dressing up’ that’s encouraged and natural this time of year,” she shared. “Finding fresh delight in the way we decorate our home.”

Joanna and her husband, Chip Gaines, have five children: sons Drake, 21, Duke, 18, and Crew, 8, and daughters Emmie, 16, and Ella, 20.

Though she loves planning “standout experiences” for her family over the holidays, Joanna has been open about how emotional it can be when her kids leave home. As First for Women previously reported, she shared photos on Instagram in August as Drake and Ella returned to college.

“Holding on a little tighter before letting go,” she wrote. “Feeling proud of who they’re becoming and wishing time would slow down.”