Published December 25, 2025 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

The holidays have a way of softening the edges of time. Even when everything feels busy, there’s an undercurrent of reflection that shows up quietly—usually when the noise dies down and we’re finally left alone with our thoughts. It’s the one part of the year that almost asks us to pause. To look back. To take inventory of what this year asked of us, and what it gave in return.

For me, this season has carried a deeper kind of gratitude. Not the loud kind. Not the performative kind. The quieter kind that settles in when you realize something meaningful has taken shape—something you couldn’t have fully predicted when it began.

Collectors MD started as a question more than an answer. A recognition that something in the hobby had shifted, and that many people were navigating that shift in isolation. What followed over the past year wasn’t growth for growth’s sake. It was connection. Conversations that were overdue. Stories people had been holding onto for years. Moments of honesty that reminded me how many collectors were searching for language, support, or simply reassurance that they weren’t alone.

That’s what I find myself most grateful for this holiday season. Not milestones. Not metrics. But the people who showed up with openness. The ones who trusted this space before it had a name. The ones who spoke up when it would have been easier to stay silent.

This season has become a quiet reminder of what matters most: gratitude for the community that formed, growth in the way we’ve learned to engage more intentionally, and reflection that asks us not just to consume—but to consider.

What’s emerged over the last year is bigger than any single post, meeting, or moment. It’s a growing awareness that collecting can be joyful and meaningful without becoming overwhelming or harmful. That we can love our hobbies deeply while still questioning the systems around them. That reflection isn’t weakness—it’s responsibility.

The holidays naturally invite us to look back, but they also ask something quieter of us: to recognize what we’ve learned. To acknowledge the ways we’ve changed. To appreciate the communities that held us when things felt heavy. And to carry that awareness forward with intention.

Collectors MD is becoming something shaped by all of that. A space rooted in honesty. In care. In the belief that progress doesn’t come from perfection, but from people willing to pause, reflect, and choose differently when it matters most.

As this year comes to a close, I’m deeply grateful—for the trust, the conversations, the courage, and the reminder that this work matters because people matter. And that together, we’re building something that extends far beyond ourselves.

#CollectorsMD
Gratitude is what allows reflection to become growth—and growth to become something lasting.

—
Follow us on Instagram: @collectorsmd
Subscribe to our Newsletter & Support Group
Join The Conversation On Mantel
Read More Daily Reflections

Published December 24, 2025 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

The holidays have a way of tightening everything at once. Time. Expectations. Emotions. Finances. What’s meant to feel warm and generous can quietly turn into pressure, comparison, and a sense that we are somehow falling behind if we are not spending enough, gifting enough, or showing up in the “right” kind of way.

For many people, this season brings a very specific kind of anxiety around money and spending. There is the pressure to give more than we can afford, to match what others are doing, or to prove we care through purchases instead of presence. For collectors, that pressure can compound quickly. Holiday promotions, countdowns, limited drops, year-end “can’t miss” deals, and urgency-based marketing are everywhere. They tap directly into fear of missing out, nostalgia, and the desire to start the new year with something exciting or validating.

What makes this time especially challenging is that these urges often arrive when we are already emotionally taxed. Stress lowers our defenses. Fatigue makes impulse feel easier than intention. And the narrative becomes convincing: it’s a gift, it’s a deal, it’s once a year, I’ll figure it out later. But stress-based spending almost always comes with a delayed cost. It shows up later as regret, tension, secrecy, or the sinking realization that the momentary relief did not actually solve what we were feeling.

In the middle of all the noise and chaos, it’s easy to react before our wherewithal has a chance to catch up. Those are the moments when slowing down matters most—when finding a bit of calm and balance can meaningfully shape what comes next, not just the moment we’re in.

Getting caught up in these moments does not indicate you are weak. It means you are human. Modern systems are designed to press harder when people are most vulnerable. Awareness is not about restriction. It is about giving yourself room to pause. Room to ask what you actually need right now. Room to recognize when spending is being used as a coping mechanism rather than a choice aligned with your values.

The holidays are also meant to be a time of reflection. A chance to take inventory not just of what we want, but of what we already have. The relationships that held us. The moments that mattered. The fact that we made it through another year, even if it was imperfect, messy, or heavier than expected. Gratitude does not erase struggle, but it can ground us when everything feels loud.

If the season feels overwhelming, slow it down. If the urges feel strong, talk about them. If the pressure feels familiar, you are not alone. There is no prize for spending yourself into stress, and there is no shame in choosing presence, restraint, and self-respect over impulse.

#CollectorsMD
The holidays do not require perfection or excess. They ask us to notice what truly matters and to treat ourselves with the same care we offer others.

—
Follow us on Instagram: @collectorsmd
Subscribe to our Newsletter & Support Group
Join The Conversation On Mantel
Read More Daily Reflections

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and holiday season! Cheers!

2025 Topps Holiday Reds & Tigers

One of my favorite parts of collecting has always been building team sets. Growing up, the Reds used to give away full team sets in a little team book, and that’s really what sparked the itch to keep completing every checklist.

When I jumped back into the hobby a year ago, that same set-building instinct came right back. I barely opened any Topps Holiday this year, but somehow ended up just three cards short of finishing both my Reds and Tigers team sets. Thankfully my cousin had a stack of each team — and every single card I needed was in there.

Perfect timing, perfect teams, and perfect sets for this time of year. 🎄🔥