Reading Recap - November & December 2024

December got to be a crazy month for me so this is a massive November AND December reading recap where I will attempt to write about the THIRTY-TWO books I finished across those two months. Twelve of these are books I have read in previous, recent, Decembers.  Another 3 were just rereads from within the last 5ish years.  There is a good bit of Christmas and a fair number of short stories or quick read to hit my reading goal for the year.  

I'm very active on Goodreads here, somewhat active on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy on the 15th! 

One other book post lately: 

 {10} Favorite Grown-Up Reads of 2024

Now everything I've been reading:

Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh
This is the Christmas set book I picked to kick off my holiday season (November - back to school after Christmas).  It was a fun friends to lovers where casual acquaintances share the same flight from Chicago to Ireland around Christmas every year.  Unintentionally at first but then very much intentionally.  It was charming and fun.  3.75 Stars

Falling Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
This is a follow-up to Running Out of Time which I read 20ish years ago after my Mom talked about reading it with her 5th grade class.  In the first book a family in unknowingly living in the past on purpose, as residents of a historical village where current day people can observe what life was like "back then" (sometime in the 1800s).  In this book they seem to be living in the future, where everything is automated, there is no crime, no war, no pollution...we've fixed everything!  BUT...maybe we haven't.  Not quite as good but interesting going the other way in the world.  3.5 stars

This is My Body: A Call to Eucharistic Revival by Bishop Robert E. Barron
I had had this half finished for 8 months or something and was finally motivated to get it done after finishing 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory a few weeks earlier.  This one was a little deeper than that one so I took it bits at a time but still a worthwhile, Catholic, read.  4 Stars

Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay
The second Irish set book on this list!  A librarian moves to a small Irish town to take a sabbatical from her library job and try her hand at assisting her favorite author which also comes with a side gig of helping in a local bookstore.  The location sounds pretty dreamy but the jobs aren't quite what she was expecting and neither is the author.  Or her prickly son.  It was sweet and moving.  3.5 Stars

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
This was a reread for book club (although I'm not sure anyone else has read it).  I read this years ago and really enjoyed it.  Exactly the kind of nonfiction I like to read - informative but captivating, gives me little ways to improve my own life.  4.5 Stars

Before We Were Us by Denise Hunter
Romance featuring memory loss in a young woman.  She's about to get engaged when she falls, hits her head, and wakes up with no fond memories of her beloved.  Then he has to get her to fall in love with him again which is a bit hard because they had a rough start the first time around.  Set in a charming New Hampshire resort town which sounded like a lovely place to visit.  3.25 Stars

The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose
A short novel following Molly the Maid, working at the hotel around Christmastime.  An enjoyable enough world to pop into every so often where there is a new book.  Charming little novella.  3.75 Stars

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
One of my favorite reads of last year!  I liked this more than the last book by this author (The Blonde Identity) and the Christmas setting didn't help.  Two writers are invited to a remote estate of their favorite mystery writer to celebrate Christmas.  They don't know why they are included with the family but go along...and then the famous writer disappears and the two authors team up to solve it.  It was so fun (despite the possibility of murder??) and also festive.  Quite enjoyed it. 4 Stars

All I Want is You by Falon Ballard
ANOTHER "two writers come together" story, the third on this list??  This was not intentional.  A woman who writes "happily ever after" stories ends up being snowed in at a hotel with not enough rooms with a male writer who writes "not happily ever after" stories.  They butt heads on whose approach is better (he wins more awards).  They are stuck for multiple days at this hotel and find out their professional (and personal) goals aren't so far off.  It was fun and festive.  3.5 Stars

Natural Selection by Elin Hilderbrand
Short story that I activated a Kindle Unlimited trial just to read.  It was set mostly on a boat and was a short story so by nature there wasn't much there.  But I could tell it was Elin Hilderbrand just in that short story.  Enjoyable enough for free!  3.5 Stars

When We Were Friends by Jane Green
Short story from my brief trial of Kindle Unlimited.  About divorce and one of those instant best friends where you suddenly have everything in common but then the friendship is strong but short lived.  2.5 Stars

Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness by Meg Hunter-Kilmer
This was one of my favorite reads of 2024.  I hadn't heard of 74 of these saints before reading this and learned about a lot of super interesting people.  Some of these saints lived QUITE a life.  Just really interesting and inspirational.  4.75 Stars

The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren
Another short story from Kindle Unlimited, mostly told over e-mail which made it extra fast to read.  An e-mail mistake leads to a many year friendship, mostly just on Valentine's Day.  Charming and cute. 3.5 Stars

Kiss Me at Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
This was set around a group of unlikely people coming together to put on A Christmas Carol at a British theater.  It was longer than it needed to be and wandered around a bit to get to the point.  Cranky people who turn less cranky.  People fall in love.  People help each other.  2.75 Stars

Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez
The final Kindle Unlimited book I read, an unlikely meeting where they keep crossing paths but don't really know it.  Also sweet and charming.  My favorite of all these short stories I think. 3.75 Stars

Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah
This book was not what I was expecting.  Divorced and alone, a woman boards a small plane, gets in an accident, wanders in the woods, and ends up at an almost abandoned hotel near a lake.  Things aren't quite what they seem.  Maybe I should have seen the twist coming.  I did not.  Also unsure how I felt about this one... 2.75 Stars

Finding Father Christmas, Engaging Father Christmas, Kissing Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn
I've been reading this novella series every December for 10 years or nearly (wrote a post about them here).  Set in the most charming village in England, a woman trying to find out who her father is and then finding so much more.  All set around Christmas.  Just very sweet.  4.5 Stars

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb
I really enjoyed this one.  Set mostly in England with a few people loosely connected to Queen Elizabeth around Christmas and her giving her first radio broadcast.  A young journalist, a chef in the kitchens.  They were long ago friends during the war but had lost touch, now, unintentionally, the Queen brings them back together, many times.  It was charming and a sweet love story, with a British backdrop. 4 Stars

A Home for the Holidays by Taylor Hahn
A story about grief at Christmas, when a woman's mother dies in mid-December.  She moves back home to try to deal with that and is taken in by her mother's former best friend who the daughter had only vaguely heard of.  The daughter discovers more about herself and learns more about her mother AND maybe finds love.  It took an unexpected turn at the end that kinda felt out of nowhere and unsure how that made me feel about the book overall.  3.5 Stars

The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp
This is the "advent" (December 1st - 25th) devotional that I have read every year for many years.  Roughly following the Jesse Tree and the geneology of Jesus.  I enjoy it, I've read it 10 Decembers or nearly, although I wouldn't mind finding a Catholic one for next December, I just never think of it in time and I own this one... 4 Stars

Winter Street, Winter Stroll, Winter Storms, Winter Solstice by Elin Hilderbrand
The other series that I read every December and have every year since each book was released (previous post here).  I've read all of Elin Hilderbrand's books but these are among the ones I've read the most.  I love my time with the Quinns every December, even though my frequent rereading of them does make a few consistency issues stand out... 4.5 Stars

Yours Forever and Starry Night by Robin Jones Gunn
I had other books planned for the end of December and then that plan went out the window and I knocked through both of these over December 30th and 31st, to hit my goal.  Finished the second at about 11pm on New Years Eve (I had about 3 pages left from earlier in the day).  From my beloved Christy Miller series (previous post here) that was a huge influence in my teen years.  I've read these countless times over the last 30 years, bring back such fond memories. 4 Stars

Read with Sam
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
I remembered reading this with Luke years ago but I didn't know it was the week schools shut down in March 2020 until I was logging reading it this time with Sam.  We had a very different life experience around reading it this time!  I censored a few parts reading it (again, I did with Luke too) but Sam enjoyed the strangeness of this. I loved this book as a kid; the copy I read both boys was my paperback that my Mom let me color the pictures in it, but only in colored pencil.  3.75 Stars

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
Another one I read with Sam  now after reading it with Luke years ago.  This book works because it's so strange that they have penguins living in their house and nobody is too concerned about it but you figure it's the 40s or whatever so people just maybe had wild animals living with them.  And then at the end the Dad runs away with the penguins to Antartica for a few years and his wife and kids are like "that's normal, he doesn't want to say goodbye to the penguins".  3.75 Stars

How Winston Delivered Christmas by Alex T. Smith
This was the 5th December I've read this to the boys although the least consistent we've been in awhile, missing many days and then needing to catch up.  25 short chapters, following a mouse trying to get a letter to Santa.  Nice and festive and easy to read.  Nice pictures too.  4 Stars

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
I LOVE this book and it's one of my favorite traditions to with the boys.  We usually start it the week of Christmas, finishing it ON Christmas and I get choked up every. single. year.  The Herdmans somehow get everything just right.  Beautiful and wonderful.  5 Stars

Luke and I are still reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I am DETERMINED to finish it in January (although I was also determined to finish it in December...)! 

That is the large number of books I've been reading over the last 2 months.  What have YOU been reading??

Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2024

This is one of my favorite posts to write each year and I'm pretty sure I say that, every single year.  My reading year wasn't quite what I had hoped for, especially through November and December where life just got crazy busy.  I hit 175 books like most of the last many years but that was strongly held up by the MANY short chapter books I read to Sam (seriously, so many).  Reading keeps me grounded and feeling like myself and life was just A LOT this holiday season where there just wasn't time for reading (and I felt that!).  BUT...I still read many good books throughout the year; my initial list for this was around 16!  So good year for reading!  2025 isn't off to the best start but I'm hoping once we find our homeschool groove that I'll settle back into my normal reading groove too.

Some stats: 

• 175 books this year (I've averaged 175/year since 2018, one year hitting 180, once 170 but 175 every other year since)
  
• 22 were rereads (13%)
  
• Finished 3 books with Luke (2%), 27 with Sam (15%), and 4 with them jointly (2%) (nearly all of those were also rereads included above.  I was mostly reading Harry Potter with Luke which took MUCH longer per book than what I was reading to Sam.)
• ~33 were books we/I own (19%) (Unsure on the exact number because I can't remember exactly which Zoe Rescue Zoo books Sam owns and which we got through inter-library loans)
  
• 33 were non-fiction (19%) (The exact same number I read in 2023!)

Note: Affiliate links abound below, I make a small (very small) commission off items if you purchase through those links, at no extra cost to you.  I appreciate your understanding and support! Of course I fully support utilizing the library or shopping used or from an independent bookstore! 

 The Opt-Out Family: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can't by Erin Loechner
This was, hands down, the best book I read all year and one I should have dedicated a whole post too but the whole "life was super busy" recently thing.  I'd recommend this book to any parent who still has kids at home, especially ones under 18, the younger the better.  Goes over the importance of giving kids a life away from screens, not giving them their own phone until they are older, keeping them off social media.  Those are all messages we've heard before but she goes further, pushing back on how much of traditional school is on screens and the screens that are places like the zoo or botanical gardens (she recently moved away from my hometown but when she talks about the local botanical gardens replacing their play kitchen with a giant interactive screen...I know exactly what she's talking about and have to pull my kids away from it when we visit).  She talks about health benefits to unplugging, mental health benefits, and just how much wonderful life there can be without screens.  Highly highly recommend.  Definitely gave me more responses to the "but I'm the only kid in my class without a cell phone!" argument we started getting last fall!

Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
This cover is just delightful and I found the story to be the same.  Does it involve some light cheating?  Maybe.(blurred lines).  Would I tolerate this in real life?  No.  But did it make for a fun story?  It really did.  Set in 1999, a man and woman whose significant others are working together in some capacity meet at a party which then expands to meeting on their own, without their S.O.s, to spend "summer Fridays" together, when many in New York have off work. A lot of people are heading out of town for the weekend but these two were stuck exploring the city together.  It reminded me of Grace Grows by Shelle Summers, a book I have read and reread many times since randomly pulling it off the shelf at Target over a decade ago.  Just a charming read and perfect for summer (when I read it!)

All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor
This is a 5 books series set in the early 1900s in New York City, following the sweetest Jewish family which starts off with 4 or 5 girls but they welcome a baby brother in one of the first few books.  I read the books to myself but I could have read them to my kids.  The family was super charming but also interesting learning a little more about some of the Jewish customs and traditions, mixed with some of the traditions of 100+ years ago.  Reminded me of the Vanderbeekers series which is also about a family of many kids (5 in that one, also just 1 boy) but set in current day in Harlem vs. All of a Kind Family mostly in Brooklyn I think.  These were quick to read, about an hour each, but well worth it.

Pray For Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness by Meg Hunter-Kilmer
Two of my 3 non-fiction picks for 2023 have authors with ties to Indiana, this one currently working in South Bend with some affiliation to Notre Dame.  I've followed her on Twitter for many years, maybe over a decade at this point.  This was a very interesting look at 75 Saints, only one of which I had heard of before starting the book.  There are many very well known saints like St. Patrick, Valentine, Nicholas, Mother Teresa, etc.  But there are many many more named and canonized by the church that are lesser known.  A few of the stories were a real ride and I enjoyed retelling those to Matt or whoever I could get to listen.  Many lived quieter but no less important or holy lives, definitely people to learn from.  I read this in a few days because of library holds and getting to it late (I finished it at the orthodontist office, thanks to a long appointment for Luke) but it would have also been good to read over a more extended period of time. 

Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
I had one very summer set book on this list and now one very Christmas set.  I had read an earlier book by this author which I liked but didn't love so I was a little dubious going into this one but then it turned out just to be a lot of fun and a great way to kick off the early (November) holiday season.  A bit of a Knives Out story where a group of people are under one roof together and someone goes missing.  Everyone is a suspect, who did it?  In this case, it was set over Christmas with some former lovers turned enemies turned maybe back to friends thrown in with the family of the missing women.  There is a snow storm, nobody can come or go and yet...someone disappears.  I don't read much mystery and so maybe I'm terrible at figuring out what happened...but I also didn't figure it out.  And I have since forgotten so maybe I could reread it this November and be surprised all over again.  A fun Christmas-set read that wasn't strictly a romance, which most Christmas set books I read are.  

Until Next Summer by Ali Brady
Sleepaway camps seemed to be a bit of a theme this year, I read a few at a variety of camps and even though my whole sleep away camp is a total of 4 nights over 2 years at 4-H camp when I was 9 and 11, I still quite enjoy the setting (this may also be influenced by MANY watches of Parent Trap, the correct Lindsey Lohan version, as a early teen.  My sisters and I could quote most of the movie at one point).  This is about two former best friends and the camp they used to visit together might be getting shut down.  One of them now runs it, the other visits for one last summer on a week for adults.  They had a falling out years ago but now maybe if they can come together they can save the camp.  Camps always need saving in these books but also, it's great storytelling when they do.  There is romance in this one and the perfect summer setting of sleep away camp, which feels nostalgic even if you've only experienced it vicariously through Lindsey Lohan. 

Nothing Else but Miracles by Kate Albus
Two years ago A Place to Hang the Moon by the same author was my favorite book of the year.  It was so charming and I recommended it to quite a few people.  I was excited to see a new book and it was one of the first books I finished in 2024.  It wasn't quite as good but I still enjoyed it enough to make this list.  Also set during World War II but this time in New York City.  Three children who have lost their mother are making due on their own after their father goes to serve in the war.  They have to pretend that they have a parent and that they weren't left on their own for months on end.  They have to get creative, resourceful, and sneaky to make it happen.  Kids aren't supposed to be living on their own for a reason!  The Statue of Liberty places a nice role and the kids do get a bit lucky.  I was rooting for them. (Middle grade, yet another I could have read to my kids...but didn't). 

Women at Ground Zero: Stories of Compassion and Courage by Susan Hagen
This is my 4th book on this list set in New York although, you can tell from the title, that this is very different in tone and everything else from any of the previous ones on this list.  My sister recommended this one and I purposely saved it to read in September.  I was in my freshman year of college on 9/11/01 and was watching the news obsessively that day.  Between that and in the subsequent 23 years, I had read a decent amount about that day and the days after but this book still had many new stories and perspectives that I had never heard.  The women were all interviewed within about 18 months of 9/11 so the memories were still very fresh and the mental anguish still rather raw.  It was heartbreaking and definitely hard to read at times but interesting and felt necessary to honor these women and what they went through on 9/11 and the days, weeks, months that followed. 

Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
Annabel Monaghan is nearly a perpetual entry on this list and one of the few authors I auto buy.  Her new books are always perfect for summer (or anytime but she writes the exact types of books I want to read in the summer).  This is an accountant turned professional organizer (and I was so delighted that someone else saw the connection between those jobs!) Trying to return to herself after her mother has died and her husband left.  And then there is an unexpected romance.  Annabel Monaghan is very good at writing charming romances with slightly older protagonists (like 30s, not fresh out college). 

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Katherine Center is the only other author that I auto-buy and I unintentionally put them together at the end of this list.  The timing of her new releases means that "Matt" usually gives me hers as a birthday present and it's always fun getting a book I am almost guaranteed to enjoy.  This one has to do with two writers, one up and coming (her) and who has idolized the other who is very famous (him).  But too bad he wants nothing to do with her, even if she has some good points that may help his writing.  Katherine Center writes such good banter and are always just a joy to pick up, even as they might be dealing with harder topics.  I don't see an end to this birthday tradition anytime soon. 

What was YOUR favorite (or some of your favorites) book in 2024?

Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2023
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2022
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2021
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2020
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2019
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2018
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2017
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2016
Favorite {Grown-Up} Reads of 2015

2024!

Well this has been a YEAR.  We knew it would be a hard one going into it, with Matt in school all year.  January was a really hard time with facing months and months without a mutual break between him and the boys, Matt starting clinicals, and wrestling in full spring.  Plus no Christmas to bring up my mood (I didn't realize how much I needed Christmas to keep my moods up until it was over).  And Matt being in school has really defined the year for us.  It brought challenges and a lot of solo parenting on my end.  A lot of added stress.  It's really hard to think of this year without thinking primarily about Matt in school. 

Winter brought more wrestling, this time with Matt in school so he was less able to help with driving to/from practices AND I got to sit through the bulk of the meets because he always had schoolwork to be doing.  I did not miss wrestling once that was over, even if it did mean a steady stream of pretzels with cheese.  We had a whole month off sports before Luke played soccer in the spring which was honestly fine.  Other than sitting through a game in a tornado watch, the games we good weather and the season was only a month long!  That's my kind of sports to commit to.

Even with Matt's semester breaks never lining up with the boys', besides Christmas break, we still managed to do most of our normal traveling.  We did 4 KOAs for the 3rd year in a row, getting in 2 of those while Matt was on break so he didn't have to do work during those at least!  Also two trips to Jellystone, including one for 3 nights which is the ideal, even if Matt had to go back to work on one of those days.  We still went to Kings Island and got very lucky that it was a day that Matt didn't have zoom class in the evening.  We stopped by UD on the way home too which I always enjoy sneaking in (since I always offer to drive that portion of it).  Spring did wonders for my spirits, especially when we hit the halfway point of Matt's program.  We were going to make it! Probably.

Matt spent a week in South Bend this summer, we spent 5 nights in a row apart, by far the longest in our marriage, going first one full day without seeing each other (only the second day in 19 years we hadn't), the boys & I visited him, and then another 2 full days apart.  Our record.  In that time we also had a toilet overflow into our basement and I was trying to pack for our vacation that would be happening mere hours after Matt got home on Friday afternoon.  Would not recommend that but also had to take advantage because it was his one week off all of the boys' summer break!  It was a small miracle he was able to get that week off his actual paying job too!

We went to the Outer Bank, something I still intend to write about.  I had been there in 2000 with my family and then Matt & I went in 2011.  I've loved it all 3 times I've been.  I'm sure I'll have more to say when I actually get to writing that post.  Getting home from that trip we had about 10 days before school started back up for the boys and we fit another weekend trip in there too.  Then school starting, I didn't cry this year although I was close if not for walking part of the way home with another school parent friend.  It was back to the grind of work, catching up on house things, and a quiet/clean house. 

Luke ran cross country again in the fall, his 3rd sport of the year, but my favorite of all of them since now 2 of my sisters and 2 sisters-in-law have kids on the same team.  So much family makes it so much more fun.  Although a bit crazy since I did a lot of carpool driving for that.  But Luke had a great season and was consistently among the top JV runners (one race he was top!).  It's always a beautiful way to spend the fall.  Then didn't even get a week off before basketball conditioning started, his FOURTH sport of the year (who are these parents allowing this???).  Basketball brought us through to the end of the semester which also brought the end of Matt's semester and the decision to homeschool which still brings a lot of feelings.  

2023 had brought a lot of changes to our family.  2024 maybe was less changes but more stress with Matt's school and all the things that lead to our homeschool decision.  The start and the end of this year have been DOOZIES.  The middle 8 months were mostly good!  It's been wonderful having Christmas break to recover, regroup, and celebrate Matt being done.  The family time has been desperately needed.  

What will 2025 bring?!?!?!  It feels foolish to even try to guess at this point because most of our big changes/stressors of the last 2 years aren't ones we would have anticipated.  So keep focusing on what I can control, keep trying to make small changes to improve our days, keep trying to do the best for the boys that we can at that moment.  Celebrate Matt being fully present in our lives again and not just seeing the back of his head on his computer all the time.  Plan trips and embrace the stages of life as they come.  And try to focus on the good.  

This post may not have made it sound that was but there really was a lot of good in this year too.  My favorite tree, pretzels with cheese, Jellystone, new games our family started to play, lots of beautiful fall weather days, Christmas Day was perfect, jeans I like, kids who will still hug me in public (sometimes), and many dear people.  This year was a lot but it's also in the past now.  Here's to a less chaotic 2025!

2023!
2022!
2021!
2020!
2019!
2018!
2017!
2016!

Looking Back at December 2024

 

Last year I thought there was no way that any December could be crazier than that one.  I was wrong.  This December was a whole new level of crazy and it felt like it was over in about the blink of an eye.  In the course of ONE WEEK, the last week of school before break in fact, we had 2 family funerals (my aunt, my husband's uncle), I was in charge of class parties for each of the boys, I drove a field trip, Matt was in CRUNCH time for the end of his 16 month school program, and we made the decision to withdraw our oldest from school at the end of the semester (Christmas break) and to homeschool him starting in January.  THAT WAS ALL IN 8 DAYS.  Plus, the small fact that it was the week before Christmas and there were Christmas things that needed done AND the normal life stuff like laundry and feeding people (but also making sure we had all the necessary food for all the Christmas celebrations and the graduation party we had for Matt right after Christmas).  It's no surprise that I ended up with an infection (30 day antibiotic) and a pretty good cold.  

But the big news this month is that Matt finally did finish his program.  On December 27th, not before Christmas, but he is done.  The last 2 weeks were a real slog when we thought he'd be done and it felt never ending for a few days.  BUT...he is.  It still feels too good to be true that he really is DONE. (Besides boards...which will be a whole other thing.)

So December has been fun.  I would like NO funerals next December please.  Matt will definitely not be in school.  Who knows what will be going on in home school (we will reevaluate for next school year in the spring) but next December has to be less crazy, right??  I wouldn't like any year to try to top this one.  I would like to actually ENJOY the Christmas season, which is my FAVORITE season of the year, please.  Please.  Please.

Looking back:
1 year ago: Picture Book Flight - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
2 years ago: Things I Like - December 2022 (maybe my favorite of these I've ever written)
3 years ago: Christmas Season Decide Once
4 years ago: Christmas Media to Consume
5 years ago: Mixed Drink Monday: Cran-Apple Sangria
6 years ago: Book Love: I'll Be There for You: The One About Friends by Kelsey Miller
7 years ago: DIY Strawberries & Cream Instant Oatmeal
8 years ago: The Senses of the Season - Christmas!
9 years ago: Paper Christmas Trees (kid craft)
10 years ago: Caramel Butter Bars
11 years ago: Raspberry Chocolate Layer Bars (these remain Matt's favorite)
12 years ago: Things I Like December 2012
14 years ago: Stairs are (almost) done!

 

1) Eating leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving with our partially decorated tree (it was like that for about 5 days just due to no time).
2) Cutting out cookies!  The number of things that had to fit in a very specific time frame was...pretty much everything until school was out.
3) Driving past downtown Santa.  I didn't do this as much as I would have liked but still a few times!
4) Nutcracker with Sam!  My friend's daughters both had roles and it was so fun to watch the whole production.  I cried.
5) The tree glows best at dawn and dusk.
6) I wrapped most of the new gallery wall except for 3 frames behind the tree I couldn't reach.  They aren't super obvious but I am still showing them here...next year I need to do before we get the tree.  But very happy with how this all came out (I also cut out 8 snowflakes).
7) Frosting cookies!  Fitting this in got rescheduled 3 times but we did it!
8) The sweatshirt I dyed in December.  Took a lot of stirring a boiling pot.
9) Driving through the lights at Franke Park.  We went on a very not busy night so actually stopped at the photo ops for the first time ever!
10) Doing a Christmas puzzle while boys & I watched The Polar Express on Christmas Adam (Matt was writing his final 450 page paper).
11) Christmas crackers for supper with my parents on Christmas.  So festive.  I hadn't been able to find them for a few years!
12) All our stockings together on Boxing Day!  We mostly got to be home that day! (Matt was still writing most of it.)
13) My favorite times - drinking tea in front of the tree.  Appreciate every time this happens!
14) Checking out the lights at Parkview Field just last night.  Took my parents and Matt's Dad.  It was a fun experience!
15) Also did our walking around all the lights post-Christmas, post Matt being DONE.  I love doing this with almost no crowds.
16) Under the wreath.  Christmas season wouldn't be complete without walking between the lights!

Books finished: Assuming I'm going to finish the one I've got about 100 pages in...20! 
Miles ran: 2.05!  Ran every month this year!
Currently watching: It's been a lot of holiday stuff lately.  We aren't in the middle of any series now.
Most read post this month: Kool-Aid Cookies (solid pick) then Hawaiian Lasagna

January brings homeschool, cold, probably snow, and the end of Christmas.  Mixed feelings about all of it!

{10} Favorite Discoveries of 2024

My blogging has really fallen off in the latter part of 2024 but this is one post I've really had on my mind for many weeks.  It's fun to think back on the things that are now a part of our lives that weren't a year ago!  

1) Get Healthy U TV
This is the workout program I have been using for all of 2024, after paying about $6 for it in January.  There is such a variety of workouts and I could always find one to try (although I have honed in on a few favorites).  I tried barre, HIIT, I really like tabata workouts.  Partway through the year I upped my dumbbells from 5lbs to 8lbs and now I'm eyeing 10s.  I definitely fell off working out a bit in December, those three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were ROUGH, but over break I've been more consistent and can tell a difference.  I am, usually, a happier person for having done a good workout in the morning.  Highly recommend, especially for $6 for a year.  I've renewed for 2025 (for more than $6).

2) Dying Clothes
I had tie-dyed before, in 2022 we did family shirts we still wear on our family trips, but never fulled dyed anything.  Then 3 days before our niece's wedding I decided to FINALLY dye the dress I had been wearing but wanted it darker.  And dying wasn't as terrible as I thought! And I did it!  Then a few weeks ago I dyed a sweatshirt that wasn't quite a color I'd prefer, that time having to boil it on the stove because it was part polyester.  Getting the colors right on something that's not white is a bit of a crap shoot but I've still been happy with my two results and I feel empowered trying something new! 

3) Family Game Time
This doesn't always happen but I really aim that we play at least one game all as a family at some point in the weekend.  The boys don't love when this takes the place of screen time but usually, once we get going, they are ok with it.  There have been moments of real bliss this year when we are all playing some game together and everyone is (however briefly) happy.  Especially if it's a game from my childhood that I have since taught to them.  We've fallen off this a bit with the craziness that was December but did get two new games for Christmas that have been fun so hopefully we'll get back to it when life settles down a bit.  Also, now that Matt is done frantically writing his final 450 page paper.

4) Exploding Kittens
One of my goals for 2024 was to play work a new game into our repertoire every month.  We weren't consistent on the every month but, spoiler alert, did get 12 done before the end of the year.  This is one that we've played the most often, partially because we finally learned how to play correctly (or just finally watched the instructional video linked in the box).  And it's one we can all play pretty evenly but also relies a good bit on the luck of the draw.  

5) TekGear Running Shorts
I bought these in fall 2023 but didn't wear them until summer 2024 and they have been fantastic.  I literally wore the same pair of shorts to run for nearly 10 years.  Every time I ran in shorts, I wore those shorts.  THEN...I bought a pair of these which have zippered pockets and I rarely went back to my old pair (without pockets).  I now own these in 3 colors.  I can put my keys in one pocket and an extra tissue in the other (I ALWAYS run with tissues, no matter how runny my nose is when I'm standing still).  (I have blue crayon, black, and a green not on the site right now.)

6) Canned Margaritas
To offset the workout and running shorts, we discovered these canned margaritas this year and they are DELICIOUS.  I got paid for helping a family member with taxes in a Kroger gift card and so spend a good portion of the first one on ice cream and alcohol.  Really, not a bad way to be paid.  We haven't always had these in the fridge but we do right now and I'm always happy to crack one open.  I can make a margarita...but these are easier.

7) Eyeshadow Primer
This is such a small item but it has made a big difference on my face this year.  I had an eye shadow primer for many years but it didn't work super great and I went looking for something that could make eye shadow and eye liner STICK and that didn't make my skin allergies flare.  And this worked exactly for that.  I swear, it's like glue for eye make-up, it rarely smudges after all day wear (crying excluded) but I can still get it off easily at night with coconut oil.  Works 100% for what I needed it for.

8) School sports
Previous to this year Luke had done cross country and wrestling, both kinda through school but also combined with other local (mostly) Catholic schools.  And those were largely good experiences, especially cross country which is a favorite of the whole family.  But then this spring he decided he wanted to play soccer and he did basketball in November and December, both through school, specifically with his classmates.  He had no real experience with either sport but just being on a team with kids and families we already knew was fun!  And getting to wear his own school's name!  Both were mostly good experiences and something different from what we had had with wrestling and cross country. 

9) Sneakers    
I have had a lot of thoughts about the jean trends lately and have only slightly branched out from my beloved skinnies BUT I do feel a little more up to date with updating my shoes.  I've accumulated a few pairs of sneakers to wear with my skinny jeans (not in the rain or mud or cold) and it makes me feel slightly more modern but also not drowning in denim.  

10) We will survive
Matt spent this whole year in school.  From January 8th until December 27th, with a few semester breaks in there.  It was a SLOG and it still feels rather surreal that he is done (until boards later next year).  Getting through this year felt impossible in January and I'm sure I'll talk more about it when I recap the year but actually making it to the end of his program feels like such an accomplishment for the whole family.  Now he's never ever going back to school.  Ever.  Like forever.  

We knew for awhile that this was going to be a tough year to get through but looking just over this list made me remember that there was still plenty of good things despite all the stress.  It's exciting to think about what can change in the course of a year!!

What have YOU discovered this year??

{10} Favorite Discoveries of 2023
{10} Favorite Discoveries of 2022
{10} Favorite Discoveries of 2021
{10} Favorite Discoveries of 2020