“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” — Norman Vincent Peale
Here is what I read, watched, listened to, and enjoyed in December, and what I am planning to start the new year.
READ:
52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life: Inspirational Reflections for the Christmas Season by Bob Welch
Singletons in a PLC at Work®: Navigating On-Ramps to Meaningful Collaboration by Brig Leane and Jon Yost
Door County Tales: Shipwrecks, Cherries and Goats on the Roof by Gayle Soucek
The Hygge Life: Embracing the Nordic Art of Coziness Through Recipes, Entertaining, Decorating, Simple Rituals, and Family Traditions by Gunnar Karl Gíslason
The Peanuts Guide to Christmas by Charles M. Schulz — I started and ended the year with a Peanuts book.
For more of what I read this year, check out my 2025 Reading Challenge. Which of the 40 books were my favorites and least favorites? Which were the shortest and the longest; gifts, bought, or borrowed from the library; read for professional development; written by female authors; set in Paris, etc.?
WATCHED:
Christmas movies and specials: White Christmas, Love Actually, The Holiday, The Family Stone, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown — Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack always makes me smile while Linus’ recitation of the gospel of St. Luke always brings me to tears.
Emily in Paris Season 5 (Netflix) — Rome is beautiful, but I prefer Paris.
Marquette basketball and Packers football — Winter is the best season for sports, although this isn’t the best year for my teams.
LISTENED TO:
My Christmas Playlist — Everything from Band Aid to Bing. I add something new from time to time, but this list has been my classic go-to for decades.
Smooth Jazz Christmas station on Pandora — I can never get enough of Vince Guaraldi and George Winston, especially at Christmastime.
December Mini-Playlist:
O Tannenbaum (The Vince Guiraldi Trio)
The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker)
Skating (Vince Guaraldi Trio)
A Wonderful Christmastime (Paul McCartney)
Linus and Lucy (Vince Guiraldi Trio)
Sleigh Ride (The Glenn Miller Orchestra)
Sankta Lucia (Stella Chamber Choir)
My Favorite Things (Julie Andrews)
When My Heart Finds Christmas (Harry Connick, Jr.)
ENJOYED:
Decorating our home with lots of greenery and candles, little white houses, and six Christmas trees: Our beautiful icy tree in the living room; a smaller tree in our dining room with vintage glass ornaments and Ittala baubles; a nautical tree with ornaments from our childhoods in “the boys’ room”; a snow-themed mini tree in the loft; a Scandi tree with wooden ornaments on the deck; and another Scandi-inspired tree with white bisque ornaments and three mini-Snoopy ornaments for Piper in our bedroom.
Shopping for gifts, sending Christmas cards to friends and family, lovingly wrapping packages just like Mom and Grandma Dodo did, and baking — Yes, I said baking. I made vanilla bean macarons and filled half with vanilla butter cream rolled in crushed candy canes and half with Bailey’s butter cream. I baked three of my mom’s famous apple pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as Swedish cinnamon rolls for Sankta Lucia.
Ten days off — We had a couple of lovely dinners downtown (Elsa’s and Kampai), enjoyed the Commercialists’ Charlie Brown Christmas concert at Turner Hall, sipped a cocktail in the lobby of the Pfister, and marveled at the newly renovated upper church during Christmas Eve Mass at Gesu on Marquette's campus.
Snuggling by the fire with Piper.
PLANNING:
Hosting my family, including the three beagles, for a belated Christmas celebration on January 2nd.
My 2026 photo challenges, blog posts, and Instapuzzle. I have to figure out a new design since the size of the posts changed earlier this year and messed up my beautiful puzzle. Still, this an excellent creative learning experience for me and a labor of love.
