2025 Holidays

Jan 4
2 min read

Updated: Jan 4

Five stars. (★★★★★)

Another restorative holiday in the books. It was a lot like last year, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Pilgrimaged to Wisconsin. I flew into Wausau and drove up to Phillips for time with the siblings, enjoying a buffet of holiday snacks, weird old Christmas shows and pet therapy. Carrie drove us to Unwind spa in Minocqua for a 90 minute sauna; the peppermint snowballs were a nice touch. Then a drive to Chippewa Falls to visit Mom on Christmas Day, and on to Minneapolis for the flight home.

Treated myself to sauna time. In addition to the Wisconsin sauna, I visited Watercourse Way twice during the break, thanks to some generous and thoughtful gift cards. I put my feet in the cold plunge for about eight seconds and wanted to cry - how do people do this?

Kept up the exercise. I stuck with my 4:15 a.m. wake-up and ran every morning, apart from a couple of days when it was fully raining. I saw a shooting star and all the nighttime animals: Owls, coyotes, deer, rabbits. I made an extra lap (10 miles total) for my first run of 2026. Most mornings I followed the run with a neighborhood walk around the Sharon Park pond. I'm getting to know the regular ducks and the resident heron.

Welcomed the full moon. January's full moon fell during the break; the wet and cloudy weather made some dramatic effects and a gorgeous sunrise. What a beautiful start to 2026.

Cocooned at home. I spent much of the break ensconced in the condo. I watched comfort TV (The Great British Baking Show) and took many deep naps. The extended social break felt restorative.

Indulged in sweets. I shed the glucose monitor for a couple of weeks and enjoyed my holiday favorites: Eggnog, cookies, peppermint chocolate, cranberry Wensleydale cheese.

Got stuff done. I made a good dent in my task list including some long-procrastinated housekeeping and administrative projects.

Puzzled. Puzzling is a guilty, mindless pleasure which I can only indulge during true downtime.