It’s the night before the night before Christmas, and this is, by far, my favorite day of the holiday season, even though this year it’s a little bittersweet.
The Husband is off playing tennis. Ry is working. Ev is up in his room gaming with his friends. Me? I’m alone, baking, listening to music, and wondering how time moved this fast.
There are a lot of big feelings I’m having a hard time expressing, so I think I’m going to cut this post short and take Marsh for a walk.
But first, the result of my baking!
And my goal update. I can not believe there’s only one more week left in this year. I’m planning a goal debrief for next week and pondering my 2026 goals already becuase I don’t see any reason to stop the weekly journaling. It’s helped me feel grounded all year.
2025 Goal Check In
- Blog Weekly.
- so far… ✔️
- Paint More. Don’t overthink it.
- so far… ✔️
- Make a new handmade pasta monthly.
- Jan ✔️ ✔️
- Feb ✔️ ✔️
- March ❌
- April ✔️✔️
- May ✔️
- June ✔️
- July ✔️
- August ✔️
- September ✔️
- October ✔️
- November ✔️ (failed attempt but an attempt all the same)
- December (oh boy! Once I’m on break, I will make something special)
- Hike at least twice a month.
- Jan ✔️✔️
- Feb ✔️✔️
- March ✔️ ✔️
- April ✔️✔️
- May ✔️✔️✔️
- June ✔️ ✔️
- July ✔️✔️
- August ✔️✔️
- September ✔️❌
- October ✔️❌
- November ✔️❌
- December (STRUGGLE BUS this month)
- Perform one unassisted dip.
- Still training. – Not sure I’m going to make it
- Perform five strict pull-ups.
- Still on singles. – Not sure I’m going to make it
- Handstand walk.
- Still training. – Not sure I’m going to make it
- Take at least three yoga classes a month.
- Jan ✔️✔️✔️
- Feb ✔️✔️✔️
- March ✔️✔️✔️
- April ✔️✔️ ❌
- May ✔️✔️✔️
- June ✔️✔️✔️
- July ✔️ ✔️ ❌
- August ✔️✔️✔️✔️
- September ✔️✔️✔️
- October ✔️✔️✔️
- November ✔️✔️✔️
- December ✔️
- Make homemade sourdough bread.
- ✔️✔️✔️OMG I did it!✔️✔️✔️
- Take the kids to Iceland.
- Fix the holes in my house (long story, lots of plumbing issues this year).
- Continue my Spanish Streak on Duolingo (I’m on day 1,231!!).
- so far…✔️ day 1584
- Take a Spanish class in person.
- UGH This needs a whole post to talk about!!
- Plan something special for The Husband’s 50th birthday!
- ✔️ We leave tomorrow!!
- Snatch 125lbs.
- More confident in this goal now, but probably not this year.
- Compete in at least one weightlifting meet.
- Walk a minimum of half a mile daily with Marsh and, preferably, with the Husband, but I can’t base my goal on him.
- ✔️ (This is just in my routine now)
- Track my movie-watching on Letterboxd.
- so far…✔️ Click here to see!
- Keep my citrus trees alive!
- so far…✔️ (They seem to be okay in the house so far!)
- Host an extended family dinner monthly.
- Jan ✔️
- Feb ✔️
- March ✔️
- April ✔️
- May ✔️
- June ✔️
- July ❌ (But we went out)
- August 👌🏻 (Mom hosted to give me a break)
- September ✔️
- October ✔️
- November ✔️
- December (I’m hosting Christmas Eve tomorrow)
- Clean out and organize my closet and drawers.
- Thrift more and purchase no brand-new clothes.
- so far…❌ I caved and purchased about five new items this year (mostly for the Iceland trip), but I have also visited many second-hand stores and attended my first clothes swap. I now consider myself a thrifter! 🙂
- Take daily supplements more consistently.
- so far…✔️
- Reduce alcohol consumption to once or twice a month.
- Jan ❌ 1/18, 1/23, 1/31 (close!)
- Feb 2/1, 2/15 ✔️
- March 3/22 ✔️
- April 4/25, 4/26 ✔️
- May 5/3, 5/10 ✔️
- June 6/7, 6/19 ✔️
- July 7/14 ✔️
- August 8/9, 8/22 ✔️
- September 9/27 ✔️
- October 10/25 ✔️
- November 11/1✔️
- December ❌ 12/7, 12/13, 12/20
- Cook one new recipe/dish a month.
- Jan ✔️
- Feb ✔️
- March ✔️
- April ✔️
- May✔️
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- Butternut Squash Soup (Used for inspiration)
- Pecan-Cinnamon Streusel from this recipe
- November
- December
- Bourbon Chicken (tomorrow’s planned dinner)
3 replies on “Merry Christmas Eve Eve (w51)”
Roni, how did you get those chocolate chip cookies to come out so perfectly round??
Hmm not sure, I do roll the dough into balls and bake at a slightly lower temperature.
My recipe is a riff off the “ultimate chocolate chip cookie” recipe from America’s Test Kitchen that uses brown butter. This batch came out great!
Thanks for asking!
Merry Christmas Eve Eve