A Month in Summary - December 2025

Photo Credit: Nancy White

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

December 2025

And just like that, we have reached the end of 2025. Tempus fugit!

December is always a busy month, but this year I was able to relax and enjoy the quiet days between social events. We hosted a small-ish cocktail party to kick off the Christmas season, quietly celebrated my 64th birthday, attended a large neighborhood holiday gathering, and enjoyed Christmas with my mom, brother, and niece. I managed to read several great books, completed my personal challenge to read all of Elizabeth Strout's works, and started planning for next year's reading goals. 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

The Nix by Nathan Hill (2/5)

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell (5/5)

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (4.5/5)

Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout (3.5/5)

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (4/5)

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (4.5/5)

A Far-flung Life by M. L. Steadman (5/5)

Movies & TV Series:

Wake Up Dead Man - Entertaining, but not as good as the previous movies.

A Complete Unknown - I'm not a big Dylan fan, but this was a wonderful movie! Chalamet gives a great performance.

Train Dreams - We thoroughly enjoyed this quiet film. I'll bet the novella (written by Denis Johnson) is also worthwhile. 

Karen Pirie (Season 2) - We like this series, but after a couple of weeks, the storyline is long forgotten.

Death By Lightning - Very good miniseries based on Candice Millard's book Destiny of the Republic. I'm inspired to read the book. 

Visitors:

My younger brother and my niece came to celebrated Christmas with us. I failed to take any photos while they were here, so I borrowed this one from Chris' Facebook page. :)

64th Birthday:

I had a very nice birthday with lots of cards (I love snail-mail!), emails, texts, and phone calls. Rod ordered a delicious cake (raspberry-filled white cake), and my mom took us both out to our favorite restaurant (Local Oceans) in Newport. I now have 9 months to start researching supplemental health insurance to go with Medicare, which I'll sign up for in mid-September.

Christmas:

Another borrowed photo from my brother. Not only did I not take any photos of our Christmas party, but I failed to take any on Christmas Day!

My mom at 92!

That's it for me. Stay tuned for my yearly wrap-ups where I share my reading stats, as well as my favorite audiobooks and tv shows.