What's Up Wednesday: January 2025

*I had this post written by the end of Sunday night. Then on Monday afternoon we got awful news about a family in our church. You can read that here. I decided to let this post stand as written but please know that this post is not an accurate reflection of our life right now. It was an accurate reflection as of Sunday night.

I've always heard that after the holidays, January is a bit of a letdown. Do you all know what I'm talking about? For us, in the past few years, we've gotten home from our time in Saskatchewan, we head off to our church's winter retreat, then it's into celebrating Dave's birthday, and before we know it, January is practically over and we haven't had time for the letdown. However, in the past week, I've been cold, down, and feeling the winter darkness -- even though technically the days are getting longer. I'm more than ready for spring and it's going to be awhile before we get some of that. Are any of you feeling the same way??? With all that said, here is how our January has gone.

Answering these questions monhtly helps me reflect on the past month and I really appreciate having a record of what we've been up to. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... We participated in an ice cream workshop a couple of weeks ago and ended up with sixteen pints of ice cream. So we've been eating a ton of ice cream. And we still have more to go!

This is just half of what we made!

 

Our friend Karen drove us up to Winter Retreat and she brought along these Cheez-It Crunch Sharp White Cheddar crackers. They are soooo good!!! We're buying three boxes a week and recommending them to everyone we know. I'm actually snacking on a bowl while I wait for supper to cook and am writing this post. Just make sure you buy more than one box!

Also, I've been really into citrus fruit this month so I've gone through a lot of oranges and grapefruits. I must really need some Vitamin C!

 

What I'm reminiscing about... Speaking of Vitamin Sea (hahaha!), I've been reminiscing about our first Disney cruise. Our first cruise was in January 2018 and it was just a short four night cruise to see if we liked it.

It turns out we loved it and in January 2020, we went on a cruise with my parents. So I've been reminiscing about that one too! It was our last travel before the world shut down and I'm so thankful that we were able to have that trip.

One thing that strikes me about these pictures is how little Sam and Rachel were. Oh my goodness!

What I'm loving... I've been really loving warm blankets, cozy sweaters, and my tulips. Also, January has been full so I'm loving every moment I get at home.

What we've been up to... We hit the January ground running. We got home from celebrating the holidays in Saskatchewan, went back to work and school and then headed off to our church's winter retreat. We played in the snow, hung out with our friends, and saunaed and snowed to our heart's content.

 

 

Then we were back home and celebrated Dave's birthday with a few events including participating in an ice cream workshop.

Rachel and I squeezed in some time to go see Wicked (complete with comfy recliners!).

 

This past weekend we went uptown to experience our city's winter festival. We saw ice carvers and ate maple candy made with snow.

And January in our area has felt like living in a snow globe. Every time I look out the window, it's snowing. This isn't the greatest picture but maybe you can see the snowflakes against the brick. We haven't received a ton of snow at one go but it's just continuously snowing.

And of course Sam and Rachel are busy with soccer and dance (which means we're busy getting them to soccer and dance)!

What I'm dreading... As I do every single winter, I'm dreading icy sidewalks. When I walk forty minutes a day to get to work and back, that's a lot of opportunities to slip and fall and injure myself. (Just one of many, many, many reasons I'm already counting down to spring).

What I'm working on... I've actually been working on showering at night. I used to (as in like, three weeks ago!) shower in the morning before work. But I don't own a really great hair dryer, and hate drying my hair as well, so I've been trying to shower at night so my hair can dry before I have to be out in the cold. This also gives me extra time in the mornings which I appreciate. I've also been working on applying extra lotion consistently, as per this meme :)

What I'm excited about... Last week I finished my latest Conqueror challenge. I walked in Wales (virtually). Now I'm walking through the Norwegian Fjords. I love marking my walks on a virtual challenge. This is the sixth one I've finished since I started walking them in May 2020.

 

What I'm watching/reading... As I mentioned above, I've been watching the snow fall. Other than that it's a dead time of year for me, watching wise. I don't do the winter Hallmark movies, baseball hasn't started yet, and there's just nothing I'm excited about watching.

In terms of reading, I really thought Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros was the last book so last week I re-read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame to get ready. Then I found out this past weekend there's another two books to come... Ugh.

What I'm listening to... I've actually been listening to Mix and Match Mama's Spring Break playlist on Spotify. It's a good mix of "we're enjoying the beach on vacation" vibes and that's pretty much what I need right now. And hey, if I could go on a beach vacation right now, that'd would be great! Hahaha!!!

What I'm wearing... First of all, I'm posting this picture of Rachel and her bestie from this past weekend. Clearly grade 8 girls are wearing black boots, grey sweats, black puffer jackets, and touques with pompoms! Hahaha!!! They didn't even try to twin.

I'm not a Grade 8 girl so I'm either wearing work clothes (with the warmest sweaters I can find) or my flannel pj pants and the green fuzzy pullover my parents gave me for Christmas. And slippers. At this time of year, I'm always wearing slippers.

What I'm doing this weekend... Ice cream for breakfast day at our favourite ice cream shop, attending a church meeting about parenting youth, going to church (and possibly synagogue), and maybe finally getting out with the kids to buy their very belated Channukah/Christmas presents. It's going to be a full weekend.

What I'm looking forward to next month... As I've been thinking about this prompt, I realize that there's not a lot I love about February. I guess I'm looking forward to a three day weekend, a long overdue visit with a friend, and seeing Rachel dance with a local children's choir. And maybe a fun garden visit. Maybe... Other than that I'll try to take notice of the longer days (whoooo hooo), and spend some time under blankets with a good book, waiting for it to warm up outside.

So there's my January "What's Up Wednesday." As you can probably tell, I'm kind of over winter already and thankfully we're one month closer to warmer weather. Yay!!! How's your January been?