Memories, Reflections And Dreams 2025

For my first blog post of 2026, I am recapping our 2025. I found this way of reflecting through Lysha last year and I really loved it. Lysha blogs at A Camera & A Cookbook and you can find her here. 

1. Me!

I couldn't pick between these two favourite photos of me. On the left is me in London with my favourite sweatshirt that my mom bought me and a Pimms. On the right is me cheering on my Jays at a World Series game! Travelling and baseball are two of my favourite things! 

2. I Love You

For our anniversary this year, Dave and I went to a restaurant near us. I actually discovered this restaurant when I participated in a local walking tour. The host of the tour mentioned the tasting menu at this restaurant and that is what Dave and I ate for our date. We didn't know what we were getting for each course until it arrived. There were six courses and Dave and I think it was one of the top five meals of our lives.

3. Still Laughing...

When we had to reimagine our March Break plans, we decided to do a "stay-cation." One of the activities we did was Activate, which was recommended by an Instagram/blog friend. It is a place where you can participate in games for about a minute to 90 seconds at a time. We ran from game to game to game and had so much fun, we went back with friends about a month later. Writing this post reminds me that we need to go check it out again because it was so fun!!! 

4. Winter Wonderland

While I didn't love all the snow we received in February (two huge dumps of snow within three days),we sure were living in a winter wonderland for most of the month. The snowbanks in our front yard have never been so high!

5. Birthday

My birthday this year wasn't super exciting but considering two of my friends died since my last birthday, I was just happy to be celebrating another trip around the sun. And I will always remember my birthday month (May) as the time when my favourite local ice cream shop rolled out Grapefruit Orange Blossom ice cream and I ate it about five or six times in the month! It was sooooo good!!!

6. Friends

There were so many great moments with friends this year but I'm choosing this one when, for the first time ever, a friend I made through blogging came to visit us! We've gone to visit many blog friends and it was so fun to have someone come our way! And yes, we went to a Blue Jays game with them as well as exploring our city and having so much fun together.

7. I Was Inspired…

I was definitely inspired by all the tile I saw in Portugal this summer. I have tried to bring little pieces of it into our house with the renovation we're doing and I'm so excited to see it all come to fruition! 

8. Spring Fever

While there were many fun things about the spring, the Blossoms 'N Brunch I did with Janice in April was a definite highlight! We had so much fun making bouquets and just enjoying ourselves. 

9. Travel or Vacation

We travelled to Europe with my parents this summer and we had the best time! Sam planned most of the trip -- where we went and what we did -- and he did such a great job. This was an especially joyous celebration as my mom had successful surgery for lung cancer in April so we celebrated a lot on this trip!

10. Summer Days

After our Europe trip my parents stayed in Ontario to help us celebrate Rachel's Bat Mitzvah. We spent many, many summer afternoons sitting at our table, under our tree, enjoying the back yard. And of course, my dad mixed drinks! These are some of my favourite summer memories.

11. A Day In My Life

When I'm at home, almost every day in my life begins with coffee-hot chocolate in a different mug. When it's cold out, this is my view -- sitting in my favourite spot in our living room.

12. All Smiles

Rachel was overjoyed when she got her braces off this past summer and could eat popcorn again. We didn't have popcorn in the house while the kids had braces and the amount of popcorn we've gone through since August is unbelievable!

13. Autumn/Fall

Our favourite night in our uptown is the LUMEN festival and this year, Janice, Tim, and Tessa joined us! It was so much fun!!! This night is a highlight of our fall.

14. Family or Home

This is the year our home started undergoing a major renovation! Here's me on our new living room floor. We're trying to live in our house while this is happening so it's been an interesting couple of months with more to come... 

15. Celebrate!

Our "celebrate" moment of the year was definitely Rachel's Bat Mitzvah! It was so great to celebrate with so many friends and family. A highlight for me was hosting all of our family for a backyard BBQ. We had relatives come in from California, Texas, New York, and Saskatchewan for this weekend and it was so special.

16. Let’s Do It Again…

Watching our Jays play in the ALCS, and then the World Series, was one of the best moments all year -- after my mom's successful lung cancer surgery and Rachel's Bat Mitzvah. Let's do it again Blue Jays (and win it all this time)!!! October 2025 will not be one I soon forget :)

17. I Miss You

I took this picture on a walk to Lake Huron with a group of five people at our church's Winter Retreat in January. I had a great conversation with a friend on this walk, and two weeks later, she and her daughter (who was Sam's age) were killed in a car accident. This loss has been incredibly difficult for our church community. They are so missed.

19. Dress Up 

We had so much fun dressing up to celebrate Rachel's dance studio's 50th anniversary at their Gala. I even bought heels for the occasion, which I wore again at Rachel's Bat Mitzvah.

20. Macro

I don't know if this counts as "macro" but I liked this close up of one of the ornaments on our tree and the fact that you can see the dumpster for our reno in the background.

21. Holidays

We enjoyed a special Canada Day at the Jays' game. It was so neat to see the huge Canadian flag on the field, and the giveaway was a red jersey so there was so much red in the stadium. Plus the Jays won over the Yankees, and George Springer hit a grand slam!!! This was the beginning of the Jays run to take over the AL East and I'm so glad we were there for it!

22. My Favourite

 

Sitting in the backyard with a drink, and laundry hanging on the line, will always be my favourite thing to do at home. I love our backyard so much! 

23. Don’t Ever Change

We had family photos taken in October and I love these two so much! Even though they've hit those "antagonistic towards your sibling" teenage years, and can be as annoying as all get out, I hope they never change.

24. Just Because…

We celebrated Dave's birthday by enjoying an ice cream making workshop at our favourite ice cream shop and it was absolutely one of the best things that happened last winter. I don't want to forget how much fun we had doing this. And we came home with 16 pints of ice cream which kept us going for a couple of months. Hahahaha!!!

25. Hopes and Dreams

I often see things that I think look really interesting come across my Instagram feed. One of them was a golden hour picnic at a lavender farm near us. Dave was not at all interested in going so I asked Janice if she wanted to go with me. She said yes and that Tim was in too! So Dave had to come -- hahaha! We ended up having so much fun, we all want to do it again next year. So this was one of those events that was beyond my wildest hopes and dreams!

So that was 2025. There was a lot of good this past year (my mom and dad both overcame challenging health issues, Rachel's Bat Mitzvah, our three generation Europe trip, the Blue Jays playoff run) but there was also a lot of hard (the death of our friends, the unknown with my mom's health especially, our cancelled Hawaii trip).

 

Thanks for being here through all of it and here's hoping 2026 brings so much goodness and joy to all of us. 

What's Up Wednesday: December 2025

It's my last blog post of the year, and it's fitting that it's a "What's Up Wednesday" post. This will give you a great summary of our last month. Spoiler alert: It's been a full one! (Also, I don't know if the hosts are posting today, but I love writing these posts anyways.)

Answering these questions monthly 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've been eating all the Christmas/Channukah treats this month. Latkes, cookies, nuts and bolts -- so much yummy food!!!

My parents flew out on Christmas Eve. They're going to be living at our neighbours' for a bit. Mom brought two jars of carrot pickles in her luggage and Sam and I devoured them within a few days. I didn't think I would get any carrot pickles this December and, between flying to Saskatchewan for dad's surgery and Mom bringing some jars, I think I've eaten more than my fair share! Hahaha!!!

 

Also, Sam made Portuguese tarts. He said he's been wanting to make them since we visited Portugal this past summer and he finally got a chance to do it. They were delicious!!! I'm so impressed by his cooking/baking skills and can't wait to see what he brings home from his Culinary Arts classes next semester.

 

What I'm reminiscing about... I've been reminiscing about the first time Mom & Dad lived at our neighbours' house in January - March 2022. This is their third stint here and it's been so fun for all of us!

 

 

What I'm loving... I'm loving these lazy days of hanging out in pjs, eating good food, doing puzzles, and just generally being able to relax. We've watched a lot of movies, had a lot of laughs, and have enjoyed being together with very few plans.

 

What we've been up to... December was full!!! 

I flew to Saskatchewan for my dad's hip replacement surgery. It went well and he is doing great! 

We celebrated Channukah and made it a priority to light the candles every single night. We also attended our public "Channkuah in the Square" lighting, went to one Channukah party, and celebrated with Dave's family. 

We watched Sam play in his last game of soccer in this league. You can only play until the end of the year you turn 16. Now we have to find elsewhere for him to play.

Our Christmas/Channukah gifts this year were very random and focused on "experiences" rather than "things." Rachel really wanted a Highland cow for the holidays (so practical these teenagers are), so we went to a farm where she could pet one. When the farm owner found out this was Rachel's gift, he was so kind to take some really great pictures of us with one. Rachel was blissfully happy!

In lieu of our regular gift exchange with Tim and Janice and family, we all met up at a bookstore, picked out a book each, got Starbucks, and went around the table explaining why we had chosen what we had. We're hoping to get together in a few months to discuss if we liked our books! This was so much fun!!! We also bumped into each other as we were picking our books and had great conversations. 

Rachel and I got together with Janice and Tessa and baked four different kinds of cookies in one afternoon. Janice had found material to make matching aprons (and she bought us matching socks from Target as well!) and it was so fun!!! 

 

Rachel and I did errands for two days straight to get ready for Christmas and then turned our neighbours into a festive house! We had to buy some presents on Mom and Dad's behalf, we did groceries, we got a Christmas tree, we decorated, and we did some baking. It was a full but fun three days! 

 

And we celebrated Christmas with Mom & Dad! We attended our Christmas Eve service (Sam, Rachel, and I played chimes and Dave played guitar), we toasted with prosecco, we ate appetizers, and we've just enjoyed being together.

 

What I'm dreading... Our kitchen and bathroom are getting demolished on Monday. 'Nuff said :)

What I'm working on... We've been working on a lot of puzzles this month. And the plan for today is to do another one.

 

Yesterday, Mom, Dad, Rachel, and I went to our house and packed up a chunk of the kitchen. We've got a bit more to do and then we have to move all the boxes out of the house. So I've also been working on that.

 

What I'm excited about... The reno!!! They built the addition this month!!!

And look at the powder room! The floor is installed (and I LOVE it!) and the rest is going in soon!!! Whooo hoooo!!!

I'm also excited that Sam and Rachel decorated our tree together without fighting. Hahaha!!!

 

What I'm watching/reading... We've been watching all the Hallmark Christmas movies. We also watched Home Alone. As for reading, I'm working my way through my Jólabókaflóð book, Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal by Meghan Quinn. It has funny Home Alone references so I'm happy we watched it a few days ago.

What I'm listening to... The wind howling. The weather here has been extremely wintery. We've had a lot of snow and it's been very windy.

 

What I'm wearing... Besides my holiday apron, pictured above, I've also been wearing my new Sorels (they're shorter than my Bogs and I'll use them for errands, to wear to church, or to drive Rachel to dance), and my new Target socks.

 

 

What I'm doing this weekend... We're transitioning back to reality. I'm hoping to make one last meal in our (very stripped down) kitchen and we're having dinner with a friend.

What I'm looking forward to next month... Our church's Winter Retreat. Celebrating Dave's birthday. January tulips! Seeing our kitchen come together <--- hopefully that will be starting to happen in January. And, of course, spending lots of time with my mom and dad.

 

So that's what was up with us in December -- lots of celebrating in the midst of renovations and lots of time with friends and family. Happy last day of 2025 everyone!