Hello Monday ~ Christmas 2025

Good morning!  This is the week of recaps.  Today is last week's Christmas recap and tomorrow I will share my annual yearly recap.  I hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

Last week started with a full day of work on Monday.  I served dinner alongside of one of my favorites at the hospital.

Tuesday night I was alone, so I took myself to the movies by myself.  Tuesday is half price tickets at the movies here, so I went to see Wicked, For Good.  I cried during this as it is a show with lots of betrayal and hurt.

After the movie, I went by to join Jenn and her sons and friends at the local hangout place for a little bit.

When you need a hug!

This hang out place has such a cute exterior!

Apparently, You Tube does their own version of Wrapped and this was my result!

I finally wrapped gifts on Tuesday, so I had to get one picture of the tree with gifts under it.

I finally saw both of my girls on Christmas Eve late morning.  We hung out at home and then went to a Christmas Eve service at my church.  Afterwards, we went to my sister's house for breakfast food and a time with her crew and my parents.  We opened some gifts there.  My sister has lots of stockings for her kids and grandkids.

Every year, my brother-in-law has a tradition to buy the adults a scratch off bingo card.  It was so kind he included us this year and we had fun participating.

My girls with my dad and one of these 3 won a little bit!

Christmas morning wrapping paper for 2025

If you need a simple, delicious breakfast treat, this is it!

Christmas morning breakfast included these waffles, strawberries, donut holes and bacon.

After exchanging presents, we watched ELF and I worked a puzzle.  I had watched Christmas Vacation the night before.

We took a walk on the square.

I had this platter for us to snack from during the day, which was great.  The girls met their dad for about an hour and I met up with another friend at a Starbucks.  Isabella joined us later when Brook went to join her boyfriend and his family for the holiday.

Clearly, Christmas looks very different for us.  I keep reminding myself how different it would look anyway as my parents age, my girls are young adults now, and my sister's family looks different as it has grown.  I loved a low key Christmas with no where to go and no big meals to prepare.  Later that night, Isabella and I watched Emily in Paris and ate chips and dip and chicken nuggets. My brother and 2 of his kids flew into town Christmas night.  We picked up my niece and she spent the night with us.  Friday morning, we went to the cutest decorated Christmas coffee shop. It was fun to laugh with these 3.

I went to a nail salon to join my sister and sister-in-law and got a manicure with chrome.  I love it!  I think this could be my first manicure this year.

We went to my niece's house for a gathering with my family and it is always nice to be with my brother and sister at the same time.

Saturday was a lazy day for me.  I stayed at home and briefly saw my girls that day because they were with friends.  I had a hard moment later in the day with some news, but in my aloneness, I knew I was getting stronger.  Sometimes when hard things happen, I think not having someone with me helps me heal from it quicker because I have to do it alone.  I have sure had more time alone the past 3 years than I ever had in my life.  I am thankful to have the holiday in the past now and move on to a new year! I went to church Sunday and it was a low key day too. I am thankful to be off work this week with no major plans.

Happy Monday (I keep having to remind myself what day it is :))