Christmas

It’s a nice feeling to be on the other side of a holiday having enjoyed the anticipation, and participated in creating the mood. We hosted a small cookies and cocktail party, baking enough cookies and bars to share.

This year’s cocktail was Alton Brown’s Clarified Milk Punch, a recipe seen on TikTok that made me feel like I was pulling off a chemistry experiment in my kitchen. Even the kids were intrigued.

This year, our living room tree was a live one, bought all wrapped-up from Home Depot. I decorated it very simply in blues and golds. But our house features three additional trees… Marie-Hélène’s pencil tree, the boys’ room tree, and the downstairs mini tree.

Reading review

Looking over the 20-some titles of books read in 2025 reminds me of the books I enjoyed… The year began with Matar Hisham’s memoir The Return (mentioned here) and continued with William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days (no. 10). And so impactful for the conclusion it drew, was Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers (no. 21).

But I didn’t just appreciate Pulitzer-Prize winning books… I also liked the books that taught me something, just by being stories set in a different time, in a different place. With my daughter, I read Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and was delighted when an edition of Rob Stephenson’s “The Neighbourhoods” included a picture of the author’s house (here). In the same vein was Kamel Daoud’s novel Houris, containing accounts of the civil war in Algeria. This year I started listening to audiobook versions of French novels just to keep my ear trained to good language. The effects overflowed one day when my daughter said “Why are you speaking [so much] in French? It’s weird!”

Media

Like any typical pop culture consumers, the year’s streaming included Severence and White Lotus, The Night Agent, Adolescence, Friends and Neighbors, The Eternaut, The Wrong Paris and My Brilliant Friend (and the associated documentary). Also Kneecap, Slow Horses and Pluribus. We went to the theatre for Anora and One Battle After Another. But in the last month or so, we discovered that it’s especially relaxing on a Sunday night to just sit and read and stream a live fireplace instead. It took an extra effort, a little push in that direction to commit to doing it, but during the holidays, having finished the first season of Pluribus, we found ourselves reading several nights in a row.

Eating out

New lunch spots tried with friends this year included: Nicolino’s on Pembina, Bonnie Day on Westminster (so cute and cozy!), Dave & LaVerne’s on Lakewood (really nice customer service!), Next Door (I liked their mango jam!), Le Croissant (a deservedly busy spot!), Primo’s Deli (come hungry!), Buvette (Mmm, that Hashbrown Breakfast Sandwich…), Gather (sorry, the word “outstanding” comes to mind… it was unexpectedly my favourite of the year) and The Forge. At The Forge, I had a Polish Double Malt served as a Devonshire Cream Open Face - Blueberry Patch and it looked - pardon my poor photo skills - like this:

It was delicious.

Thanks 2025

To a year that has taught me: in the happiness of finishing a thesis, a deep appreciation for history; in the confusion of A.I., a love for the soul of craft; and in the ordinariness of life, the steadiness and reward of wholesome routines. Here’s to more of that, to still “refusing to lose your own sense of purpose”!