Some 2025 Christmas Loot

Huh. I thought I showed you my Christmas gifts almost every year. But I didn't do it for 2024, and not everything for 2023. I'm not sure I can remember without the blog post. Oh wait, I think Om helped me get a different camera last year.

Anyway, This year was a year for the feet from Steve. I found another pair of the boots I like (on eBay because the company doesn't make them any more). Steve said, "You want USED boots, Mom?"

Yup, I wear the smallest size they ever made. This is my third pair. The first ones wore out. The second ones had defective plastic, and some of the buckles broke. I've been holding the boots on with velcro straps. Not ideal but it worked. So when I found a pair in the right size that were in good shape, I sure did want them. These should last the rest of my outdoor recreation life.

And here's why these are so perfect for me. My heels are VERY narrow. Most boots just slipe and slide or pull completely off my feet. These have a velcro strap across the heel that you can tighten down. No more slipping!

Steve said that wasn't enough. So I asked him and Omer to split the cost of new hiking shoes. The ones I have aren't totally shot, but if I can do the Sheltowee Trace this coming year I'll need a reliable pair of shoes. I think these are perfect.

But Steve bought those all on his own! So Om got me a couple of books. One hasn't arrived yet. That one is Ground Cherries of the Prairie, by my friend Stan Hagemeyer. I've heard him read portions of that at writer's group for several years, so I know that will be good. The other one, pictured above, is a true crime book, The Axeman about a serial killer in New Orleans from 1910- 1916. I've almost finished it, and it's great.

I don't have pictures of what we got from Josh. He always brings a big fruit basket, which is very thoughtful. He also brought mixed nuts and the large red candle that is on the dining room table in the pictures from Christmas day.

Neither of Omer's gifts from me has arrived yet, although I have notices that both have shipped.

I got back a bit of my motivation today and edited and worked in the kitchen. Then Om and I finished watching Truth and Treason, an excellent movie of a true story from Nazi Germany.

I walked on the treadmill some more, but even with that I doubt I'll make 500 miles for the year. I find the treadmill much harder walking than outside. If you are local you know we had a only a little snow, but a serious wind was blowing it around all day. It was a good day to stay inside with a blanket and book.

See Some Christmas 2023 gifts

Christmas 2025

Quite a nice holiday, actually.

Om went and picked up Josh to ensure that he would show up. Steve called and we did gift opening with phone commentary. He's done that the past few years, but he seemed to really get into it today with me sending him pictures of the various gifts. So, that was really fun.

After the successful experiment a few days ago, I made a real batch of the low cal/carb cinnamon rolls. These turned out even better. I learned a few things the first time.

The table looks good. But wait... five plates?

Yup! Doug and Cathy were going to go spend the day with one of their daughters. But all the kids are really sick, so they are waiting a few days. That was perfect- they came and ate with us. We had ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry relish, and a low-cal chocolate dessert. That list sounds impressive, but we really kept it simple. It's also a meal that most everyone will eat.

Cathy brought a game we all played. It's called Marbles and Jokers. It's very similar to Sorry, but it will work for three to eight players, and there is more strategy to it. Doug won if anyone cares. The board is very ingenious. Each player choses a color and you hinge the sections together with a 2-D ball and socket joint to create the track.

We tried to get a family picture. Well. Josh says this is his smiling face. We couldn't find a location where the light didn't bounce off my hair. Om looks pretty good.

As is so true in most holiday homes, the day started with cleaning up the kitchen so that I could make another kitchen mess. The second one is partially cleaned up. Om took care of all the wrappings (most are fabric and bags, so it's just a matter of folding them and putting back in the box. The only paper wrapping here is on things someone else brought in.)

Cathy gave me a jigsaw puzzle. Actually, I have six new ones. I may have to start one this week. She also brought some pumpkin bread and sweet snacks. That bag of mint M&Ms got opened and devoured.

I'll share some of our loot another day. Right now, I'm beat. And too full of food.

See Food Coma

Bell Choir Christmas 2025- part 2

Here are the other two songs we played this Christmas season.

First is "Were You There on that Christmas Night?"



This is our most impressivie piece of the season. I made two recordings on different days, but I think this one is the best. It's a medley- you'll recognize the tunes- of a number of songs. Called "Christmas Bells Overture."



I'm posting this late, but at least I got it done!

See Bell Choir Christmas 2025- part 1

Chrismons

I learned something new this week! The white and gold ornaments on some Christmas trees have a name. They are called Chrismons- a portmonteau word of Christ and monogram. They are always symbols of the Christian faith. That much I knew.

Not being raised in a liturgical church, I did not know that white and gold are the liturgical colors of the Advent season.

Just to remind you, here is the Chrismon tree at the Lutheran church next door.



This type of ornament was first created in 1957 by a woman named Frances Spencer who made all the ornaments for the Ascension Lutheran Church Christmas tree in Danville, Virginia. She said the tree was not complete until someone had the story of Christ explained to them through the symbols. So... a truly US-based tradition that has spread to many denominations and throughout the world.

Here is a small Chrismon tree at the Ludington Methodist church.

I have some closeups of the symbolic ornaments, but not all of them are great pic. I'll highlight a few.

Symbols of the trinity are always featured. These have three connected circles (a trefoil), or a triangle, or both. They represent the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The trees also have only clear or white lights if they have lights. You can see that some have strings of white and gold beads.

This picture isn't very good, but it shows a shell. This is the symbol of baptism (because a shell can hold water), the beginning of a journey (as baptism is seen as the outward display of a serious desire to follow Christ), and spritual growth. The ribs of the shell symbolize paths to spiritual truth. Actually, I'll bet a lot of you already knew this, even if you didn't know you knew it. The shell is associated with St. James (Iago), and the Camino de Santiago- the way of St. James in Spain- uses the shell as its trail marker and symbol. I know two people who have chosen to get a small shell tattoo as a reminder of their walk of the Camino.

Behind the shell is a star- a fairly well-known symbol of Christianity not only for the Christmas star, but as a reminder that Christ is the light of the world, and we are to be the light to others.

Various kinds of crosses are alwyas found. The cross, a Roman emblem of shame and execution, became the symbol of triumph for Christians as Christ rose from the dead. You'll find any number of styles of cross. This one has something hanging from the arms. The left one is probably Alpha, but the one on the right does not look like Omega, so I'm not sure what's going on here. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. God and Christ are called the Alpha and Omega- the beginning and the end, a symbol of their eternal nature.

If you look at the pictures of the entire trees, you'll also see sheep (Jesus as the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for our sins), doves (symbol of the Holy Spirit), circles (symbol of the eternal nature of God), the Chi Rho cross, which looks like a P with an X on the upright. These are the Greek letters chi and rho, a monogram for Christos- Christ in Greek.

Here is a crown- symbolic of our future reward in heaven, and that Christ is King.

Some other symbols that may be used are the shepherd's crook (Jesus as the Good Shepherd), the butterfly (eternal life), the rainbow (God's promise to Noah), the chalice (symbol of the Eucharist), and the anchor (God is an anchor for our soul).

I don't see any fish on these trees, but this is one of the oldest of the Christian symbols IXTHUS means fish, and it's an anagram for "Jesus Christ God's Son our Savior." Early Christians would identify themselves to each other by scratching a semicircle in the dust. If the other person completed the fish, they know it was safe to talk of spritual things.

Of course, many of these symbols are now mocked or discarded. But I like symbols. A lot. I have several books on symbology. They are great as mnemonic devices, and they are sort of like puzzles in pictures. I'm glad I learned these ornaments are called Chrismons.

And here is another full tree- this one at the Methodist Church in Manistee a few years ago.



I got quite a lot done today. Hopeful for more of the same tomorrow!

See Concert at Our Savior Lutheran

Bell Choir- Christmas 2025- Part 1

The handbell choir prepared four songs for the holiday this year. Here are two of them. We performed all four at the two previous concerts, and did three this morning. We'll do all four again on Christmas Eve. I'll share the other two that day.

Here is "We Three Kings," always a favorite. No title screen. I truly hate the "new" free video software that came with my computer. Apparently you can get the old version, but you need a piece of translation software that I'm not up to dealing with today since I'm also trying to get another new piece of software to work. And trying to get my calendar to sync across devices. So annoying.



Next up is "One Star."



I'm saving my favorite to post on Wednesday.

I must have hit stop on my alarm instead of snooze this morning. So when I did wake up the second time, I had to leap out of bed and dash out the door. Of course, I couldn't wake up and felt like crap all day. Mostly ate junk which is often my response to the days that start out like this.

I did go for a walk after church. The trail was bumpy ice with crusty snow over the top, but I walked 2.7 miles.

Finished my column for the paper, did other computer tasks, and tried to stay awake in the afternoon.

Miles hiked in 2025: 475.5

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 2.7 miles

See Bell Choir- November 2025

West Shore Concert Choir- Christmas 2025

Tonight was the full concert of the West Shore Choir. This is the choir that sang several songs at St. Joseph's last week, joining with the bells to create a full hour of music.

They had eleven pieces, an ambitious program for only one rehearsal a week! But it was great. Director Becky Sopha always gets mega music out of the group. Of course, quite a few of the members are friends of mine, too.

These young people, Grace and Carson, sang "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "Let it Snow," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

It's really hard to get pictures to focus in the low light. I took lots more, but you are seeing a few of the better ones that show some of the variety.

The final segment of the program featured several selections from Handel's "Messiah." For those there was a live mini-orchestra. I love it when local performances take advantage of local talent. I didn't manage to get all the instruments in the picture- the light wasn't consistent and either one half was too dark or too light. But you get the idea.

And this is the soloist, Neysa, who sang "O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion."

There was a visit from Santa Claus, more solos, and the ensemble I showed you at St. Joe's that sang "Carol of the Bells."

I skipped a Zoom meeting to attend this. No regrets.

In other news, I was super-good today. I edited and stuff like that. Did several jobs outside since we are going to have a mini thaw and I need to finish up a few tasks, then I took a short snowshoe walk, went to bell practice, and then to this concert. Full day!

Miles hiked in 2025: 470.0

Ludington School Forest- various trails, 1.1 miles.

See Concert at St. Joe- 2025

We'll Be Home For the Holidays- 2025

I guess I've managed to miss this concert most years. Seems like I've been to one since 2018, but maybe not. Between Covid and my NCT hike, three years got knocked out of the possibilities anyway.

This is the annual Christmas concert at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts. LACA has expanded and improved mightily since it's beginnings about 15 years ago. All the performers are local to the region.

Their building is the former Methodist Church, and it is right downtown. The auditorium has been converted to a stage.

The music was a great mix of different instruments and styles. There were two piano solos. This one, and one by a boy.

LACA now has a Youth Chorus. They sang two songs and did a very good job with them.

There was a clarinet band! Four different range clarinets playing together.

One male soloist with guitar did "Mary Did You Know?" very dramatically. And the closing two pieces were a female duet that were very, very good. The closed the concert with "Sleigh Ride."

Several soft rock/folk bands played and sang. This is the group 80 Cows that also played at the vendor event I did in October.

And of all the goofy things- this was totally unplanned. I went to my favorite audience spot in the balcony, and friend Loren was there! So I sat with her.

The pics aren't stellar- it's hard in the lower light. But still fun.

In the middle of posting this, Doug came to plow our driveway, and we had to move the cars to do that because Om wasn't able to get all they way up this afternoon. But, this means the driveway should be in good shape for the week. Hopefully, the rain on Thursday won't turn it all to ice. I've got a lot going on this week.

I'm enjoying hitting some extra Christmas concerts again this year.

See We'll Be Home For the Holidays- 2018

Camping Theme Ornaments

I did post once before about these in 2010, but since then I've been given a lot more ornaments for the collection. I now have so many that I didn't even put them all out. There are tents, hiking boots, paddles, canoes, skis, snowshoes, skiing and snowshoeing bears and moose, canoeing/skiing/showshoeing Santas, all kinds of camping gear, leaves, campfires. I really love the collection. Most of them have been gifts from friends. Some are hamdmade.

Over the past year I found both the green cloth and the set with the little girl and tent. That was a birthday present from Marie a lot of years ago- maybe 2007ish. I could look it up, but who cares? Anyway, I thought I lost it somewhere (not a quality event), and was really happy when I found it.

These haven't been out for several years. I decided to make it the table decoration for this year.

Sadly, you can't see the ornaments very well. I put some white lights on the tree and they don't really help the decorations show up. You'll just have to come see them yourself! Here is the left tree.

And the right tree. Can you see that the trail is the NCT? And there is a blue blaze on the tree.

Here's a closeup of the doll set. She has a tent, a sleeping bag, a pack, and a purple squirrel. The squirrel is up in one of the trees. The campfire is an ornament from National Wildlife, and the water bucket and lantern are part of a set, maybe also from NWF. The dog peeking around the corner of the tent is very like Chips. And down in front is Snoopy with his troop of Woodstock and associated campers. I'm a snoopy fan.

But Omer came home today and he plopped an obstruction down right in the trail! We'll need a chainsaw.

I continued to be somewhat lazy today, although when Om came home he got stuck in the driveway, so getting him out was my excercise for the day! Did some more cleaning in the kitchen and finished the turkey soup. Kitchens just get awful.

Back to business tomorrow.

See Camping Christmas Trees

Christmas Concert - Our Savior Lutheran

The other big activity yesterday was the bell choir's participation in the Our Savior Lutheran Church Christmas concert.

We were only a part of the musical program. Their choir sang several songs- Breath of Heaven, Mary Did You Know, and a medly with the Sunday School kids, shown here. And there were other soloists, and we all sang some carols.

The church was beautifully decorated. The large tree is covered with symbolic ornaments.

And they have a large nativity set in the hallway.

Of course, it takes a lot of work to set up for bell choir. We had to move all that stuff to the church, unload, set up, and then take it down afterwards too! This isn't during the performance, but near the end of the set-up time. We were first, so that the tables could then be moved out of the way for the rest of the program.

I want to say that the kids did a great job. They sang "Away in a Manger" in counterpoint to a different melody the choir was singing behind them. They were loud enough and on key. The younger girls were dressed in St. Lucia costumes, although that celebratrion doesn't come for another week, I think. The microphone kept me from getting a really good picture, but it's still cute.

Afterwards, they served cake and ice cream, egg nog, and wassail punch in the fellowship hall.

It was as full a day as I'm interested in any more! But great. I really enjoyed the Christmas celebration.

Today, I've mostly taken it easy. My goal has been to work at cleaning up the house a bit.

See SPW Hike- December

Christmas Flamingo

If you've been hanging around here long enough, you know that I have a running joke with flamingoes. No two that I've posted are alike! I'm up to somewhere around 40 posts, and have more pictures I've never gotten around to sharing. Link at the end to the list.

Anyway... one of the funny sweaters/sweatshirts yesterday had a Christmas flamingo!

Not a lot happened today. I did not get to sleep until 4 am. I did do a podcast interview about one of my books (link when it is published), and got out to do a half-mile on snowshowes. Since we got another 10 inches on Monday night, it was all in unbroken snow.

Miles hikes in 2025: 462.6

See Bell Choir Shenanigans See All Flamingo Posts

Bell Choir Shenanigans

Our assignment this week was to show up at bell choir practice in an "ugly sweater" for Christmas. Some people had the goods. I borrowed a sweatshirt of Omer's that I don't think is ugly, but it's festive.

Then we settled in for a long practice. Our first concert is Saturday, and I wouldn't say we are ready, but... o well.

Penny made us all ornaments from old sheet music and some bling. Every one is different. I really like ours.

I managed to get in 1.2 miles on snowshoes, but don't get too excited. I was going to try for a half mile, but when I got to the School Forest trail system, I learned that they had already taken the fat-bike groomer through. So what's the ettiquette on that? I know you shouldn't walk in it- that can create post holes. But I had on the wooden shoes which do not even have cleats. I tooks some steps on the groomed trail and looked back. It sure didn't seem like I was impacting the grooming. The deer, however, had done a number in a lot of places.

I stayed on the groomed trail and that's why I was able to go so far.

When I got home, I looked up what the "rules" are. Unclear. Some sites say snowshoes are OK, some say no. It seems to me that the shoes with cleats that leave divots would be more of a problem than my flat wooden ones.

Of course, you should never walk or snowshoe on groomed ski trails, or let pets walk in any of them either.

Then I went and spent a little over an hour with Betty. We are having such fun getting caught up!

Miles hiked in 2025: 462.1

Ludington School Forest, various trails. 1.2 miles

See 2023 Bell Choir Fun

Not the Tree(s) I Wanted

No, I'm not unhappy with the Christmas tree. Not at all. It now has lights.

I am unhappy that I forgot to put the SD card in the camera when I went out snowshoeing. I took several pictures to share of trees that would at least be updates on previous posts, but I can't guarantee how interesting they would be.

So, the good news is that I went out snowshoeing again. For sure I did a half mile today. I'll add the mile from the two days to my walking total. I may want to snowshoe a slightly more significant distance on Saturday, so I think I need to get out a little bit before then!

Worked some on the usual issues, and had a Zoom meeting.

Miles hiked in 2025: 460.9

See Putting the Tree Up