Friday Fotos 2025 #2

Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/image-of-river-on-smartphone-1398339/

 Friday Fotos is a post where I can dump some photos from the previous week. The goal is to make me more aware of the beauty and fun in my everyday life. Yep, it's been a while. When I looked back to see how many Friday Fotos posts I've done this year, I was shocked that I've neglected this blog that much!  Maybe I'll do better next year. 😁

The view from my seat during the Tennessee 4A State Football Championship. This is the way to watch a game!

The Alcoa Tornadoes won their 11th straight, 24th overall state championship

At the beginning of the season, I didn't think they'd make it to play in December since they moved up a classification this year. My alma mater has now won a state football championship in 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A (as the school has grown and classifications changed through the years)

Smokey (OS' dog) and Laika in a rare moment of tranquility

The park Christmas Tree is looking a little sad this year. It looks like the lights were just thrown on. The "main" tree is by the municipal building and looks much nicer. There used to be a big tree lighting cerremony at the park (which is the "hub" of the town), but they did it at the city building this year. Maybe they have in other years & I just didn't notice it. I'm just glad the park tree has some lights on it; it would have been very sad not to have had it decorated this year.

As a reference, this is the tree in 2009. It's grown a lot bigger, so maybe they're using the same lights!

There may (or may not) be a Friday Fotos next week. I'm going to try to send 2025 out with a bang!

Holiday Hodgepodge

Joyce asks the questions, and we provide the answers. See how others answered at From This Side of the Pond.

1. Do you struggle with the commercialization of the holiday season? What helps you keep your focus when the season’s busyness and commercialism start to take over? 

I used to when the boys were young, but now, not so much. Things aren't too busy around here these days. I try to stay out of the stores and concentrate on Advent.

2. What's one small thing you want to savor before the year ends? 

I'm coming up with a whole lot of nuttin'.

3. December 9th is National Christmas Card Day. Do you still send Christmas cards? If so does yours include a photo or is it a more traditional card, or maybe homemade? How do you feel about the tradition of exchanging cards at the holidays? If Hanukkah is the holiday you celebrate in December do you send cards to mark the occasion? 

I haven't sent out cards in years. When someone asks me for my address around this time of year, I make sure they know that I don't do cards anymore, so they won't think they've been snubbed. I hate to sound like a Scrooge or Grinch, but I honestly think it's a waste of time and money. 

4. What's your least favorite holiday related task? What's your favorite? 

Least favorite: Decorating the tree

Most favorite: Candy making

5. Let's do a little holiday this or that? 

• shopping or wrapping Neither
• baking or decorating Baking (see previous answer)
• eggnog or wassail Eggnog (I don't know that I've ever had wassail)
• real tree or artificial Real (see random thought)
• turkey or ham Ham
• white lights or colored lights Either one
• ugly sweaters or matching pjs Ugly sweaters
• peppermint or cinnamon  Peppermint
• presents Christmas Eve or presents Christmas Day Christmas Day

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

For the first year in a very long time, I have a real tree. 2 years ago, I only put up a couple of tabletop trees; last year I had a 4-ft. artificial one (and it looked very sad!. This year, since OS is in the house, I have a real tree. We put it up (and by "we" I mean OS) and he put the lights on it, but I don't have any ornaments on it yet. When the boys were in school, we waited to decorate until after the State Championship Football Game because things were pretty busy around here. This year, OS was able to go to the tree farm he's worked at and get a tree over Thanksgiving Week. I thought I had pictures from 2023, but either I didn't take any or I deleted them. 

The sad little tree of 2024

2025 Tree

Share Your Shelf November 2025

 

Now that I'm back to reading, this link-up is just what I need. Look at the bottom of the post for the hosts, see what others are reading, and for inspiration for new books to read. Here are my books this month:

This book was about one of the Seven Sisters. I read the second book in the series last month, so I continued on to the next book in the series. I love how Lucinda Riley intertwines past history in her books, taking me back to another time (and place). Star's (the main character) love for books and the rekindling of my love for books grabbed my attention.

I couldn't stop with book 3, and since Star (from book 3) and CeCe (from this book) are so close, it was natural that I wouldn't have stopped. Again, I found something that's happening in my life that coincided with something going on in the character's life. I really wanted to read book 5, but I made myself move on to something else.

This was a quick read. I read half of it Thanksgiving night and finished it the next morning. The book club leader (who is a reading teacher) is reading it to her class, and almost every member of the book club (if not every one of them) has read it. They talk about it every time we meet, so I figured I'd better read it so I wouldn't be shunned! Obviously, it was a good book because I finished it so quickly. The club members talked about how they "ugly cried" reading it. I don't know if it's because I was expecting something to happen (because that's all the members talked about) or if it was something else, but I didn't experience the crying. I did tear up at one part; I knew what was going to happen to one of the characters (I just didn't know which one), I figured it out early in the book, so I may have just been ready for it. 

I'm currently reading my book club book. We meet every other week; our assignment is to read 200 pages each time. 200 pages to go before we finish the book, but you'll have to come back next month to see what it was & what I thought of it. 😁

I read one more book this month! I don't listen to audiobooks, so what I'm reading, I'm actually reading. No judgment, though. Listening to books puts me to sleep; I have to actually see it to retain it.

If you need ideas for what to read next, check out the hosts' blogs:

The Other Side of the Road

Slices of Life

My Joyful Life

Memphis Bridges

Getting into the Holiday Spirit Hodgepodge

 

Joyce asks the questions, and we provide the answers. See how others answered at From This Side of the Pond.

1. What does it mean to have the 'holiday spirit'? On a scale of 1-10 how is yours this year? (10=off the charts, 1=still looking for it)

Shouldn't we always have the holiday spirit? Being kind and cheerful, right? I'd say mine is an 8 this year. I had an excellent Thanksgiving (you can read about it here). Things will never be the same, but there is some joy and getting back to the holiday routines going on.

2. What's your favorite character from a (December) holiday-themed movie, book, or TV special? Tell us why. 

This is a tough one! Iris from The Holiday or Sybil from The Family Stone would be tops, for sure. I love that Iris found herself and stopped being a doormat, and I love Sybil and how she handled her family.

3. Do you like gingerbread? Are gingerbread houses part of your holiday tradition? 

I am definitely a fan of gingerbread...eating it, not building houses with it. 

4. Much of our vocabulary is determined by where we live or where we grew up. What say you-sprinkles or jimmies? lightning bugs or fireflies? soda or pop? sneakers, trainers, or tennis shoes? sub, hoagie, grinder, or hero? freeway, highway, or motorway? frosting or icing? sauce or gravy?

Being from the South, I'm sure people can already predict my answers!

Sprinkles, lightning bugs, coke (not soda or pop, although I have learned to say "soda" instead of coke), tennis shoes, sub, highway/interstate, frosting, gravy.

5. Share a favorite holiday memory from your childhood. 

Here's one I don't think I've shared before:

Growing up, we didn't have a fireplace where we could hang our stockings; we put them on our bedposts instead. It was so exciting to go to bed with empty stockings & wake up with them full of candy. There were no presents in them, only candy and a tangerine at the bottom. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.  

We also celebrated St. Nicholas' feast day, but with a little twist. We didn't put our shoes out for St. Nick; we would put plates around the table. Probably because my parents didn't think it was sanitary to put candy in stinky, dirty shoes! I continued that tradition with my boys. They would each get some kind of coloring book or reading book, a Santa chocolate, and a Christmas movie to share.