Mark My Words

As I have said many times before, this is my least favorite time of year. But I've been trying to embrace what it does have to offer.

Monday was Epiphany, which isn't really part of the holiday calendar in a state dominated by Latter-day Saints and a nation dominated by Protestantism. We have a donut shop, JJ Donuts, at the bottom of our hill, and they made rosca de reyes for Epiphany, since it's a traditional Mexican treat. I had never had one, so I wanted to try one. It was OK. It didn't really have much flavor. I much preferred the Mardi Gras king cake I got at Parsons' Bakery last year.

On Tuesday, I practiced with the swim team, the first time I had done so since October. And I also swam twice on my own. My swimming has definitely improved since last year, and especially since I took swimming lessons two years ago. In 2023, I often had an existential crisis when I was swimming freestyle. But I've been swimming eight laps freestyle in a row without stopping, which would have been way too much for me in past years.

Then yesterday (Saturday), I took my dad to Great Salt Lake State Park for a ranger-led tour of their mirabilite mounds. Mirabilite is a salty mineral, and under certain conditions, it forms beautiful mounds. Because of the low lake level, these have only been documented at the GSL in the last five years, and it's the only place in the United States where they've been found. It needs to be subfreezing temperatures in a dry climate and at a salty body of water. I didn't think the ranger tour was necessary, but it was cool to see them, especially since they're only around in the winter.

Fish from streams sometimes end up in the lake, and then they wash ashore. There were also several dead birds, but for some reason it seems grosser/sadder to take pictures of dead birds.

While we were out there we stopped at Black Rock. There was once a resort there, and Black Rock was a favorite spot for Fourth of July and Twenty-Fourth of July celebrations in the nineteenth century. It's no longer surrounded by water, but it was still cool to see.

Courtesy Utah Historical Society

This past fall, my uncle gave my parents a big bag of pine nuts he collected. In November and December, I spent some time shelling them, which is a very time-consuming process. This weekend, I wanted to make some pine nut cookies, but the nuts I had shelled were moldy. Sigh. Then my mom peeled more, and I was able to make the cookies, which were very small and like shortbread, similar to Girl Scouts Trefoils. I like them, but I don't think they're worth the troubling of shelling pine nuts. Why are pine nuts a thing? They're so much work, and they're not that great. They're most commonly used in pesto, and I can't stand pesto. (Parmesan strikes again!)

OK, so there's not a lot of things that are special to this time of year, but there are some things. Here are this week's dreams.

Mark looks for an available bathroom in his grandparents' four-level house, which they share with Santa and Rudolph

Mark calls his junior high crush and asks if she wants to get ice cream sometime, and he is relieved when she declines

a four-inch wasp lands on David

Mark doesn't have a music folder for the performance of "Utah, This Is the Place"

Mark wears blue shorts he finds while walking through a construction site, and he sees a white scorpion

Mark plays a game with his family and wins with the entry "potato room"

Allie enters Five Below, and the owner gives her the keys

Mark washes his hand in David's lemon wine

four dogs try to enter the house, but only two are allowed

the cat is out of water because the carpet soaked it up

Mark rides his bike to the border of a small town, where there are sego lilies in bloom (I'm so sad it didn't actually do sego lilies)

Mark watches giant waves at the Great Salt Lake visitor center

Mark trips in floodwaters at BYU

Voldemort and Dolores Umbridge kiss

Mark takes a bath in a bucket while reading a book of random facts

Mark asks his friends what they're doing for Valentine's Day while his mom removes a red velvet rope

a video game involves stabbing the belly of a jellyfish

a man has Mark assemble bullets while the class watches, and microphones amplify the sound

Mark finds his brother's letters written in Chinese at a used-book store

a jumping spider hitchhikes on Mark's orange, then builds a web on his jack-o'-lantern

the city narrows the street by putting trees in front of people's houses

Since the last Sunday in December is typically when I write a year-in-review post (since 2011!), I usually describe the last two weeks, including Christmas, on the first Sunday of January. So buckle up for a long post, filled with tangents.

In the evening of December 22, my brother's family came from California for a week. They also brought my sister-in-law's niece from Taiwan, who wanted to see an American Christmas. She wouldn't see a typical Christmas if they just stayed in California, since my brother doesn't really do holidays. That's not a jab, it's an objective fact. My brother (and his kids) and I are nerdy types, and we love our cats; but besides that, we have very little in common.

For the week of Christmas, my state job encouraged us to take time off as we wanted, and I had sixteen hours granted to me. I'm also in a lull at the moment, so I did little work the week of Christmas. (I didn't do any work at all for my BYU job.) But on Monday, December 23, I checked my work email, and my colleagues had forwarded me a PDF from the Chicago Manual of Style, where you could print out a piece of paper and fold it into a miniature book to use as an ornament! One of the "pages" on the inside is the manual's entry on holidays, which was perfect. (The other pages were from the hyphenation table, which I use regularly.) Every year we get a new Christmas ornament to signify something from the year. Two days earlier, I had bought a cactus ornament because of my trip to Arizona in the spring. But since the eighteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style came out this fall, and I bought it the day it came out, this was a more fitting ornament. It's a good thing I made it, too, because a few days later, my new cactus ornament fell off the tree and broke.

Then that evening, we drove in the neighborhood to see Christmas lights.

On Christmas Eve, I went and saw my grandpa's new tombstone, then did some last-minute grocery shopping with my mom and brother. That afternoon, in the mail I received my CD of the next new release of Charlie Brown soundtracks, Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown. Its official release date is January 17, but I got mine early because I preordered it.

Since I watched this TV special ad nauseam as a kid, it is the soundtrack to Valentine's Day in my mind, so I'm happy it has an official release. Of all my holiday playlists, Valentine's is the shortest, so this more than doubles its length. But I got this on Christmas Eve, which is definitely too early for Valentine's stuff. So what to do if I want to listen to it? Well, also on Christmas Eve, I completed my review of Red Velvet Reese's, so I played the CD while I uploaded the music to iBroadcast and finished the review. Also, every year I make a playlist with music in my collection that came out that year, and then I listen to it during the New Year's season. I put this new music in my 2025 playlist and listened to it New Year's week, which was the first time I was ever able to listen to a year's music before it came out! (Thanks for indulging me as I geek out about very niche musical tastes.)

Christmas Eve we also made sugar cookies. My mom had only seen "2 cups" instead of "1/2 cups" when she was putting the milk in the batter. So instead of starting over, she decided to just quadruple the batch. Since we had so much dough, I added spices and molasses to some of it to make it like gingerbread, and I added cocoa to some of it. I think I did a pretty good job of making alternate flavors. But it was difficult to mix it into batter that was already completed and chilled from the fridge.

My brother's kids participated a little bit. My twenty-year-old nephew, Preston, made Luigi, because he's obsessed with irreverent, subversive things like Luigi Mangione. Then he also made a mushroom. I'm impressed with his artistic skills.

He used the chocolate dough for the eyes

None of our cookies looked that good.

On Christmas morning, we were able to get our stockings, but my niece, Allie, was working (at the airport), so we didn't open presents until the evening. Not surprisingly, I got some Squishmallows as stuffing stockers.

Oops, I mean stocking stuffers. That is a real mistake I made just now. It wasn't meant to be a joke. But now that it's here, here's a picture of a stuffing stocker from the internet.

Anyway, back to the Squishmallows. I'm really only interested in holiday ones. But Allie got me a margherita pizza, because that's my favorite kind of pizza. (I was so disappointed in November when I got a margherita pizza that had parmesan on it, which ruined it! I dislike parmesan almost as much as I hate feta.) I really like the basil leaves on the Squishmallow. And I also have long had an affinity for anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables.

I opened the gift my BYU boss gave me. I had already guessed what it was before I opened it: hardbound copies of all four volumes of Saints. I already have the inexpensive paper copies, but the hard copies are nice, if I can find shelf space for them. Since he used to be managing director of the Church History Department, and now he oversees publications at BYU, he has access to that kind of thing.

We also had a snowstorm that morning, so my nephews and their Taiwanese cousin built a snowman. But I didn't take a picture, because it wasn't G-rated. (Remember how we have little in common?)

I listened to my Christmas playlist while I helped clean up in the kitchen while my mom made classic Mormon dishes: funeral potatoes, frogeye salad, and an apple pudding (cake) that my paternal grandma used to make. We just have the recipe on a copy of an old letter my grandma sent. I just find it so charming (and odd) that she talks about some family separating, then here's this classic recipe. I wouldn't actually consider it a Christmas dessert, but we used the apples I picked this fall, so I could have it.

Eventually, we went to my sister's/grandma's house for Christmas dinner. My parents transported the gifts in one of my gifts, a cat carrier for Reggie. We have had Reggie for three years, but we have never taken him to the vet, in part because we haven't had a carrier that's big enough. This one is technically a dog carrier.

I "wrapped" all the gifts I gave in Christmas pillowcases. It's more sustainable that way, and it's also a lot easier to wrap!

We had dinner with my family, my grandma, my aunt, and some cousins. I stuck around at my sister's house for several hours after dinner to visit, and I even helped take the dogs to the dog park, because my body craves movement.

Once Allie got home from work, we opened our presents. I mostly got money, but I also got some LED light strips you can tape to walls. I'll have to figure out when or how to best use them.

Allie got me another Squishmallow, a turkey with a Pilgrim hat. I have had the turkey without a hat since 2020, but I wanted the hat version because it's the closest thing there will be to a Pilgrim (which is as it should be).

The other one is an eggnog I bought two days after Christmas. And it was on sale!

I get overwhelmed with possessions I don't need, and since my brother's family was boarding a plane, I decided to just buy gifts that are consumable that remind me of my family members. For example, I bought my dad floss, because he's always flossing (and leaving it around the house); I got my mom adhesive bandages, because she often cuts herself when preparing food (and in fact, she cut herself on Christmas morning); and I got my sister cough drops, because she's been sick all year. These gifts might not have had much intrinsic value, but hopefully people felt like I thought about them.

And then Christmas was over. The next day, we had more snow, so the "kids" made more snowmen, and this time I could take pictures of them.

On Friday, December 27, on my way home from buying the eggnog Squishmallow, I saw a truck next to a porcupine! I stopped and took a picture, and later my brother said it had been there a few days. It did appear to be limping or something, but I'm not an expert in porcupine gait. It seems like whenever I see porcupines, it's in this same area.

I zoomed in for this picture, so I wasn't close to it.

Then we went to Antelope Island to show it to the Californians and Taiwanese. I was surprised how many people were there. Unfortunately, it was rainy, so we didn't want to spend too much time outside.

Ugh, phragmites!

Then on Sunday, December 29, my brother's family returned to California, leaving us to observe New Year's without them.

Here's Reggie yawning on my New Year's pillowcases

I worked full hours again New Year's week (except New Year's Day), because I didn't have anything better to do.

Early in December, people were posting their Spotify Wrapped. But I do most of my listening in iBroadcast, which lets you upload your own music files. I like using it, because then I can send more money directly to the artists instead of paying the streaming company. (It's a free service, but I pay to support them.) They did their own end-of-year stats, which is more reflective of my actual listening than Spotify Wrapped.

I was surprised to see Mormon Tabernacle Choir on there, but it's because of Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas

My fourth album on the list, Sing for Very Important People (which I bought digitally in April), has the most perfect album art ever. I love the Free Design, but most of their album art isn't very good. But Sing for Very Important People perfectly matches the tone of the album.

New Year's Eve, I made New Year's Day soup (with black-eyed peas, leftover Christmas ham, and spinach) with cornbread. Apparently it's a tradition to eat black-eyed peas, greens, and cornbread in the South on New Year's Day, but we don't really have New Year's food traditions in the West. This was the first time I had made cornbread from scratch. I liked it for the special occasion, but I don't know if I would make it otherwise.

I just spent New Year's Eve with my parents. We took down most of the Christmas decorations, except the tree, while I listened to my 2024 playlist. But my dad went to bed before midnight, so it was just me and my mom. We had obligatory Martinelli's at midnight, and then I had some hot cocoa outside while I looked out over the valley to see fireworks. I think it's crazy that Utah legalized aerial fireworks in 2011, but they freak me out less in the winter. And after midnight, I uploaded my 1 Second Everyday video. The resolution isn't great, because I don't want to pay fifty dollars a year for the pro version.

Then on New Year's Day, we had our annual family tradition of going out to eat. On January 1, 1959, my grandparents had their first date, with my mom and her two siblings in tow. It has been a tradition ever since. In the early 2000s, my grandpa began to prefer going to Golden Corral. In recent years, as his sight and hearing declined, we asked if we should simply get takeout (as they did during COVID years), but he insisted that we either go out, or we don't do it at all. Last year, it was extremely difficult to communicate with him in the chaotic restaurant, since he couldn't see and could barely hear, and I wondered if we would do it again, and if he even would be around next time.

Well, 2025 was the first time with him gone. The family still opted for Golden Corral. It's always good to catch up with family members we don't always see. Who am I kidding, I'm an introvert, so I don't usually go out of my way to talk to them, but I appreciate them talking to me.

Also on New Year's Day, we took down the Christmas tree, and I went on a short run as it was lightly snowing.

Now that it's 2025, it is wild to me that it is:

A quarter of a century since the millennium began (and don't come at me with your "the millennium started in 2001" pedantry)
Almost three years since I began a faith journey and existential crisis
Almost five years since COVID!
Thirteen years since 2012, which was a key year in my life for some reason

And honestly, I don't have a lot to look forward to in 2025. I worry about presidencies. I should have an enjoyable vacation in the spring, but I don't have anything else planned.

Right now, early January, is my least favorite time of the entire year. It's the worst!

On January 2, I went to the North Salt Lake police station. On Christmas Eve, I found a keyfob in the road. I put it on Nextdoor, so I met a couple at the police station to see if it was theirs. It wasn't. So I went into the station and donated it. They had me fill out a report and then talk to an officer. It seemed like a lot of formality for just finding a keyfob. I must say, though I lean left, I find myself baffled at much of the leftist disdain for police, especially since it's the right that claims to dislike government. (I am still sensitive to complex issues and problems with some police practices and tactics.)

One of my guidelines is that once all the snow has melted from our yard, I can run on the trails. And all the snow melted from our yard on January 2! So I ran on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which is the earliest in the month I have ever been running there. But I maybe shouldn't have, at least not where I went, because it was the muddiest conditions I have ever been in.

Then on January 3, I ran on the Wild Rose Trail, the first time I have ever been on that trail in January. It was muddy as well, but not as muddy as the previous day's trail.

But what a difference a day can make! We had snow on January 4, so I went hiking in the snow on Wild Rose.

Hiking in the snow is not as good as a trail run, but at least it's something to do in this bleak time of year. It is charming in its own way.

Though the holidays are over, I made some mincemeat cookies from the mincemeat that was leftover from Thanksgiving. It's made from the apples I picked myself and the green tomatoes from our garden, which is why I can have them out of season.

Phew! Are you still with me? Are you up for two weeks of AI dream images?

Mark looks at baby pictures of Allie from 2003, and in some of them she is very wrinkly

Mark holds on to his bread roll while climbing the shelves at the furniture store

David wears Mark's button-up skeleton shirt

Family Feud has an episode with men in wrestling singlets

the owner of a sandwich shop has a musical number to show him giving to the poor

a local sandwich shop has two locations near each other, but one appears to be closed

a porcupine runs very fast up a hill

Mark and his family see a baby porcupine and a white baby porcupine

a car collides with a slow-moving train in an alley

Mark sees animals that look like Gremlins (the "butterflies" crack me up)

pop singers sing snippets of songs to have people guess their setlists

Mark ascends a moveable metal staircase, which has narrow and shallow steps (Such an interesting image! The stairs are going down, but the person is going up!)