The months of the year, ranked

Because there isn't a lot going on right now in my personal life that I care to blog about at the moment, I thought I would elaborate on my rankings of the months of the year, which I laid out two years ago.

My three favorite things are holidays, trails, and cats, so the holidays and trails wield a lot of influence for these rankings. (We always have cats, so they don't affect the rankings.)

12. January

January 2023

The Pros: Snow can be pretty. New Year's Day. A day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The beginning of the Valentine's Day season.

The Cons: Ugh, everything else. Cold. Smog. Slipping on ice. Driving in snow. Darkness. Dry skin.

11. February

February 2018

The Pros: Valentine's Day. A day off work for Presidents' Day. The beginning of the St. Patrick's Day season, with various mint shakes.

The Cons: Only slightly better than January; it's still dark, icy, cold, smoggy, snowy. Valentine's Day isn't even that great of a holiday.

I know some people who enjoy the winter months because you get to do cozy indoor things like reading and watching movies. But you get to do those things all year! 

January and February are the only months I dislike. I like the remaining ten!

10. March

March 2017

The Pros: St. Patrick's Day, with its green everything, corned beef and cabbage, Celtic music performances, etc. Easter season, with all its candy, and sometimes Easter itself. Warmer, springlike weather. Early wildflowers such as springbeauties, glacier lilies, and yellowbells. Longer days. Snowmelt. Daffodils.

The Cons: Can still be cold and snowy. Much of the month is still drab and not green.

9. August

August 2013

The Pros: Monsoonal thunderstorms. Sunflowers, fireweed, Richardson's geraniums. Ripe fruits such as plums, peaches, grapes, and thimbleberries. The excitement that comes with a new school year. Road trips. Perseid meteor shower. Lake days.

The Cons: Hot. Wildfires. No holidays. Even though it's still hot, it gets dark earlier. Starting school again can be sad. Mosquitoes and other bugs.

8. July

July 2025

The Pros: The July holidays of Independence Day and Pioneer Day, with all their fireworks and red, white, and blue. The start of sunflower season, as well as fireweed and Richardson's geraniums. Camping and road trips. Lake days.

The Cons: The hottest month. Wildfires. Bugs. 

7. December

December 2021

The Pros: Christmas is basically the only good thing about December. But Christmas has so much going for it that it brings December into the middle of the ranking! Christmas songs, concerts, presents, lights, decorations, trees, parties, family gatherings, candy, treats, etc. New Year's Eve, with all its year-in-review reminiscing. The charm and romance of snow hasn't worn off yet.

The Cons: Icy, smoggy, cold, dark.

6. April

April 2024

The Pros: Usually Easter. Lots of wildflowers, such as glacier lilies, arrowleaf balsamroot, phlox, and more. The minor ecological holidays of Earth Day and Arbor Day. Butterflies. Snowstorms melt quickly. Blossoming trees

The Cons: Because the temperature is still cool, it can be easy to forget that the sun is intense and it's easy to get sunburned. When Easter is over, there's not a lot happening.

5. June

June 2024

The Pros: So many wonderful wildflowers! Penstemon, Nootka rose, sego lilies, paintbrush, sticky geraniums, smallflower woodlandstar. Pride Month. Flag Day and Juneteenth. Cherry season. Longest days of the year.

The Cons: It's finally getting hot, and the sun is intense. Even though the weather is hot, many of the lakes are still cold.

4. November

November 2024

The Pros: Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season. Lingering fall leaves. Still warm days, but also some cozy cool days. 

The Cons: Getting cold and dark and sometimes snowy and icy. (At least I hope we get snowy Novembers again!) Leaves have passed their peak, and things start to turn brown and gray.

3. May

May 2025

The Pros: May is not a major holiday month, so it shows you how great it is if I rate it this high! Everything is green, and it's peak wildflower season, including the majesty of mulesears and cutleaf balsamroot. It's warm but not too warm. Minor holidays of May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, and Memorial Day, which is also the weekend I start the Fourth of July season. Snow clears from most trails.

The Cons: Only minor holidays; sometimes it's too hot. Lakes are still too cold.

2. October

October 2023

The Pros: Spectacular leaves! Halloween, with all its jack-o'-lanterns, spooky movies, candy, corn mazes, parties, and pumpkin everything. Perfect temperatures.

The Cons: Lots of mosquitoes; this is the time of year when I'm most likely to find them in my house.

1. September

September 2021

The Pros: Meteorological fall starts on September, while astronomical fall starts with the equinox, which means there are three weeks when it is literally summer and fall at the same time. There are still the summer things of sunflowers, ripe fruits, watermelon, cookouts, lake trips, and warm days. But there are also fall things like pumpkins, start of spooky season, and fabulous leaves. Labor Day.

The Cons: It's getting dark. The first half of the month is less exciting.

Well. I've wanted to write a post like this for ages, and it honestly was less satisfying than I hoped it would be. But it's nice to think about all the wonderful things to look forward to the rest of the year.

Blah

Maybe you'd be interested in a recap of the Sunday School lesson I taught today? I began it by discussing the origins of the book of Moses and the book of Abraham. I talked about Moses 1 and Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "paradox of man." I showed pictures of various political and religious figures and asked, "How does knowing we are children of God affect the way we treat ourselves and others?" I talked about the Creation and asked, "How can we care for creation?" And I talked about the seventh day of Creation and asked, "Why is it important to have a day of rest?" I ran out of content at the end, but the class contributed with their own comments and insights. I thought it went well, and I received several compliments.

I also bless the sacrament every week, because I don't like passing it, and that way they won't ask me to pass it. Today we had a high councilor speak with his family, and he said he pointed out to his priest son how carefully the sacrament prayer was enunciated. I never know how good a job I'm doing, so it's nice to get a validating shout-out. (Unless he was talking about the other person who prayed?)

(I put these two paragraphs at the end of the post, but then I moved them to the beginning because they seemed less frivolous than the rest of the post.)

Every January, I miss Christmastime. It's nice to have a refresher after all the chaos of the holidays, but I still miss it. And that is especially true this year, because I felt cheated out of the full Christmas experience, and I had a lot of missed opportunities. 

I couldn't find my new Christmas ornament from Holiday World, but I found it this week. I learned about a delightfully quirky Christmas album that came out in 2025, but not until Christmas was over. I felt like I didn't get as much time playing and sharing my Christmas playlist as I would have liked.

But of course, the biggest reason was that it was such a warm and snowless Christmas season. I didn't get the cozy, white vibes we think of.

But at least December was better than January. We had good air quality and clear trails last month. But this January, it's super smoggy. We had a skiff of snow over a week ago, but it still hasn't melted, even though it's been sunny and above freezing. That keeps me off the trails. I went swimming four times this week because of the icky January weather. I want it to get better . . . but there is no indication that it's going to.

And I get extremely frustrated with a segment of the population who think climate change is a hoax because they think they're somehow smarter than the people who actually study these things professionally. How can they not notice what is going on in front of their eyes? I am hopeful that emissions are slowing, and hopeful that other countries and private entities are doing something, even if the US isn't. I look at humans' successes in reversing the decline of the ozone layer and in generally making the air cleaner than it was in previous decades. I hope we can have normal winters and Christmases again. But that's all I can do, hope, because otherwise I just feel helpless.

There are some Christmas fanatics, and I honestly feel worse for them when Christmas is over. Because of my veneration of holidays, I treat every (major) holiday the way others treat Christmas: a designated season with special decorations, songs, clothing, and other things. So it's less sad for Christmas to be over when I just move on to the next holiday with all its trappings.

But . . . the replacement for Christmas and New Year's just isn't that great. I started the Valentine's Day season this week, and it's nice to have something in January, but of my nine formally canonized holidays, it's my least favorite. It's just boring and not that special.

It began as a boring, ordinary, religious saint day. Then Chaucer wrote a poem where he said it was the day when birds chose their mates, and then people associated it with romance—either doing fortune-telling rituals to determine their future lovers (as they also did on Halloween), or sending valentine messages. Then in the 1840s, companies in the US capitalized on valentine cards and other gifts. What a strange holiday.

I just don't love all the heteroromantic stuff about it. I appreciate efforts to make it about familial or platonic love, but I still don't think it can shake its romantic overtones, or at least it's not close to doing so. And platonic love is something we have all the time anyway. 

And of course Christmas has all its famous songs, and even the other holidays have a few standards. But the only semifamous Valentine's song is "My Funny Valentine," which literally has lyrics like "my dimwitted friend" and "your looks are laughable." I'm not making that up!

Anyway, the best part about this time of year is the candy and treats, and I love trying all the red velvet, cinnamon, chocolate strawberry, rose, etc., flavors. Such as festive coffee creamers in noncoffee cozy drinks (Pero and Postum). 

raspberry rose

chocolate covered strawberry

Hmm, I feel like this was kind of a dumb post. Probably because I didn't have a lot to talk about—you probably don't want to read a list of all my swimming times or see pictures of my swimsuit. Oh well, when you've written more than eight hundred blog posts, they can't all be winners.

Deceit, Capitol, Restaurant

On Monday, I received a perplexing email from a nonexistent "Church History Society," with a mailing address at 1 E South Temple in Salt Lake City (a nonexistent address). I learned that many other people received this same email. It uses language that frames the email as a faithful perspective, but then it dives into all the usual anti-Mormon tropes: polygamy, finances, Book of Mormon translation, book of Abraham, First Vision accounts, etc. 

The email implies that the Church lies about various things—so it is extremely baffling to me, then, that the email itself is founded on a series of lies: a fake organization, a claim that people "opted in" through the website, a false address, misleading content. 

This isn't even the first time I've seen something like this happen. Years ago, I was an executive secretary in my YSA ward, and I was in charge of sending mass texts with ward announcements. One day, someone responded asking to be removed from the list, since he had moved from the ward. When I responded with instructions on how to remove himself, he told me I should read the CES Letter, a piece of anti-Mormon propaganda. But here's the kicker: We kept good records, and there was zero indication that he had ever been in our ward. He also joined our ward Facebook page, and as I stalked him, it looked like he was too old to have been in a YSA ward. It appears that he lied about being in our ward just so he could spread his "message" about the Church lying. I have zero respect for such a thing. And I say that as a rather unorthodox member who has a lot of concerns. "Wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive" (D&C 10:28).

———

Thursday evening, I attended an event at the Utah State Capitol hosted by the Utah Historical Society (my employer) and America250. It was a panel about Domínguez and Escalante, the Spanish explorers who visited Utah in 1776. As the rest of the country observes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Spanish explorers are where Utah fits in. The speakers included two historians who are women, a Chicano man, a Navajo man, and an archaeologist. Some of the presentations were more interesting than others, but I'm glad I attended. I'm so sad that the 250th anniversary is happening when there's a fascist in the White House. But I just saw this post on Bluesky.

———
On Saturday, I completed my bucket list of going to every restaurant in North Salt Lake. I had completed it before (maybe back in 2019, then updating whenever a new restaurant opened). But a few years ago, unincorporated Davis County became part of North Salt Lake. So the last restaurant I had to go to was Thyme and Seasons.

This is a very quirky restaurant inside a former Blockbuster—I've rented movies from the building but never eaten there. Inside, it is very cluttered. And you don't look at a menu. The chef comes and asks what kind of meat you want, and then they prepare something for you.

My mom came with and got chicken curry. I went for a vegetarian option and got stir-fried root vegetables.

My mom really enjoyed her meal. Mine was boring. It was expensive, and I think ours were one of the cheaper options. It was a weird experience.

Anyway, it's nice to have gone to every restaurant! (Actually, I think there's a coffee truck I haven't been to, and the autism school runs a soda truck that I haven't been to. But I don't officially count trucks as restaurants, though I try to go to them too.) Here are ones that stick out to me as especially worthwhile: Z Brothers Pizza, Atlantis Burger, Apollo Burger, Nacho House, JJ Donuts, and Big Bite Breads.

The New Year's Spirit

New Year's is one of my canonized holidays, and I'm always looking for ways to make it special and distinct from Christmas. I have, however, become more comfortable with the overlap with Christmas as I've learned more about the holiday's history. Gifts were given for New Year's until that switched to Christmas in the nineteenth century. When Santa Claus traditions arrived in the US, he often arrived on New Year's, and stockings were likewise hung up for New Year's. And the first Christmas trees in the US were put up for New Year's.

There's a lot of talk about Christmas movies, but not so much about New Year movies. Last Sunday, I watched Ghostbusters II on Youtube TV. I only learned it was a New Year's movie last January. The movie is about my age, meaning I was a baby along with baby Oscar!

On Monday, I wanted to go to Taco Bell because they had a special Confetti Cookie Freeze. I would love to see more confetti-themed products for New Year's. Was this meant for the holiday? I don't know, but it did debut on December 18, and some of the promotional materials look like it. 

I dined in, and at first they forgot to give it to me with my food. NBD, but they gave me an extra one because of the mistake. So I took the second one home and froze it for the next day. I don't eat at Taco Bell that much, because they rarely have seasonal offerings.

On Tuesday, I ran up to the Wild Rose Trail in the dark, using my headlamp and the new lights I got for Christmas. There are two houses on the way where their coniferous trees are growing over the sidewalk, which drives me crazy. (If it's a deciduous tree, I just break the branches, but that's harder when there are needles.) I shouldn't have to duck when I'm running! So I bought two boxes of clearance candy canes, and I put notes on them asking the homeowners to trim the trees from the sidewalk. I put the candy canes on the doorsteps as I ran past. As of yesterday, one of the homes no longer had the candy canes on the step, but they haven't trimmed the tree. The other home still had the candy canes on the step, because I think they don't use their front door. And there was a moving truck as well, so maybe they're moving! This home has the more egregious tree.

Wednesday was New Year's Eve, and Chip Cookies had a special NYE cookie. But it was just a boring category 3 sugar cookie with gold sprinkles. Even though it was boring, I want to support things made specially made for this overlooked holiday. But associating gold with New Year's is, in my observation, a relatively recent phenomenon. When I started paying attention to New Year's in the late '90s, it was more often purple and blue, multicolor, or black and white. Gold is currently a popular color for birthdays and graduations as well.

I ran to the Wild Rose Trail again, the first time I've ever been trail running on New Year's Eve. There was a dusting of snow on either side of the trail, but the trail itself was pretty clear. The Garmin app gives you a special "badge" if you exercise on the last day of the year.

I just spent New Year's Eve with my parents. I learned about the movie The Thin Man from 1934, which takes place at Christmas and the days following, so we watched it. Though there were Christmas scenes, it was less holiday than I had hoped. My nephew and his wife, Preston and Claire, went downtown briefly, but they came home and stayed in "their" room all evening, coming out just before midnight. We had Trader Joe's sparkling lemonade.

And then I did something unique. I have never been trail running on New Year's Day, and this dry year was my chance. But it was supposed to rain throughout New Year's Day. The solution? I went running after midnight! I put on my headlamp and ran over to Springhill Geologic Park, which is just a small nature park nearby that I go to when I have less time. Does it count as a trail? Well, it's unpaved, it has wildflowers and maples and oaks, rabbits live there, and there are lots of volcanic rocks. I was able to hear fireworks as I ran, though I didn't see that many of them (I was more focused on not tripping). It was a unique way to start 2026. I ran 2.5 miles. And I got my badge for exercising on the first day of the year. (They tell me I can only earn the badges 250 times. So after 248 more New Year's Days, I can't get the badge anymore!)

New Year's Day was foggy, which was what I hoped it would be—so that was refreshing, after the unseasonable November and December. We had our traditional dinner with my mom's extended family at Golden Corral, which my grandpa loved.

That day, I learned that the sequel to The Thin Man, called After the Thin Man from 1936, was actually set at New Year's. So we rented it and watched it. The first half of the movie took place on New Year's Eve, and the rest of the movie was the aftermath of NYE happenings, though it wasn't clear how long the time period was. These were pretty good murder-mystery movies, but they required a lot of concentration, since it was hard to tell the differences between the various characters and their 1930s styles.

Then January 2, Preston and Claire returned to California. This is the saddest time of year for me. I ran Wild Rose again in the evening, and it was extremely muddy after the rain.

Yesterday, January 3, I ran near Ensign Peak. Parts of the trail were very muddy, though parts were good. I didn't go on Ensign Peak itself, because that trail looked muddy. But I discovered the South Ensign Peak Trail, which was newer to me.

As I was running up the dirt road, there was a man running down with his dogs, and he said, "Have a great run! Enjoy your October!" It was funny but also sad. Will it ever be winter again?

There was a wildfire a year and a half ago, and this was my first time seeing parts of the aftermath

Yesterday, I went to the Toyota dealer for regular maintenance. I sat in the waiting area reading Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays, the chapter about the rise of Valentine's Day in the US. The technician broke one of the nuts when they were fixing my alignment, so they gave me a rental car while they wait for parts. It's the first time I've had a rental! It's a Corolla, which used to be one of the default cars when I was a missionary. But it's much newer and nicer than the 2000s Corollas.

We're still recovering from Christmastime. Today I made split-pea soup with the leftover ham bone, which is pretty good. 

I hope you enjoy your January! If it ever comes.

Two Zero Two Five

Wow. I think I can objectively say that 2025 was a terrible year. Everything Trump touches turns to garbage. Charlie Kirk was tragically murdered, and yet many people cared about that without batting an eye at Melissa Hortman's assassination (which Mike Lee even joked about). Latter-day Saints were brutally killed in Michigan, and yet still heartless people make offensive chants. 

My personal life wasn't so bleak, but I was still affected. For example, my brother's family had to move to Taiwan because of DOGE's gutting of science funding.

Anyway, with that downer introduction, here's my annual year in review.

January. I was able to do some trail running at the beginning of the month, and then I was able to do some snow hiking and go swimming with the recreational swim team.

I went to Great Salt Lake State Park to see their mirabilite mounds. I went to the Utah State Capitol for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event. 

February. We took Reggie to the vet for the first time, which was a traumatic experience for him; he panted like a dog. I also went to the Valentine Museum in Salt Lake.

On Presidents' Day, I went to the bird refuge in Farmington.

March. I started the month by going to the small town of Wales, Utah, for St. David's Day, the national holiday of Wales. I went to RootsTech to help at a table for the Utah Historical Society. I made an avocado pie for Pi Day, and I went to the Siamsa in Salt Lake a couple of days before St. Patrick's Day. I bought a bunch of fabric for holiday pillowcases as Joann was going out of business.

I got my own library card.

April. Once the snow all melted, trail season returned consistently.

The day before Easter, I helped North Salt Lake pull myrtle spurge from Springhill Geologic Park. I made a chocolate carrot cake for Easter. On Easter Sunday, I sang a partial solo of "Were You There?" in church. The day after Easter, I ran up the new Mahogany Ridge Trail to Cave Peak, though I didn't know it was called Mahogany Ridge at the time. I drove to Logan for the Juanita Brooks Utah History Conference.

May. Throughout the month, I enjoyed visiting new trails in Bountiful (Mahogany Ridge and Perrigrine). I went to California to say goodbye to my brother's family before they moved to Taiwan, and I visited a friend in San Francisco. I joined my family on a trip to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana (and briefly Ontario and Missouri). I enjoyed biking around Mackinac Island. I especially enjoyed our visit to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. This is an amusement park with areas devoted to Christmas, 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving—very much something catered to someone like me.

This was a ride where you shoot turkeys

June. I went to the Mormon History Association conference in Ogden, and I even sang in a small choir for the devotional session. I ran up one of the Ogden trails while I was up there. I picked cherries at my sister's house, and I resumed my evening walks to eradicate goathead plants. On Flag Day, I went to the No Kings protest at the University of Utah.

I went to a Juneteenth event in West Valley. At the end of the month, I went to the Gather Conference in Provo, and I wore my flag suit to church.

July. On July 1, I went to the Utah State Capitol for the kickoff events for America250. On July 3, I went to North Salt Lake's annual firework show; I sat on the grass and read The Memory of '76 for a few hours before it started. On the Fourth of July, I ran up North Canyon, made a flag cake, and went on a small hike in the dark at night. On July 5, I went to Salt Lake's first drone show of the month. On July 7 and 8, I drove all over northern Utah to collect the pins for the Utah Historical Society's Pin Quest, and I got all ten!

On Pioneer Day, I went to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, and I went to Salt Lake's other drone show. At the end of the month, I joined my parents on a UK tour. We flew into Edinburgh and went up to St. Andrews, Scotland, where my mom fell on the ground and almost lost her phone and wallet in the same cemetery where we found her name on a tombstone. 

August. Our tour continued. On August 1, we saw the military tattoo performance at Edinburgh Castle, and the next day, we drove into England. In England, we went to the Lakes District, Kendal, Haworth, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Bath, Oxford, Broadstairs, and more. We also briefly visited Wales. Our trip ended in Canterbury, which was one of my highlights.

Canterbury Cathedral

Once I got home, fall food reviews began.

September. On Labor Day, September 1, I took my parents to Park City's Miners Day; they were underwhelmed. We went to Wasatch Mountain State Park, which is always a lovely fall camp. I went to Green River's Melon Days and went swimming and paddleboarding in the Green River. I went to the Faith Matters Restore Gathering. On my birthday, I went on a lovely run in North Canyon. 

October. I saw a local performance of Little Shop of Horrors. I went to one session of general conference in person; unfortunately, it was the session with Elder Rasband's Family Proclamation talk. I went on several trails I don't go on as often. I went on a business trip to Albuquerque for the Western History Association conference. 

Rio Grande

November. I started the month with a fourteen-mile trail run, and I went on other enjoyable runs throughout the month, since it was warm and dry, including one to the cabin high above Bountiful. I went to Antelope Island with a friend from India. 

I went to three Friendsgivings in a row; at one of them, I presented the history of Thanksgiving.

December. I went to North Salt Lake's underwhelming unveiling of a new mural. My work had a holiday party at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. I won my work's Utah history holiday sweater contest because I made it look like Antelope Island. My nephew Preston came to visit for Christmas and married his wife, Claire.

Because it was unseasonably dry and warm, I ran up North Canyon on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.

I'm hoping 2026 will be better—even though I don't know that it will be.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Week

Usually, the last Sunday of the year, I do a year-in-review post, so then my post about Christmas is after the New Year. I still plan on a year-in-review post, but I had some extra time to do a non-Sunday Christmas post. 

This was the view from my window as I began work on Monday morning.

On Monday evening, my family went downtown to see my aunt's family, who were in town. I sat by my cousin Krishelle's youngest, Kelson, who I met this past spring. He was playing on his cousin's phone, and when the cousin went to get food, Kelson said to me, "Do you have any games on your phone?" I told him, "I don't have any games on my phone. But I can show you what I do have." So then I showed him the picture of us from May. 

Then he started looking at other pictures on my phone. He said, "How do you delete pictures?" I said, "Are you going to delete my pictures!?" He responded, "No! Just the ones I don't like."

On Tuesday, my family once again went downtown, this time to donate at the Giving Machines and look at lights. It's amazing how much the Giving Machines have grown over the last eight years. I donated a tree.

Then Wednesday was Christmas Eve. I did some early shopping for last-minute groceries, and then I wanted to do something I have never done on December 24 before: I ran up North Canyon. This is the first time I have ever been trail running on Christmas Eve, and it's crazy that it was one of the higher-elevation trails. When I got to the parking lot, I was the only one there.

I ran up the new Mahogany Ridge Trail to Cave Peak, where I saw some friendly mountain bikers, and we discussed how weird it was to be out there on Christmas Eve. Then I kept going up Mahogany Ridge to the main North Canyon Trail. But I didn't go to Rudy's Flat, because it was covered in snow and ice that looked too slippery for my tastes.

Though I'm sad and worried about the lack of snow, it was a lovely run—basically a perfect day for it.

In the afternoon and evening, I made pomegranate guacamole and "wrapped" my presents in Christmas pillowcases.

On Christmas morning, I woke up early and made gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. My contribution for our Christmas dinner was a bûche de Noël, or Yule log cake. I got the recipe from my high school French class, and I made it a few times, long before I had much baking experience. This was the worst iteration I have made. It has always been hard; maybe I should find a better recipe?

Not even remotely close to a spiral. I was surprised it turned out as well as it did, since the cake completely fell apart.

We opened our presents. For the last few months, my mom has been going through old photographs and scanning them, so she got us external hard drives with the scans. Here are some of the old pictures. I'm working on not having unkind feelings about myself when I look at them. 

On the right, I'm holding my first cat, Dinah

Halloween in third grade. I put up the Halloween decorations.

In sixth grade, I won the school geography bee, and I got to go to the state competition. But I didn't get very far at state.

Being an uncle twenty years ago

Also, my mom has been going to a ceramics shop recently with her friend, and she made me a beehive cookie jar that I can use for Pioneer Day.

My sister got me some lights for running, and she also got me cat toys—but Reggie hasn't touched them, as far as I know.

Gen Z, though, really stole the show with creative gifts. My nephew Preston and his wife, Claire, made me a t-shirt. Back in 2017, my nephew Franklin coined the nickname Holiday John—so that was my shirt.😆

And my niece Allie gave me holiday-themed Palm Pals, which are very cute, and she hid them for a clever scavenger hunt.

roast turkey, caramel apple, four-leaf shamrock, pot of gold (my favorite), fruitcake

Between opening presents and Christmas dinner, I wanted to go up North Canyon again, my first time on a trail on Christmas Day. My dad hiked up while I ran. This time, enough snow had melted in just a day that I made it to Rudy's Flat. 

I had a gingerbread RXBAR in my mouth

I was sad we didn't have a white Christmas. But I wanted to form memories. On some future snowy Christmas, we'll be able to say, "Remember that crazy Christmas when there was no snow so we went up the canyon?"

We spent time at my sister's/grandma's house playing cards. It was a pretty low-key holiday, which isn't a bad thing.

Then Boxing Day, I only worked a partial day, and I ran up North Canyon again! It was pretty much the same as it was the day before, but there were some new trees that had been blown over. 

And in the evening I put up my New Year's decor. Here I am writing this blog on a Saturday afternoon, regretting that I didn't go running in the break between storminess, feeling that I haven't done anything with my day. Oh well. I don't have to be productive all the time.