Christmas 2025 is starting to wrap up here. The presents have been put away and we’re eating up all the leftover food from our Christmas Eve party. New Year’s Eve is coming in just a few days and soon, we’ll be watching the ball drop and welcoming 2026.
It’s kind of scary to think about it, but at the same time I’m looking forward to starting anew.
Without further ado, let’s look back at Christmas 2025.
We had our family over for Christmas Eve and Mom worked hard putting together a nice spread. Lots of Christmas cookies, meatballs, and our signature turkey balls. We began later this time, having everybody over around 5 (compared to early in the afternoon last year). This helped me catch up on sleep. It was a better Christmas Eve party than last year. I moved around and talked to more people. Having the extra seating also helped. When it was all said and done, and all the dishes were cleaned and put away, Mom and I enjoyed Home Alone.
Last weekend, I enjoyed my friend’s podcast on getting through the holidays. It’s not always magical nor is it fun for everyone. Routines are interrupted, visiting with everyone can feel overwhelming, etc. After listening to the pod, I shared my own holiday struggles that I’ve dealt with over the years. Liz’s guest was a Toastmaster from Johnstown, TJ. I’m grateful to be friends and Toastmasters with both of them. TJ shared his story as well as his autism journey, and we have some things in common. One of those is that we both attended the Hiram G. Andrews Center. The interview and podcast were very informative.
While I’ve done well when it came to Christmas movies and music, there was still that FOMO hanging over my head (Fear Of Missing Out).
Christmas Day came, and I stayed home this year. Instead of going to my friend’s house, I hung out with the family and watched “The Year Without A Santa Claus”. Rankin Bass had some great Christmas specials throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s including Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. As I learned from the L Podcast, it’s OK to have your own traditions and take it easy. For me, one of those traditions is going to Pittsburgh to do Christmas shopping. I crashed from all excitement of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but made time to stop at the hotel where my family was staying and visit with them. We would make plans to meet up the next morning for Waffles INCaffeinated, and that’s where I’ll close off the blog.
Yesterday, I wrapped up the holiday festivities by meeting my cousin for breakfast at Waffles INCaffeinated. We would have met at one of the local coffee shops in town but they were all closed. I was no stranger to this location as I had eaten here before. We all enjoyed a great breakfast.
The service was excellent. Our server gave us time to order and was very patient and friendly. We didn’t have to wait for our food either. Rating: 5
The food was worth the money and I took the time to enjoy it. I had an ample amount of strawberries and bananas and could taste the cheesecake topping in the waffles. My breakfast was the Straw-ana Cheesecake Waffles. My cousin got the Chicken and Waffles and Mr. Katie got the Funky Monkey. I also got a Peppermint Latte. Our server came by to fill up our water and we had a giant bottle of syrup, if needed. Rating: 5
The atmosphere was just right. Not too loud and very relaxing. We could hear ourselves think and enjoy each other’s company. They still carry the PTL mugs that I got for Mom and I a few years ago (hers was a birthday present). Rating: 5
Stylish 🍒 