On Monday, our concert sold a record number of tickets and the night went well. I was nervous because I hadn’t performed in front of a large crowd since 2000. Despite the initial scariness, it was wonderful to return to something I love.

It was off to my hometown the next morning. The first half of the trip was uneventful except for one idiot who sped up in the regular lane because they didn’t want anyone passing them. Jerky McJerkface.

Anyway, after the half way mark, the weather turned and visibility got quite bad. I saw a couple of vehicles had went off road. Growing up in Northern Ontario, I feel fortunate that I learned how to drive safely in such weather.

A new phone holder let me take some videos and the above picture. Clearly, I should change its position. It was quite terrible out. At one point, I could see maybe 10 cars before the road and trees disappeared ahead. It was as if the isolation of winter was on display.

Despite the weather, I made it safely to my brother’s house and finished wrapping some items to put under the tree before heading to an LCBO and then my dad’s house. I happened upon a fundraiser concert on TV called Huron Carole. It was on APTN and had a wonderful assortment of musical performances.

The next day was Christmas Eve. I had to dig out enough of the plough leftovers to be able to get some things from the store. We went to my brothers for some snacks and catching up. In the evening, I watched The Holiday. It’s a movie where two women swap homes for Christmas to escape their lives for two weeks.

Per tradition, I checked the NORAD Santa Tracker throughout the evening until I was too tired to stay up.

I received some movies, rum, and snacks along with some cash for Christmas this year. We watched several movies together before dinner. I caught Twilight on TV in the evening.

Boxing Day held a marathon of the rest of the Twilight series. It’s a tradition for me at this point. I have no idea why they are usually playing during Christmas, but the music is really good and I’ll never be upset watching Kristen Stewart and Ashley Greene. I’m regularly annoyed with Jacob. Bella constantly says no and that she’s with Edward, but he keeps pushing.

I tried playing some Minecraft with friends, but it was constantly switching between putting blocks down and destroying them, so I wasn’t having any fun.

On my last day in town, my brother and I worked to clear dad’s driveway of the snow that fell throughout the previous day. I didn’t get a picture, but there were bunny prints over a third of the driveway. After that, he helped me install a trickle charger to hopefully put my battery issues to rest. We had a brief outing to a hardware store after a flanged nut was lost in the process.

In the evening, I gathered my things to help make my trip back to Ottawa smoother.

And it was really smooth. There was very little traffic, the roads were clear, and there wasn’t any construction.

Unfortunately for me, someone got my credit card information somehow and charged my card while I was driving back to Ottawa. It’s a good thing I have it set to email me whenever it is used. I locked my card out, so no future purchases could happen. The purchase was in pending status, so I called first thing in the morning to get it stopped and to have my card replaced. I really hate people who steal!

I’m ending 2025 with an injured shoulder. It feels like rotator cuff. It’s the other shoulder at least? I have an appointment to see a doctor. This means curling is absolutely off the table and softball likely is as well. I guess 2025 had more pain in store for me.

Sorry for ending the year on a down note, but that’s just the kind of year it has been for me and a lot of people I know. Toil and strife.

Hoping 2026 is better for all of us.

Catch you on the flip side.

Rae