Hello to my friends, family, and any followers that I don’t know personally. Happy New Year and 7th Day of Christmas!
This year, I did not get any Christmas cards or newsletters sent out, so this post will have to do as far as a family update for the year. If you still need some Christmas cheer, there is a link below to an article Chris wrote recently about Charles Dickens, inspired by the film “The Man Who Invented Christmas.” I think I posted about most of our family outings and adventures on previous posts, so I won’t go into detail here. Read on for highlights of the year and updates. And stay tuned to future posts; I’m currently working on a sequel to my Grand Canyons article (“The Alps of Everywhere”) and one for a “Top 10 Things to Do in Eugene/Springfield Area”.
Here is a rundown of family highlights and new experiences for 2026:
In the winter, the kids got to bring a friend with them to play in the snow at Willamette Pass. We also got a bit of real snow here in the Valley instead of an ice storm, so I taught the kids how to make snow ice cream. In the spring we took my mom to the Enchanted Forest for her 70th birthday celebration on Mother’s Day. There, we all got tee-shirts with one of Chris’ drawings on it! They recently added that design to their online store, so you can order one if you want. Link below. Later in the spring, we bought a house! It’s a cute cottage that we are remodeling to make room for each of our 5 kids to have their own bedroom. Many thanks to my real estate agent cousin for the great find! This summer we camped at Carter Lake (part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area) and visited Crater Lake National Park. This was the kids’ first full national park, and Chris’ first time to Crater Lake; he’d been to other national parks in the country but not Oregon’s. At the end of the summer, we went to Oaks Park in Portland so the kids could experience an amusement park with lots of rides. They loved the big scary roller coaster, and two of the kids roller skated in the nation’s oldest roller skating rink! Then on my birthday, we checked out the more northern coastal town of Newport and visited a wolf sanctuary. This fall, I went back to teaching. It’s been busy but fulfilling. My students are a hoot! I deeply appreciate my much-needed 3-year “sabbatical” in the insurance brokerage world while I got used to having 5 kids, but I am grateful to get back to where my heart is. Chris and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary in small-town Southern Oregon, exploring and taking in history. Just this week, we took the kids ice skating, a first for Chris and the two youngest ones. Our youngest had never even roller skated, so he was hugging the rim and having a tough time, but he refused to stop! By the end, he was able to skate a little without holding on. Next time, we’ll get there early enough to get a plastic seal.
Other than those new/big adventures, the year was filled with the usual rhythm of things: playing at city parks, springtime hikes, swimming holes and cultural festivals in the summer, visits to relatives and pumpkin patches, dressing up for Halloween, kids’ birthday parties (they just keep getting older and older! And taller and taller! Only the youngest kiddo is shorter than me now), decorating for holidays and seasons, taking walks, drawing (Chris and the kids are so good at it!), writing (do check out Chris’ regular blog and posts by him and me on our church’s blog if you get a chance), playing instruments (17yo plays cello in the school orchestra, 13yo plays violin and trumpet), building Lego things, petting the cat, working hard, learning the hard way, learning from others, lamenting sad things, and all the other things that make up our lives.
Some of the teens & tweens are now pretty camera-shy, so we did not get a Christmas card-worthy family photo this year. They hide their faces when they see their picture-happy stepmom holding up the phone. What do you do? Life is not always picture-perfect. But I am grateful for this sweet family. And for our extended family, friends, and community organizations that support us. I’m hopeful that 2026 will bring more personal growth for all of us and new opportunities and adventures. May 2026 bless all of you, too.
Art & writing from Chris and me this year:
Chris wrote a post for both his personal blog and for our church’s blog about Charles Dickens. Check it out here: https://www.citysalt.org/blog/2025/12/19-charles-dickens
Here are a few of my most recent blog posts on the church blog: https://www.citysalt.org/blog/2025/10/24-beyond-the-binary-jc and https://www.citysalt.org/blog/2025/8/15-loving-our-enemies-within-jc and https://www.citysalt.org/blog/2025/6/6-evolution-of-faith-jc
Chris’ blog: https://professorpopinjay.com/ On it, you can find humor articles, pictures of his art, and his movie “non-review” posts.
Chris’ Enchanted Forest tee-shirt if you need to update your wardrobe with something fun: https://www.enchantedforest.com/product-page/adult-enchanted-forest-car-park-t-shirt
The Compass Rose Queen 