Christmas Roundup

 Christmas time is here.
Whether you like it or not.

Went out with my friends for our annual Holiday Shenanigans night.

Fueling up with some hot cocoa.

Found my little mugs from the Chicago Christkindlmarket years past.

Started the night in the East Village.

Some ice sculptures and carolers, and a tasty

meal at Brew. 

Merry Quismoose to all who celebrate.

Next stop was the Winter Lights at the Botanical Center.

Boogied on the lighted dance floor to some holiday tunes.

The weekend we were at the Winter Lights, Krampus was there!

Had to get a picture with him.

He's a nice guy, if you aren't a misbehaved child. 😁

Stopped in at the distillery lounge for a festive drink.

Cheers!

Ending the night with a drive through the Fairgrounds lights.

It was a snowy weekend, so everything was covered in a blanket of fresh snow.

And, band froot arrived!

Yum! Gimme those pears!

Also, I expect there will be an orange juicing night for me soon.

Feeling a bit snowed in, so I took advantage of the snow day to

take an inventory of the pantry shelf.

Some cans were getting to be a bit on the old side, though nowhere near expiration.

Took out some close-to-best-by date cans and had enough

pulled aside to cook up a pot of veggie chili.

Oh, yeah, wooden spoon activated.

Tasty pot of chili. Kept me going all week.

Tried the seasonal Alani Nu.

Kind of a cranberry-esque flavour.

It's okay. I'm never that excited about these things, 

but like to try limited editions.

At least the pollen count is low.

Picked up a surprisingly yummy variety pack of Shiner beers.

The chocolate mint and the orange cheer are delicious.

Wrapped up the gifts.

All of these are for other people.

No gifts for me under my own tree.

My christmas cactus is blooming!

It's happy in its location, so it blooms for me every year.

Another snowy morning.

Just in time for Clarinet Christmas!

Cleared the snow off of the car.

All bundled up against the cold.

My bass clarinet and I made it through the snow-covered streets to the mall

for the Clarinet Christmas performance.

A lot of the bass lines were fun this year, so I had a good time.

Slow going on the way home.

But then I got called out again to cover for a sax player who had

become too sick to play his gig.

So, after a quick wardrobe change, and trading the bass clarinet for

an alto saxophone, I was out again to play for a Creative Christmas production.

A few songs were rehearsed quickly, but much of this was sight-read.

Which doesn't faze me too much, as I'm used to that, but it 

all happened very quickly.

Spooky.

I made a donation to the International Clarinet Association,

and received a goodie bag of things as a thank you.

Some old copies of The Clarinet, some of which I haven't read,

some stickers, a cleaning swab and an ID tag.

I've had this palette for a few years.

Got it out and decided to use it until the year's end.

Festive shades.

Movie night with the parrot

Made another recording.

You can hear it on my YouTube channel.

If you're interested in that sort of thing.

Also now up on my channel is Part 1 of the Egypt vlog.

I don't review the footage too much before I sit down to edit it

together, so some of it was nice memory for me to re-experience.

Came home one night to these deer in the alley.

They seemed pretty chill, just munching on the neighbors plants.

Finally, Christmas break.

A few days off from the office.

Get some sleep, clean up and organize the house a bit,

and get ready to drive home to visit my parents.

Momster and I went out early Christmas day for a walk around West Point

and through the nearby park.

It's an abominable snowman!

Foggy morning.

The pond was icy.

Not enough to skate on, but frozen bits.

Very quiet and calm.

Louie the dog.

Took the obligatory detour on the way home to stop at

Trader Joe's for some salads and snacks.

Not pictured here are the salads and some of the frozen things.

Got some wassail punch and cold brew coffee. Some Ginger Brew

and coffee cake. No pancake loaf this year. Boo.

Got my 2026 calendars and planner ready.

Already have a few gigs booked in for next year.

A special year, with some special experiences.

I'm already scheming next year's plans.

See you in 2026!