I am on Christmas break for the next 2 weeks! Things wrapped on Friday, and I have enough time off and got things taken care of sufficiently that I'm taking all of the next 2 weeks. My next day at work will be Jan 5, 2026. Seems a long way away. Bet it won't for long.

Tonight was our first Christmas party of the season, possibly our only one. The Zastrows had a gathering for all the worship and technology teams at their house. Lots of food, and the groups kind of split between the upstairs and downstairs, somehow. I was downstairs most of the time. Beth came late, because she was in FW visiting MJ in the hospital after her surgery for the broken leg. I think we were the last ones to leave, like usual. I gifted Todd the "Crap Taxidermy" book I got last year (I think) because I had to see his reaction to some of the pictures. Hilarious.

Monday I had my third, and as it turned out, final tournament match on the Fresh Out of Bed and Head to Head year end tournament of champions. I lost, after knowing the name of the evil archnemesis of the Powerpuff Girls (Mojo Jojo) but not knowing the name of the orangutan leader in the Jungle Book (King Louie) or how many strings on a violin (I guessed 5, which was wrong, then she guessed 4, which was right). So that ended my run. As it turned out, the next day was the final so I came that close to being in it, but I think I probably would have lost anyway, based on hearing the championship game the next day. I didn’t know a couple of the answers, and also as it turned out, this years champion is the same person who won it all by defeating me in the 2020 championship. So she’s a 2-time winner, and I came close again. Oh well.

On Thursday night, Beth's friend MJ fell in her parking lot and broke her leg. The same one that she already had a lot of hardware in from a car crash 20-odd years ago. She called Beth from the parking lot before the paramedics even got there, I could hear her screaming over the phone from across the couch. She wound up being transferred from Warsaw to FW Lutheran, and had surgery a day or so later. Beth and I went over to FW to visit her yesterday and she was doing a little better but still in a lot of pain. 

I have seen the Komets lose before, but never quite like that. The annual Teddy Bear Toss was this weekend. Beth, Alex, and I went with Mary Jane, since Missy wasn’t home yet and Natalie had other plans. I went and raided the Goodwill for used stuffed animals and picked up a whole bunch the day before so we were well armed, but I got seats in a different section than we usually do because Beth has a hard time with the stairs. We were kind of in a corner behind the goal, but seated in the first row down from the walkway so very few stairs. Also behind the net, so when the Komets made it 1-0 about 5 minutes into the game I had to walk a ways in order to get the teddies around the net and onto the ice. By the end of the first period it was 3-0 Komets. After 2 periods it was 3-2, but the K’s made it 4-2 shortly into the third and that score held until there was about 2 minutes left in the game. At which point I said to Alex, “A 2-goal lead with 2 minutes to go…we should win this one!” Then KC pulled the goalie and scored right away. And again a minute later. And again with 11 seconds remaining. So the Komets lost 5-4 after such a promising start. One of the most deflating losses I’ve ever seen there. 

Missy was home the next day. She finished all her exams, had the screening for both films she’s working on (and they turned out amazing), and drove up for break on Saturday. She was here by afternoon. Full house again for a few weeks!

On Monday, Corey from Pulse FM called me for the Fresh Out of Bed and Head to Head year end tournament of champions. They’ve structured it differently this year, so the winner plays again immediately… not sure how the bracketology goes with this… so did my second opponent have a first round bye then? Anyway, moot point because I won both games (steamrolled the first opponent, rallied past the second). So I’ll continue on, but not sure when…

Tuesday afternoon was my work group’s Habitat for Humanity build. We went out to a build site in Mentone and were planning to do 4 hours of some sort of work, but unfortunately at the time they were in something of a holding pattern because they were waiting for the furnace guys to come and finish an install. We would probably have been painting the whole time but they haven’t been able to because it’s been so cold. So instead, we just did prep work for painting, which hadn’t been done either. It seemed to be a bit up in the air when they are going to be able to paint, but anyway we spent 2 hours going through the house and taping over the duct openings, electrical outlets, bathroom fixtures etc. 

The soup show season is in the books now, and we really kind of crushed it at the Wawasee show yesterday. Overall we sold 164 soups, which is an all-time show record for us. It got busy early on and never really tailed off until the very last 30 minutes or so. Traffic was very heavy all day, we kept hearing people talk about how crazy the parking lot was and how long it took them to find a spot to park. Beth and I had brought a somewhat smaller amount of soups to sell than we had for the past few years, just because we figured we had plenty based on how sales have gone this year. So we only had to carry 21 jars of soup home after the show wrapped up. 

Our new microwave oven has been installed. For several weeks or a few months now, we’ve been using the little one we bought for Missy to use in her dorm room a couple years ago as our primary microwave in the kitchen, and it’s not ideal. Too small, isn’t terribly powerful, and in the way. Especially during soup season. So Beth and I finally went to Smith Appliance and bought a new one (the old one, also from there, was over 20 years old, so I guess it was time). They put the new one in and hauled the old one away this week, and it’s very nice to have a nuke again.

Alex got a rejection from Winona IT on Thursday. They said they didn’t have any positions that fit his experience. Well, crap. Back to the drawing board.