Currently Hodgepodging in December 2025

It's the first Wednesday of the time and time of the Currently link up with Jenn but I also wanted to join in with Joyce's Hodgepodge Wednesday this week. This month with Jenn we're talking about what we're currently loving, hoping, doing, wearing, and seeing.

Loving: We found out just before Thanksgiving that Evan got accepted to his top choice school with a HUGE merit scholarship! I am loving seeing how excited he is! 

We had a wonderful (and delicious) Thanksgiving! It was lovely getting to know Alec's roommate better.  

Hoping: To shed the 20 pounds that have been creeping back ever since my surgery in 2020. I rejoined Weight Watchers and I plan to add to my workouts each day too. 

Doing: Trying to plan out our Christmas itinerary and gift list. 

Wearing: Mainly sweaters and jeans... my fall and winter "go to."

 

Seeing:  All the Christmas decorations everywhere! 

For Hodgepodge Wednesday this week Joyce asked;

 

1. What does it mean to have the 'holiday spirit'? On a scale of 1-10 how is yours this year? (10=off the charts, 1=still looking for it) 

I honestly don't have a great description for holiday spirit but I know I'm always on the lower end of the chart. I don't get the warm fuzzies about the holiday season and never really have; not even as a child (that I can remember). This year I'd say I'm at a 2... maybe a 3. I made and sent out cards and decorated the house but that's about it. 

 

2. What's your favorite character from a (December) holiday-themed movie, book, or TV special? Tell us why. 

 Kate Winslet's character in The Holiday; I love that she is apologetically herself. Sweet to a fault and the friendship she develops with Arthur is adorable. Plus I love how excited she gets when she discovers the house she's going to be living in for the swap-- pretty sure I would have had the same reaction.

 

3. Do you like gingerbread? Are gingerbread houses part of your holiday tradition? 

I do not think I like gingerbread but honestly I've never really had it either. My husband's grandmother used to make gingerbread cookies but was notoriously known for making them badly and I think that might be the only sample I've ever had. 

My boys decorated gingerbread houses using those kits that are for sale everywhere a few times then we moved onto making our own "gingerbread houses." One year we made a log cabin using pretzel rods, another year Alec baked a house out of sugar cookies, and a few years we used graham crackers to form the base when we attended our library's gingerbread house night-- along with at least a 100 other people from town.  

 

sugar cookie house

4. Much of our vocabulary is determined by where we live or where we grew up. What say you-

sprinkles or jimmies? lightning bugs or fireflies? soda or pop? sneakers, trainers, or tennis shoes? sub, hoagie, grinder, or hero? freeway, highway, or motorway? frosting or icing? sauce or gravy?

Jimmies or Sprinkles are used equally here though Jimmies is the iconic New England name for them. 

Fireflies 

Soda 

Sneakers mostly though I do use tennis shoes when I'm talking about canvas shoes like these Keds.

 

Grinders

Highway

Frosting is what you put on a cake but if you use just water or milk with powdered sugar to put on cookies or drizzle over a loaf or bundt pan that's icing. 

 

frosting

icing

Sauce when talking about spaghetti/marinara/red... gravy is what we put on our turkey at Thanksgiving. 

5. Share a favorite holiday memory from your childhood. 

 I can't say I have one holiday memory from my childhood that sticks out any more than others. I do have lots of vague memories. Like the year my grandmother decided to make log cabin gingerbread house with all 4 of us grandkids. I think I ate more icing than anything else. I also have memories of my mom taking us kids for Christmas photos at our local Sears or Kmart or wherever happened to be most convenient (in later years my step father often took the photo in front of the family tree). Of course the memories are far different from the photos! Often someone was in tears or a fit had just ensued, boredom inevitably set in and we always settled for "good enough." 

 

me and my big sister

I'm the one in green

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Going off the whole New England word thing have any of you had coffee milk? How about whoopie pies or fluffernutter sandwiches? I bet you've had a drink out of a "bubblah"/bubbler though (it's what we call water fountains). Have you ever had a Hoodsie cup or a Del's lemonade? Do you know the difference between a Frappe and a milkshake? 

 

Linking up with: