Over 300 unique outfits later, 2025 is coming to a close!
I really enjoy this outfit of the day photography project, because it forces me to think through my outfit choices. I have so much fun styling my favorite pieces new ways (the most drastic restyling of the year came when I cut the bodice off of a dress to turn it into a skirt!), and adding some new pieces to my wardrobe along the way. And now I’m left to consider what my first outfit of 2026 will be, because I want to start the new year strong, sartorially speaking!
Time for a look back at another fun and busy year in the Markel household!
January is always a rather quiet month, which is not unwelcome after the busyness of the holiday season. We began 2025 with our first family feast of the year, with a German twist. We enjoyed quite a bit of snow. Ladybug won first place in the high school category of our city’s winter art contest! And she began rollerblading (while dodging the stubborn patches of ice that insisted on sticking around).
February is historically my least-favorite month of the year, mainly because it’s just so boring. There were some bright spots, though, including Once Upon a Valentine in St. Charles, MO. We had more snow…and so did Bowling Green, KY, where we got to see what winter looks like on The Hill when we visited Bunny at college. We watched the Big Bear Eagle Cam with great interest, and also got to observe as our library hatched some chicks. And we had a flat tire, which was just a very February thing to have happen.
I’m always happy to see March arrive, because it’s a much more exciting month! I got to debut my Rare Dirndl custom dirndl just in time for Mary Blair March. Chickadee had her final baby teeth pulled. We fell in love with the eaglets on the Big Bear Eagle Cam. Bunny came home for spring break and we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Turkey turned 22. And just a few days later, Chickadee finally became a teenager! We celebrated the St. Louis Cardinals home opener, which was probably the high point of an otherwise disappointing season. Moose was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, thanks to his excellent grades his first year of college.
April was a fun month. Ryan and I took Chickadee to see the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Super Live at The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis as a late birthday gift. We celebrated Easter. Ladybug, Chickadee, and I went to the St. Louis Zoo for the lantern festival. And back at the zoo during the day, we finally got to see Jet, the zoo’s baby elephant! Bunny presented a 20+ page paper she wrote about Benedict Arnold at the History Undergrad Research Conference at Western Kentucky University and won the top award.
May (or “Big Feelings May” as I like to call it) was A LOT. Moose performed in his spring band concert the same night that Bunny was showered with awards at the WKU history department awards night. We had fun with annual our Star Wars Days celebrations, and then things really got busy. Bunny graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor’s Degree in history and as Scholar of the Potter College of Arts and Letters. While we were in Bowling Green, Ladybug turned 18 (although we waited to celebrate until we were back home). She also graduated from high school, and my K-12 homeschool, which was very emotional. The two of us went horseback riding as one last homeschool activity. We went on our annual trip to Chicagoland for the 10th anniversary of Combo Breaker, where we all worked hard, put in a lot of hours at the event, but also had some fun along the way.
July was a pretty quiet month, probably because it was too hot to do much of anything. We did get to spend a fun day at Grant’s Farm. Bunny turned 21! And Chickadee and I went on a very interesting and moving summer school field trip to the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum.
September means the beginning of Oktoberfest season! But first, Chickadee and I went on a fun field trip to the Central Library and Union Station in St. Louis. Our first Oktoberfest of the season was at Grant’s Farm. Our second Oktoberfest was closer to home on the town square in Belleville. We attended my favorite Oktoberfest in St. Charles, MO. We celebrated Michaelmas, which is one of my favorite church feast days.
And that brings us to December. We kicked off the Christmas season in earnest by going to the Boar’s Head Festival. We celebrated Nikolaustag…and went to Christmas on the Hill on the same day. Moose’s concert band performed a lovely concert that ended with a Christmas favorite, “Sleigh Ride.” Our Christmas School focused on Christmas in Italy, in advance of the 2026 Winter Olympics. We celebrated Santa Lucia Day by going to Christmas Traditions in St. Charles, MO, (if you’re keeping track, that’s a record six visits to historic St. Charles this year!), where we got to visit with Santa Lucia herself. A few days later we attended Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The Fab Five completed Lego Rivendell and we celebrated Christmas!
This was another big year, and next year is looking pretty monumental, too, as Turkey will be graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics and Chickadee will be starting high school…I’m sure there will be other notable events and fun surprises along the way, and I can’t see what to see 2026 holds for us!
Time for a look back at my favorite food photos of the year!
First up is our favorite St. Patrick’s Day dessert…Guinness cake with Guinness mousse. I added a little extra decoration to the plate with chocolate syrup, and I was really happy with how it turned out!
Next is the cake I made for Ladybug’s high school graduation. Topped with a dusting of powdered sugar and some fresh raspberries, it looked very elegant!
Not all my favorite food photos are desserts…I thought this German potato salad looked especially tasty!
Back to desserts with a Sacher torte…I embellished this plate, too, with a bit of apricot jam and some chocolate whipped cream:
I don’t just think this potato-parsnip soup looks good (which it does), but I also like the area around it, with a candle and the pumpkins we picked this year:
And a bonus photo, because I’m not sure a beverage picture belongs in a group of food photos, but I really like how I staged our Christmas Eve wassail!
I’m looking forward to cooking and photographing new recipes in the new year!
It’s kind of become our custom to have our “fancy” Christmas dinner a few days after Christmas, instead of on Christmas Day or the day after like we used to. But this year, I had to stretch the definition of fancy, because with grocery prices the way they are, there’s no way I could justify buying something like a beef tenderloin or standing rib roast or pork crown roast like I have in the past. So I decided to run with the Italian theme of our Christmas school, and make bolognese, which isn’t exactly fancy, but is really nice, and also a favorite of everyone here that I don’t get to make a lot because it takes a lot of time. I also baked Italian bread and some breaded artichokes, and made a tossed salad to go with it…it might not be the traditional definition of fancy, but it worked for us!
For dessert, I made cannoli, and if that isn’t fancy, I don’t know what is!
It may have different from our usual Christmas fare, but I’m really happy with how it turned out!
For my last mani of 2025 I went with a silver-on-silver look featuring Holo Taco “Circuit Breaker” topped with “Shooting Star Taco”…lots of shine and sparkle!
It’s already time for a look back at this year’s festive fashions for Christmas Eve and Day!
My Christmas Eve outfit is often the same…a red, white, and green dress with a velvet bodice and full skirt with a harlequin print. It’s probably the most festive pieces in my wardrobe! I added my standard Christmas Eve accessories including a sparkly brooch and a stack of Splendette Duchess Bangles.
After church I changed into a Miss Candyfloss dressing gown:
For Christmas Day I wore a dirndl with my newest Rare Dirndl apron and a Miss Candyfloss Clarisse-Gia blouse, plus a different stack of Splendette Duchess Bangles, an Erstwilder brooch worn as a necklace, and my sparkly brooch (again):
I changed into a different Miss Candyfloss gown when we got home:
And then I had to change up my accessories, too, because I received a gorgeous RockLove Jewelry necklace for Christmas, and I couldn’t wait to wear it!
I love that I have sartorial traditions to look forward to every Christmas!
It doesn’t seem possible, but Christmas Eve and Day have come and gone already!
Our celebration started on Christmas Eve morning, with Christmas Crunch:
I made time early in the day to deliver gifts to all of my neighbors on Gloriana, and also chased Roald around my island for a bit, trying to get the perfect picture (which I did).
Bunny had to work in the morning, but when she got home, she put the finishing touches on this year’s Advent Lego project, Rivendell:
And then we went to my second-favorite service of the entire church year, Christmas Eve candlelight:
Candlelight being a relative term, as it was still fairly light out when the service was over. We didn’t stop by the city of St. Louis Christmas tree downtown this year, so it was pretty bright for our drive through the Way of Lights!
When we got home, I made wassail, which was a bit of a change for us…I think it may become a new tradition!
And we enjoyed a gingerbread layer cake with gingerbread mousse filling and molasses cream cheese frosting, and topped with sugared cranberries for dessert.
We also played our new Christmas Eve board game, Ticket to Ride Northern Lights. I lost spectacularly, but not as spectacularly as Ladybug won!
We watched the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker and Rick Steves’ European Christmas, and then I filled the stockings and escorted Mary and Joseph to the stable. I hope there’s never a day when we don’t want to put up the Little People nativity, even though we no longer have any little people living in our home1
On Christmas Day morning, we enjoyed our favorite coffee cake:
And then we went back to church, nice and early so I could get some pictures in front of the beautiful church Christmas tree:
Our church is always beautiful, but there’s something extra special about it at Christmastime!
The family picture we took after the service is probably one of the nicest ones we’ve ever taken!
We opened presents when we got home, and then I got started on dinner, the best dinner of the year, the famed “Pick Out Dinner!”
Setting the table is pretty low-key compared to Thanksgiving, but I still like to make it look nice, including napkins folded like Christmas trees. I added a few small Christmas trees to our traditional centerpiece of the Advent wreath…they balanced out the additional candles I often add quite nicely!
We had quite the spread this year!
We spent the afternoon and evening watching Christmas movies, playing games, and building Lego sets. The weather was far too warm for Christmas (it felt, smelled, and sounded like Easter!), but thankfully the weather isn’t what makes for a good Christmas, and we had a lovely day. And luckily for us, Christmas lasts for 12 days, so we still have our “fancy” (although dialed back a bit this year thanks to rising grocery costs) dinner and more cookie baking to look forward to…and maybe even some colder weather! Merry Christmas!!!
