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A Feast for Epiphaday

Today is Epiphany, but it’s also Ryan’s birthday, and we had one last festive feast to celebrate!

I made chili for dinner, and making chili means also making fry bread to go with it:

And for dessert, I baked a Boston Cream Pie…it’s been years since I attempted this particular cake, and back then, I had a problem with the filling being too thin and running out of the cake. If anything, this time I over-thickened it, but it tasted good, and it stayed put!

The days have long since passed when I used to make baklava every year on Epiphany, and our church doesn’t have an extra service during the week, but I still wore my favorite star-shaped brooch from Erstwilder…it is the absolute perfect star for Epiphany!

I still have one more cake to bake yet this week, and then the festive feasting season will draw to a close!

Lord of the Rings Day

Before Christmas break started, we decided we should have a “Lord of the Rings Day” and watch all of the movies back-to-back-to-back while everyone was still home on vacation. I picked today for our marathon, but it wasn’t until after we started The Fellowship of the Ring this morning that I discovered that today is actually Tolkien’s birthday! How felicitous is that?!?

I saved the Lavender & Pine candle I bought at the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale to burn today…something about it seems rather Elvish to me!

We saved the “Vintersaga” mulled fruit drink we found on clearance at Ikea for today, too…it has a very nice “mulled wines of Moria” vibe!

And I couldn’t let the day go by without making something from Recipes from the World of Tolkien…you’d think I’d be sick of baking cookies, but that didn’t stop me from making Westfarthing Fairings, which are flavored with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and lemon zest…perfect for the days after Christmas!

Our dinner wasn’t inspired by the world of Tolkien, but it was one of the fancier dinners I make, and one that everyone loves…pan-fried chicken and grapes with a creamy mustard sauce served over couscous.

I can’t believe that the random day I picked for our movie marathon was actually Tolkien’s birthday…what a great way to make a fun day extra special!

Stretching Out the New Year

Thanks to the very unwelcome guest influenza, plus work schedules, we stretched out our New Year’s celebration over three days instead of the usual two!

On New Year’s Eve, I made black bean soup and cornbread:

And we had our customary hot chocolate bar, with a twist…Turkey made the hot chocolate from scratch for us! Chickadee helped me bake two kinds of hot chocolate themed cookies to go with it, too:

And somehow I managed to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year on Gloriana:

New Year’s Day was a pretty quiet day, lacking our usual trip to the mall and the Lego store, and we had our celebratory meal today instead. We spent most of the day watching the last few Christmas movies in our annual rotation, and I made some peppermint frappes from a kit I got at Aldi:

I went with a German theme again this year for dinner, featuring Schweinelendchen mit Pilzrahmsoße (pork medallions with a mushroom cream sauce) and spaetzle, plus roasted carrots and green beans with bacon.

For dessert, Bunny and I made a Glühwein-Kuchen (mulled wine cake).

I wasn’t intending to begin 2026 with illness, but at least we still had a few nice meals to end one year and begin another!

2025 in Outfits

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!

2025 in Review

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.

We began June with “fledge watch” as we waited to see when Sunny and Gizmo, our favorite young eagles, would fly for the first time (6/2 and 6/7 respectively, if you’re curious). Our “Pokémon Summer” kicked off. Moose got to attend the Shriner’s Parade as a spectator instead of as a member of the marching band. I celebrated my birthday. As a birthday treat, we spent the day on a “Hit the Bricks” tour in St. Charles, MO. We also celebrated “Stitch Day.”

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.

In August, Bunny and I went on the other “Hit the Bricks” tour in St. Charles, MO. We wrapped up our “Pokémon Summer” which was a lot of fun. Ladybug started college! And Chickadee started 8th grade as the only student in my homeschool. Bunny decided against grad school, and instead started working. Turkey began his senior year of college, with plans for dual enrollment as a grad student in the second semester. And Moose started his second year of college. Chickadee and I went on a fun field trip to Busch Stadium. And we had a fun time at Greek Fest at the end of the month.

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.

Of course in October there were more Oktoberfests, in Soulard and at the St. Louis Zoo. Chickadee and I went on a library crawl, which was fun and unique. We visited the pumpkin patch. We had fun celebrating the 10th anniversary of Legends and Lanterns in St. Charles, MO.

Things really kicked into high gear in November. Chickadee broke her ankle on the seventh anniversary of when I broke mine…that might be the weirdest thing that happened all year! Moose celebrated his 20th birthday. We got to see the Northern Lights again. Chickadee and I attended the Thanks-for-Giving parade in downtown St. Louis for the first time. We baked a lot of pies. We had a nice Thanksgiving. Advent began, and with it, a new Lego project.

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!