A Markel Family Holiday

Christmas 2025

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!!!

Thanksgiving 2025

We’ve had another fun three-day Thanksgiving celebration!

It started, as always, on Wednesday, with the making of the pies:

We sadly didn’t have any company this year, so it really felt like a very laid-back holiday. We watched the Macy’s Parade and played parade bingo and then took in the dog show while I puttered about, getting things ready…I set the table extra early this year, so that was a task done long before dinner:

I found some time for Animal Crossing…I always like to hang out with Roald on a holiday!

And then time for dinner! I think this was one of the better turkeys I’ve ever made, and all of our regular side dishes were delicious, too:

We watched Holiday Inn while we cleaned up and I boiled the turkey carcass for turkey soup. And then we had pie! My choice of cranberry-rhubarb was just as tart and delicious as I hoped it would be!

Today began just as yesterday ended…with more pie for breakfast!

Chickadee and I went to the town Santa Parade, which is always a fun time:

When we got home, we had our traditional turkey sandwiches for lunch:

And I had lunch dessert, which I think should be a regular thing!

For dinner I made our day-after-Thanksgiving turkey soup:

And then Moose, Chickadee, and I went to the town tree lighting:

We also visited the Christkindlmarkt:

And checked out the gingerbread displays:

The storefronts were looking good, too!

Back home we had one more round of pie:

And now I’m exhausted, but the fun is just beginning, because Advent starts on Sunday!

Oktoberfest 2025

Time to look back at all of the Oktoberfests we attended this year! I had a great time wearing my favorite Rare Dirndls various places and celebrating my heritage!

First Chickadee and I went to Grant’s Farm in mid-September. This was a first (or at least the first time in a long time) for us. We were there pretty early, so we didn’t get to see the entertainment, but we did share a pretzel and it was top-tier…super buttery and one of the best we had!

Next was Belleville Oktoberfest, which is always something of a disappointment to me…the pretzels weren’t even very good! But it was an excuse to wear a dirndl and walk down Main Street.

Third was my favorite local Oktoberfest in St. Charles, MO. The music and dancing were amazing and the pretzels were delicious! Plus, it seems like the most authentic one in our area (says the woman who has never been to Munich…).

We always celebrate Oktoberfest at home. I made our standard German feast of schnitzel and spaetzle and red cabbage, with Black Forest cherry torte for dessert (not to mention fondue with pretzels, pickles, and brats for lunch), and not to brag, but the pretzels at our establishment are pretty good, too!

For the second year, we went to Soulard’s Oktoberfest, and I have to say, I really love this (relatively) small event! The pretzels were only so-so, but the cheese sauce was excellent, and the brass band was one of our favorites!

I was worried we weren’t going to make it to Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo, but we managed to get there on the final day. As always, the pretzels are the best in the region (and the beer cheese they serve with them is outstanding), and I got to hear a polka band, complete with accordion!

This was a really fun season of festing…I’ll leave you with Brasshaufen Brass Band (a group we enjoyed both in St. Charles and Soulard) doing one of my favorite Oktoberfest numbers. Prost!

Easter 2025

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

As always, our Easter celebration really begins with the start of the Holy Triduum on Maundry Thursday. As it turns out, that was the most beautiful day of the whole Easter weekend, and the last time we’d see blue skies!

On Friday, I did a bit of prep work for Sunday…I tried a new (very successful!) recipe for flatbreads, and also made hot cross buns:

We went back to church Friday evening, and the cloudy skies seemed appropriate for the day.

On Saturday, we did some more work…Ladybug frosted the cupcakes she made the day before, and I baked a baklava cheesecake.

We also made our 2025 Paschal candle while watching Rick Steves’ European Easter…both are important Holy Saturday traditions to us.

And then my favorite church service of the entire year…with a twist. The overnight rain made it impossible to begin the Great Vigil of Easter outside by the bonfire as usual, so we had a “bonfire” in the back of the sanctuary to start the service. All things considered, it was a good solution to a soggy problem!

We always get Wendy’s on the way home from church on Saturday evening:

And then back to church this morning for the most celebratory service of the year!

The family photo isn’t quite right without Bunny, but she couldn’t get away from school to join us…we’ll see her in a few weeks for graduation, though!

Our Easter breakfast was a bit simpler than I’ve made some years…scrambled eggs, sausage, a fruit salad, pomegranate juice, and like last year, 13 kinds of mini donuts!

We had fun watching the first two My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies, and I made lavender matchas for those who enjoy them:

And I set the table, featuring the new Paschal candle and a new bunny napkin fold that incorporated the Cadbury Creme Eggs I had picked up:

I found some time to check into Animal Crossing, and Roald was nice enough to take a picture with me!

I made a menu of Greek foods for dinner…souvlaki and gyros, with our favorite toppings and flatbread, fried feta, Greek salad, and spanakopita, plus the hot cross buns…kind of minus the crosses, which mostly melted to the plastic wrap!

And for dessert, the baklava cheesecake:

After how long Lent always seems, Holy Week, and especially the Holy Triduum and Easter Sunday itself go by so quickly, but we had a lovely celebration…Happy Easter!

Christmas 2024

Advent went by so quickly, and here we are at Christmas already! Let’s take a look at this year’s celebration, starting with a Christmas lights walk Moose and I took Christmas Eve Eve…we think this should be our neighborhood’s official Christmas tree

Christmas Eve always starts with the Captain:

Chickadee finished our Lego Advent project, and Turkey and Moose played the first game of chess:

The Christmas Eve church service is my second favorite of the year…I think it’s interesting that my two favorite services both involve candlelight.

After church, we stopped by the city of St. Louis Christmas tree. It was rainy, which is unfortunate (so much for my dreams of a white Christmas), but at least that kept it from being too bright out, because it was still pretty early and should have been pretty light.

And then we drove through the Way of Lights.

When we got home, it was picture time. It’s the second year we’ve had LED lights on our Christmas tree, but I’m still not used to them…I can’t help but feel that they make the pictures look like they were taken in an aquarium!

Bunny came up with the idea for this year’s cake (carrot with a gingerbread mousse filling and cream cheese frosting), and we made it together…it was so delicious!

Of course I had to play Animal Crossing and check in with all my neighbors (especially Roald!).

We played a couple of games of Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries while watching our traditional Christmas Eve shows (the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker and Rick Steves’ European Christmas)…I was the winner of the game I played with 152 points, and completed every route in my hand (11 in total, I believe), plus used every train car and every card I had. I think that’s the Ticket to Ride equivalent of a complete game?

I filled the stockings, tracked Santa with NORAD (I made sure he got to both St. Louis and Chicago) and set up the nativity before bed.

Christmas Day always begins with our favorite coffee cake:

Since I wasn’t entirely happy with my very blue photos from Christmas Eve, I took some more pictures at church:

Christmas morning is such a beautiful service!

We got a very nice family photo afterwards:

After we got home and opened presents, I got to work on dinner. I decided to do things a little bit different this year. Instead of making a fancy dinner, which we all enjoy, but isn’t the highlight of the holiday for us, I focused all of my energy on the best meal of the year, the Pick Out Dinner. Since that was our main Christmas dinner, I set the table with the china, folded napkins like Christmas trees, and discovered that a Stammtisch sign I’ve been wanting for a while magically appeared on the table while I was working on the dinner.

Our dinner was our usual favorites, including an extended cheese board, jalapeño popper and Rotel dips, a shrimp ring, several kinds of sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, and buffalo Chex mix.

I love making salame roses!

It’s our favorite meal of the whole year!

After dinner, we watched White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the Disney World Christmas parade. And then Ryan and I played Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries (using the new anniversary train cars we got for Christmas!), to determine who the house’s Ticket to Ride: Christmas champion is. Spoilers…not me! I scored almost 100 points less than I did in yesterday’s game (only 54!!!) and Ryan is the undisputed champion.

And so another Christmas has come and gone…but the 12 Days of Christmas is just beginning, and we still have some more fun planned! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2024

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone far too quickly!

Our annual celebration started with Pie Day(s). Like I did last year, I split the work of the pie baking up over two days…we made 10 pies plus the cranberries and stuffing.

I love that our table looks a little bit different every year!

I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have later, so I checked in with Franklin to see how his dinner preparations were coming along:

Bunny wasn’t able to join us until Thanksgiving Day, and had to leave again this morning already, so we did things a little different. We ended up watching the Macy’s Parade twice on Thanksgiving Day (only one game of Parade Bingo, though), along with the dog show and a few of our favorite Thanksgiving shows (Mad About You‘s “Giblets for Murray,” Gilmore Girls‘ “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s “Talking Turkey,” Scrubs’ “My Day Off,” A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and M*A*S*H‘s “The Yalu Brick Road.”).

We had our traditional dinner…turkey and gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and green beans with almonds, cranberries, and rolls:

It’s always a pretty plate!

And so many pies to choose from!

I went with pecan, Nutella, and pumpkin:

I had enough time to pop back into Animal Crossing to help Franklin procure the final ingredients for dinner on the island:

This morning started with pie for breakfast…this time, Nutella and Biscoff cookie butter:

Chickadee and I went to the town Santa parade:

I love a turkey sandwich on rye the day after Thanksgiving!

For lunch dessert, I tried the caramel apple pie:

The Lego Winter Village set was built over the course of two days…I have mixed feelings about this year’s model (I really wish it was just a post office, not Santa’s post office), but I do think the mail sorting system is really cool, and I love the hot air ballon. We got a bonus set of a delivery truck, and it’s really cool, too!

Dinner was turkey soup (of course):

And then Moose, Chickadee, and I went to the town tree lighting:

We also enjoyed checking out the gingerbread house contest…here are some of my favorites:

And one more piece of pie for dessert!

We get to have another leftovers dinner tomorrow (and more pie of course!), but that pretty much wraps up this year’s Markel Family Thanksgiving…on to Advent and Christmas!

Oktoberfest 2024

It’s time for a look back at all of the Oktoberfest fun we’ve enjoyed over the last month or so!

We started close to home toward the end of September, with Belleville Oktoberfest, which begins even before the big celebration in Munich. It’s not my favorite Oktoberfest, but it’s easy to attend, and I love any reason to wear a dirndl!

Next up was my favorite area Oktoberfest, in St. Charles, MO. This year’s event was interesting because it was super muddy, but still a lot of fun, with music, dancing, food, and shopping.

We went back to Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo…they still have the best pretzels!

New to us this year was Soulard’s Oktoberfest in St. Louis. There was more good music with the added bonus of a stroll through the Soulard Market.

And finally, our family Oktoberfest, once all of the other area celebrations had wrapped up. We started with an Oktoberfest Eve meal of brats and sauerkraut, plus German tater tots inspired by the ones we tried in Soulard, and apple strudel made by Ladybug for dessert.

Of course I had to put together one more look featuring Rare Dirndl, and it was also a bit of a Disney Bound, as a nod to the Disney Princess with my favorite fashion sense, Rapunzel!

We made pretzels, and instead of fondue, I made Obatzda, a German cheese spread that’s great on the pretzels.

For dinner we had all of my German favorites…Schweineschnitzel, spaetzle, and rotkohl….all homemade, too!

Every good holiday deserves a special drink…I made an apple pie mocktail with apple cider, caramel syrup, cinnamon, and ginger beer. It tasted like fall in a glass, and I even learned how to make an apple fan for a garnish!

And for dessert, one of our family’s all-time favorites–Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte!

I’m kind of sad that Oktoberfest season is over already…it’s become something I really look forward to every year!

Easter 2024

This year, in order to take a look back at our Easter celebration, we have to back way up, to before Holy Week even began! While Bunny was home from college on spring break, I made hot cross buns, and we made the paschal candle for the year, so she wouldn’t have to miss out on everything. Unfortunately, she had to go back to school the day before Palm Sunday, so she didn’t get to join us for that (or any of the church services that followed).

Our Holy Week was pretty standard, even though we were missing having Bunny at home. We went to church on Maundy Thursday:

On Good Friday, when I wasn’t teaching school, I was working in the kitchen, chopping things and making pita bread. Ladybug helped out by baking and decorating some cupcakes for me:

And then we went to church. The service was beautiful, as was the sunset we were treated to upon leaving the building:

On Saturday, I was back at work in the kitchen, making baklava, tsoureki (a Greek Easter Bread), and prepping other various components of our Easter dinner:

I also did a little work on decorating, including pairing some linens in a new way for the kitchen island and making our napkins look like bunnies!

And then it was time for the best church service of the year, The Great Vigil of Easter!

On the way home, according to tradition, we stopped at Wendy’s for Frostys and fries, and watched Rick Steves’ European Easter.

Back to church this morning for a service filled with joy and beautiful music!

It was weird taking pictures of only four of the children. Since things were already different, I decided that instead of taking my usual pictures by the font, I’d go with the Paschal Candle as the backdrop instead:

And a picture of…the Fab Four? Nope…that just isn’t right!

Also a picture of 6/7 of our family:

I planned a special Easter breakfast this year…I finally learned how to make omelettes! So we had a made-to-order omelette bar, featuring ham and smoked salmon, dill, chives, mushrooms, bell peppers, and two kinds of cheese:

We also had mixed berries, 13(!!!!) kinds of mini donuts (Seasonal varieties included carrot cake, blueberry, peach cobbler, spring sprinkles, honey bun, strawberry shortcake, plus the standards: powdered, old fashioned, glazed, frosted, zebra, crunch, and double chocolate ), pink pineapple, and the requisite Easter candy:

Here’s a look at our completed Osterstrauß, which was the centerpiece of our buffet:

I chose a smoked salmon, dill, and mushroom omelette, and it was delicious! I also really enjoyed the pink pineapple, which I thought tasted a little bit like watermelon…it might have just been a mental thing because it looked kind of like watermelon, though!

I didn’t have a whole lot of work to do this afternoon since I had prepped so much of dinner, so I had plenty of time for setting the table while we watched the first two My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies:

My family requested gyros for dinner, so I seasoned some sizzle steak with gyros seasoning we found at the international market and cooked it in my best approximation of gyros. We had all our favorite toppings: homemade tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, onions, and feta cheese:

I decided to go full-on Greek with our dinner, including a Greek salad, spanakopita, the previously-mentioned tsoureki, and because I’m still scared of making saganaki, fried feta coated in sesame seeds. The only thing missing was dolmas (stuffed grape leaves)…maybe someday I’ll tackle those!

I’ve been thinking about doing a Greek Easter dinner for a few years, so I really enjoyed it!

In keeping with our Greek theme, we had baklava sundaes for dessert:

And I found some time to stop by and say “hi” to Zipper T. Bunny!

This was our first big holiday without all of us here, which was weird and sad, but we made the best of it, and it was still a lovely Easter!

Christmas 2023

Now that I’m feeling more like myself, it’s finally time for a look back at our Markel Family Christmas (and New Year’s) celebration!

But first, let me back up a bit. A few days before Christmas, I was trying to be helpful by assisting in moving a couch, and I ended up hurting my back. I managed to make it through the pain until the day after Christmas, when I finally gave in and went to the ER, where they said based on the x-rays, I had a bad muscle strain and a possible slightly slipped disc. Anyway, because of that, I had to tone done our celebration some, although Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were fairly normal.

Christmas Eve was fun because it was also Advent IV, which means we got to go to church in the morning, too!

There was our traditional Christmas Crunch to be had:

And the Fab Five finished the Lego Home Alone house:

And then we headed back to church for the Christmas Eve service, which was lovely as always!

We tried to stop by the St. Louis Christmas tree on the way home, as we have for the last few years, but there was simply no parking, so we went on our merry way, and drove though the Way of Lights only:

When we got home, I took pictures as always:

And we enjoyed a peppermint cake by the light of the fully lit Advent wreath:

I was really not feeling too well, so we didn’t play Ticket to Ride like we usually do, but I did find energy for Animal Crossing:

And I got the stockings filled with some help, and our Little People nativity scene set up:

On Christmas Day, we didn’t have to be up terribly early, so we took our time with stockings and coffee cake:

And then we headed back to church, for the third service in two days:

We managed a nice family picture even though I was still feeling pretty badly:

We took another shot at seeing the St. Louis Christmas tree on the way home, and it worked out perfectly, because there was no one there! It’s not quite the same as seeing it at night, but at least it was overcast!

When we got home, we opened presents:

And had our traditional “Pick out Dinner.”

Ryan’s parents were scheduled to arrive the day after Christmas, and I was going to make our fancy Christmas dinner the day after that. But I was feeling pretty horrible on the 26th, so the fancy dinner was postponed, and like I said, I went to the hospital, and have spent the better part of the week between Christmas and New Year’s doing absolutely nothing, including not making our fancy New Year’s dinner, either. We did have our New Year’s Eve hot chocolate bar, though:

And I managed to be awake on 12-31-23 (how cool was that date?!?) to ring in 2024 on my island (although I wasn’t sure at all that would happen!).

And I finally made the gingerbread cake that was supposed to be the ending to our fancy Christmas dinner for New Year’s Day!

This wasn’t exactly the Christmas I wanted, because I really felt like I let my family down, but I suppose it will be one we remember, anyway, and we still have two fancy dinners to look forward to!

Thanksgiving 2023

“And that’s how Milly and Mr. Macy started a new holiday tradition. It looked a little like the old country, and a little like America, and a little like something entirely new.”

That quote from Milly and the Macy’s Parade describes pretty well how I felt about Thanksgiving this year. Our holiday was a little different, because this is the first time we’ve had a child away from home who returned to us for the holiday celebration. It was kind of familiar and kind of new, and still lots of fun!

One thing that was different this year was that instead of having “Pie Day” on Wednesday, I started my annual pie baking on Tuesday…I made three pies that day (two s’mores, another new thing because I’ve never made two of the same pie before, and a chocolate hazelnut) plus the cranberries. I got to work on baking early so that I wouldn’t have to be in the kitchen as much once Bunny returned home on Wednesday. The other six pies (plus the stuffing) were made that day, and Bunny even had time to make the caramel apple like she usually does!

Thursday was pretty normal…we watched the Macy’s Parade (Bunny and Ladybug tied at parade bingo) and the National Dog Show and some of our favorite Thanksgiving shows that we didn’t have time for on Wednesday. Chickadee took care of folding the napkins while I set our tables:

And dinner was even ready a little earlier than I expected, which is much better than it being done later! We had a fairly standard meal…turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, green beans with almonds, cranberries, and rolls. I also made roast fennel for the first time, and it was delicious!

Another change this year involved our Lego Winter Village set. Usually, we build it the day after Thanksgiving, but Bunny had to leave pretty early that day, so we built it after dinner. I love that it looks like it was lifted right from the Alps, and it has so many lovely details…the fireplace is especially cool!

Here’s a look at the previously-mentioned pies. The pineapple pie was the only new addition this year, and it was a good one…I will definitely be making it again!

In the evening, we also played “Chandler’s Dumb States Game” for the first time. I was the undisputed champion…all 50 states in four minutes, and my children are still wondering how I did it! Of course I also had to check in with Franklin and my Animal Crossing neighbors before the day was over:

The day after Thanksgiving started with one of my very favorite traditions…pie for breakfast!

We went to see Moose march in the town Santa Parade for the last time…Bunny was able to stay long enough to see the band, which was nice. After all these years, I can’t believe he won’t be marching in it again!

Of course we had turkey sandwiches for lunch:

And more pie for lunch dessert:

Dinner was another favorite…turkey soup:

After dinner, Chickadee and I went to the town tree lighting, which is always a nice event.

We walked through Christkindlmarkt:

And checked out the gingerbread houses on display on Main Street. There are some very creative and beautiful pieces done by some very talented artists!

Back home, we had even more pie:

Last night, we had one more leftovers meal…Thanksgiving casserole (one of the few casseroles I actually like!):

And one final round of pie for dessert:

So, our celebration was a lot the same, but a little bit different. But we were together for the holiday, and that was the most important thing of all!