Holiday Letter 2025

11/30/2025

Dear family and friends,

Welcome to our first holiday blog post! 2025 has been a busy year. I'll try to keep it short but will probably fail; I'm sorry. :) 

Artemis is 10 and in 5th grade at Chávez Elementary where she continues to study Spanish and this year gets to try the viola. She's also taking extra math lessons and is a Junior Girl Scout working toward her Bronze Award with her troop. Though she’s clearly an introvert who cherishes cozy downtime at home, she also loves being with her friends—we’ve loved watching their laughter, silliness, and strong bonds grow. For her golden birthday, she planned a small party with a few friends from her after-school program, where they explored internet snack trends and made slime. I was impressed with her event planning skills!

Golden birthday smiles

Selling cookies with her troop in front of the Dunkin Donuts, a surprisingly lucrative (if chilly) spot.

Horseback riding was her favorite badge this year. She's lucky to have great troop leaders who plan all kinds of cool things for the girls to experience. 

When the hotel iron and I accidentally melted the front of her special dress in Mexico this summer, we made the best of it with a "trash the dress" photo shoot. 

Owen is 14 and in the 8th grade this year, his last year of middle school. He has shot up in height and is taller than me, with feet bigger than Mike's! He's doing well in his classes and enjoys video games, his punching bag, Dungeons & Dragons with his friends, and especially spending time with his girlfriend Evelyn. It's exciting seeing him navigate his first relationship. He went on his first teen trip with Camp Woodbrooke this summer, backpacking on bike with his friends for a week. He also joined band and has learned to play the tuba, participating in the UW-Madison Music Clinic this summer.

Building a lightsaber at Disney over spring break

Looking good in Mexico for the Quincinera, with Artemis and her best friend

On his birthday with cousin Morgan and friends. Teens are willing to eat outside on a construction site to get some privacy from the adults inside. 

14th birthday at Urban Air. He's become obsessed with Dr. Pepper this year. 

With his cousins Xavier and Caleb at Thanksgiving- wow, all these little boys got TALL

Mike continues to keep the family going in a million and one ways, including coordinating several house projects this year - adding a back door to the garage and replacing our crumbling deck with a long-desired sunroom to look out at the Ice Age Trail. He also brews all the beer at Lucky's 1313, volunteers with Artemis's school and girl scout troop, and plays trombone in the band Meskales. This year he also substituted in several other bands when they needed an extra trombone. He and I are really enjoying having kids old enough to stay home without a babysitter- going on more walks together and seeing plays and comedy shows with friends. 

It was fun seeing Mike play with Meskales at Summerfest at the Tiki stage by the lake

Filling in with Ladies Must Swing to play for Honor Flight- dressed up in Rosie the Riveter theme :)

With Artemis at the Bristol Rennaisance Faire

With Owen at a Brewers vs Cubs game during the playoffs

At the Taylor Tomlinson show in Madison. 

As for me, I feel lucky to enjoy working on a variety of projects with talented people at Epic in quality management on the cardiology team. At age 45 and with 21 years at the company under my belt, it's fun to dream about potential second chapters to pursue, but also fun to explore new opportunities where I am. I am in my last year of co-Presidency with the elementary school's Parent Teacher Organization, where I have learned about large scale event planning and fundraising, and gained many dear friends. I also volunteer with First Unitarian Society organizing a service project for Artemis's religious exploration class. One of my favorite side quests this year was throwing a Bel Tine party in our backyard for May Day. Bel Tine is a fictional holiday from the book series The Wheel of Time, based on Beltane. I must know a lot of other Wheel of Time fans who came to this party right? Nope! Luckily I have lots of wonderful friends willing to participate in my nerdy dreams despite not understanding any of the references, who gathered with us to welcome spring with a potluck, dancing the may pole, eating honeycakes and taking turns singing, playing instruments and even juggling around the fire in the "Gleeman's circle".

        Getting into scrubs to support a go-live for a cath lab in Boston. 

While in town, I got to go out to eat at Cheers and they kindly served my N/A beer in the classic Cheers mug. :) In July I decided to embark on a year of sobriety. As I write this I'm at 145 days!

With some of our awesome PTO friends after last year's Fun Fair carnival

Playing violin at Bel Tine

We took several trips this year. During spring break we took the kids to Orlando to go to some Disney parks and a return trip to Universal Studios. We'd never taken them to Disney before and had a great time. My parents joined us which made the looooong drive a lot more practical and fun. It was wonderful to spend time with them. 

Driving from Madison to Orlando is a trek. I had to grab at least one photo to capture our several days of van life. Note Artemis's stylish motion sickness goggles. 

With my parents at Oga's Cantina in Hollywood Studios

The whole crew at Universal Studios

We also were honored in August to be invited to Mexico to be guests at the Quince Años celebration for our friend's daughter (who is the older sister of Artemis's bestie). Wow did we have a great time, as our friends guided us through Mexico City, Xalapa, and Veracruz. 

Having breakfast at our hotel in Mexico City

One of the first Mexican flags, on display at Chapultepec Castillo

Olmec heads at the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa

Mike and I found a games store on the walk back from the museum!

The former king's throne at Cempoala. Google it! The history is fascinating. 

It's been a great year and though there have been challenges, we are just so grateful for all of you for making our lives so rich. Have a wonderful holiday season and best wishes for 2026!