The Weekly Ramble – January 2, 2026

Happy New Year! Let’s chat lessons learned from Christmas as well as how to save money in 2026.

Hello and Happy New Year! How was your week? Did you do your homework? I hope you’ll leave a comment about one of your take-aways from this holiday season.

I am feeling a huge sense of thankfulness. Our married kids did all the planning and hosting and went above and beyond with the hospitality, entertainment, and gifts. I don’t think that 2009 Jessica could have dreamt of such a restful Christmas! (Thank you again and again, N/K.)

We got home late on Monday, it was a 10+ hour drive back from Sacramento, full of fog and bad drivers. We took the more coastal route as we stopped for lunch with my in-laws on the way back.

While it still feels like Cheese Season, I’m slowly finding my bearings. Bryan and the kids are back at work today, so even though it’s a Friday, I’m trying to find routine.

Already this morning I’ve made a batch of brown sugar and several batches of my Instant Protein Oats. I’m hoping to putter in the kitchen for a few hours later. It is the Pantry Challenge after all.

Yesterday was pretty chill for a New Year’s Day. It rained all day long. Everyone slept as much as he liked and did whatever he wanted.

Inspired by some videos I saw on Instagram, I busted out my collection of felt — found the unfinished set of felt fruit ornaments from last year — and started a new project.

I’m envisioning a table runner of sorts like this one, but all trees. It will be more patchwork-y because I’m using sheets of felt instead of one big piece. We shall see!

Speaking of Instagram, did you know you can tell the algorithm what you want to see? I discovered this screen the other day:

Looks like it rolled out just a few weeks ago. Learn more here and tell it what you want to see!

Here’s what I’ve been doing, eating, listening/watching, reading, and/or writing this past week:

What I’ve Been Doing

If you followed along last year you know that 2025 was one of introspection and research for me as concerns my job-for-pay. I looked into fiction writing, copy writing, proofreading/editing, social media marketing, and substitute teaching as options for how to contribute to our family’s income over the next 5 to 10 years.

My conclusion was that self-employment is the play, at least for now. Recently, in addition to prepping January resources for the Club, I’ve been thinking of my overall goals for the year.

I don’t have ambitious goals. I’m just glad to be here! My income has been in a free fall since ’23. The fall slowed down a bit this last year, but it was still “a pay cut” of $4000. I’m thankful because God did a lot of refining and humbling in my heart.

I’m hoping this can be a rebuilding year. My input goals for 2026 are:

1. Remember: Enough is Good. Too often I’ve chased “infinity money”… you know the idea of “if only I could make more.” I’m hoping to be satisfied in having enough and I have a specific number that is “enough”.

2. Get back to regular photo shoots. I did ONE photo shoot in all of 2025. It was just too frustrating not to see an ROI thanks to AI and market competition. Now, I’m doing it because I like the craft and the look of the websites with nice images.

3. Refine my routines of writing, shooting, marketing, etc. You know how I love a routine!

4. Spend focused time each month on holiday content. I did this several years ago and it was so satisfying, not just to share on the blogs, but because I got to experience Christmas a little bit each month.

5. Help more people save money. It’s tempting to put a number on it in terms of reach, but the value matters more than the number.

Speaking of which, how can I help you?! Leave me a comment below.

What I’ve Been Eating

You know I lost a fair amount of weight in November. While I haven’t gained it all back, I did let go of my routines for Christmas week — and it shows.

I also quit exercising. Eek!

Food has been whatever sounds good in the moment — not a great play. So, I’m working on dialing in my set meals at least for breakfast and lunch so that I don’t have to fix anything, whether it sounds good or not.

Aside: I am particularly proud of the Christmas Day Breakfast boxes I packed for everyone. We left at 4 am and didn’t know what would be open besides gas stations and a Starbucks. Those puff pastries filled with berries were so yummy!

What I’ve Been Listening/Watching

The standout of the week is the RC Sproul series on the Last Days. When we visited our son’s church on Sunday, the pastor preached on Revelation. He said though Christians differ on the last days, you should still care about it.

That was particularly convicting for me because I know which position I don’t hold, but wasn’t completely confident to explain which one I do hold. I had no idea that much of the debate surrounds the dating of when John wrote Revelation.

Anyway, the series is fascinating, though a little academic.

What I’ve Been Reading

I didn’t get to much reading over the break. Not sure why that was. I started and abandoned several books. I think my era of Clean Romance Novels may be waning.

Instead I started One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A friend invited me to her virtual book club on the classics, so I’m taking a huge leap to say I’m reading this book. lol.

It may take me longer to get to 100 books this year than it did in 2025. Ha!

Alrighty, that’s it for me. I’ve got loads more that I want to write in dedicated posts, things about mindset shifts and books I read and books I want to read, but that will need to wait for later. A friend is sick so I’m going to take her dinner — but I need to make it first.

Leave a comment below, either about your Christmas lessons or how you want to save money this year.