December 2024 Wrap-Up

 

The holidays came and went and while there were some good times, December wasn't exactly the best month of the year. In an effort to not drag down the New Year energy, I'm going to focus on the good stuff in this last wrap up post for 2024.

Blah Blog Log

I snuck in a couple of year end gaming posts on the last day of the month to actually hit my resolution goal after months of not getting there.

Bored Board Games

Sickness ravaged my household so plays saw an overall dip. I ended up having to cancel all of the in person meetups of our local gaming group. I'm hoping we can pick right up in the new year. For this month's highlight, I'm going to share the game that has my second most logged games of all time:

Can't Stop - A classic press your luck game that can be played and won by any age and skill level. I first came across it on BGA many years ago and have accumulated 420 plays on there as of this post. From the BGG page "players roll dice and choose combinations tactically to close out three columns. The board has one column for each possible total of two six-sided dice, but the number of spaces in each column varies: the more probable a total, the more spaces in that column and the more rolls it takes to complete. The player places or advances progress markers in the open column(s) associated with their chosen totals, then chooses whether to roll again or end their turn and replace the progress markers with markers of their color. A player can only advance three different columns in a turn and cannot advance a column which any player has closed out by reaching the end space; if a roll doesn’t result in any legal plays, the turn ends with that turn’s progress lost."

It's a simple game but there is some skill an decision making that will aid you in winning more often, assuming the dice gods are working in your favor. I've wanted a copy of the game for many years, but really disliked the look of the original "stop sign" version. When the pictured Korean L-Board version came out in 2023, I knew that was the one for me and just waited until I could get it for a reasonable price. Just before Christmas a BGG user had a bunch of copies of various games in their Korean versions and I was able to get one from him as a Christmas present to myself. Its small box unfold into the board and is held together by interior magnets. I also think the art is a nice step up from the original, giving it a little theme as well.

Enjoyable Eats

Between people being sick and being busy getting ready for the holidays, we didn't have many opportunities to find good food to share. However, one of my favorite Christmas traditions that we started a couple years before moving into this house five years ago is getting Chinese takeout on Christmas Eve. I look forward to it every year as we order just a bunch of stuff to share with whoever is at the house that night. We always order from our favorite place in Smyrna, China Delight.
We were down a couple of people this year, but we still ordered quite a bit including: General Tso's Chicken (extra crispy), Beef Egg Foo Young, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Pork Fried Rice, Egg rolls, and Crab Rangoons. It's nice to have leftovers for lunch the day after Christmas, if nobody is feeling the leftover appetizers that we've been doing instead of a traditional sit down meal on Christmas.

I'm Watching 👀

I was too sick to join the family to see the Mufasa movie in theaters after Christmas, but Christine and I did start watching Big Little Lies. It's one of those shows that we've wanted to watch for years after it came out, but are just getting around to it. In an effort to use our HBO subscription for more than Friends rewatches and Game of Thrones related shows, we've queued up a dozen or so shows, many of them that were just a couple season long like Big Little Lies. Its first season crushed it at the awards shows and has a stacked cast list including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgård, Adam Scott, and Laura Dern among others. We both really enjoyed season one and have just started season two. I just read that after six years, a third season is coming in 2025 so that's something I'll be looking forward to.

Resolutions Update

This year was better than last, but I could have done better. A single goal is obviously the way forward from now on. If I want to do other things, I just need to do them and not put so much pressure on myself to do them on a monthly or yearly basis.
  • Goal #1: Cook More Italian Food - Made a batch of My Mother's Tomato Sauce with another slight tweak to the recipe that I'm still undecided if I like or not. Also made a couple new to us pasta shapes thanks to Aldi's commitment to making different shapes available throughout the year.
  • Goal #2: Log 600 Plays of At Least 150 Games - Ended the year with 892 Plays across 162 Games. No gaming goals for next year, just want to stay active.
  • Goal #3: Write at Least 3 Blog Posts Each Month - Did sneak in a couple of posts and hit this goal for December. Saving these wrap-up posts going forward to have at least one post each month. 

TikTok Time

Bringing this segment back because I love Tiktok and I'll be very sad if it goes away this month. So for the possible final highlighted account, I've chosen tanaradoublechocolate_.
@tanaradoublechocolate_

#greenscreenvideo Make your own ORIGINAL casserole VIDEO CREDITS @yummycookingj9 #comedy #fyp #everybodysocreative #viral #food #foodreview #cooking #commentary #philly #casserole

♬ original sound - tanaradoublechocolate

I love, love, love her videos. Most of them are food related and start off with her signature catch phrase "Everyone's so creative!" Her comedic spin on usually horrendous cooking videos, that were often made only to trigger people, puts me in stitches. Whenever I need a pick me up, I can usually dial up one of her videos for a good laugh.

Whatcha Snackin?

Christmas Cookies! Scaled back even more this year and made just 4 different types: Dark Chocolate Mint Crinkle Cookies, Pistachio-Cranberry Shortbread, Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, and Chocolate Pecan Pie Balls.
The snickerdoodles and pecan pie balls were new this year and one was way more successful than the other. I LOVED the snickerdoodles. They were relatively easy to make and the addition of the nutty flavor of brown butter really elevated a cookie type I already enjoyed into something I will be making many more times in the future. The pecan pie balls were less successful because they were way too sweet. They're a no bake cookie of graham cracker crumbs and nuts held together by butter and maple syrup and then dipped in almond bark chocolate. I think the chocolate pushed their sweetness over the top. If I were to try them again, I would find a dark chocolate to coat them with instead.

Wrap It Up

Please comment below with any thoughts or comments on anything I've covered. Thanks for reading!

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