We watch the ball drop in New York and then call it, even though for us it's only 11. So technically we haven't crossed into 2026 yet, but oh well. Good enough for celebrating a completely arbitrary event made up by man. It's also nice to see New York, one of our favorite places, and the Statue of Liberty, maybe she cling to relevance and ultimately prevail.
Although there have been plenty of good moments this year, there's no denying it's been a pretty exhausting, stressful one thanks to the maggots in our country. All we can do it be thankful that 2026 is an election year, and hope that we both have one, and that we take back some semblance of sane control.
There's a second "loop" which is mostly for the kids, it has a carosel and a Christmas village where you can meet Santa. But in the middle is always a giant display. In all the previous years it's been more of an Asian architecture, but this year they went European.
The way out of the main loop was lit with these flickering lanterns which was a nice effect.
There's a small lake in the middle of the zoo, upon which they'd set up this pretty array.
A pegacorn. Or at least that's what I always called them. Recently I was informed they are called alicorns. I was skeptical but I looked it up and lo and behold, that's what they are actually called. So we learned something today.
The Zoolumination event happens at night obviously, so all the animals are put away in whatever dens they sleep in. One year they had a porcupine out and about you could interact with, but most years the only animals you get to see are these fellas. I guess the flamingos are just, 24/7 outside animals.
Another totally new theme, there was a section full of these totem heads from various cultures.
This dragon was particularly cool, you can kind of see some of the smoke behind it. Every now and then it'd "breath" a great billow of the stuff.
At first glance I thought this was a kitsune, but alas not. It also occurred to me kitsunes are Japanese and the artists who do these each year are Chinese. So, there's your random thought for the day.
Just tossing in some of my favorites from the walk, there's far too many to reference them all. Can't go wrong with a bunch of dogs in a classic caddy.
The gathering area where you have to wait for them to open the zoo had these new flower-thingies too.
We've been to the Nashville Zoo Zooluminations many times since our first visit in 2019, and we keep coming back because it's just that good. This year they had a lot of new stuff, like this brightly lit entryway which was cool.
Crowned by crackers, we always wish more family was closer but this crew finds a way to make things special. Merry Christmas!
After a pleasant day spent relaxing, watching parades and football games, it was time to eat!
After breakfast it was time to come down to our house for stockings and presents.
Santa decorations were always my mom's favorite, so Dad put this nice display on for her. She would have loved it.
Much to our surprise and delight he even decorated the house, including putting up and ornamenting a Christmas tree!
We kick off Christmas 2025 with what might become a new tradition, french pancakes up at Dad's house. He set a nice holiday table.
We started getting whole peanuts at Wild Birds and the blue jays are all over them.
And of course the Fortnum & Mason salted caramel biscuits. This year joined by a newcomer, the Knickerbocker Glory. And yes - they are almost as amazing.
Ah, the traditions. Here's another must-have. Christmas crackers! The kind that go pop and are full of wonders.
Edward started a JIS fantasy football league and 3d printed this trophy for the winner. I didn't make the playoffs so not for me this year.
I'm not sure when this accidental picture got taken. I discovered it on my phone while I was cleaning up pictures to put on the blog. I'm fairly certain this is an extreme closeup of the scarf I was wearing. But it was weird, and unexpected and kind of neat so I'm posting it. It's my blog, I can do that kind of stuff.
I bought one of their vinyls, even though I don't have a record player. A vinyl is just cooler than a CD. We wanted to support the band since they were so good and we enjoyed the show so much. I'm not sure I'm a bluegrass convert, but I'd go again.
It was also cool that every member got at least one "highlight moment" where the song really focused on their instrument, even the bassist who was really great.
Then the Appalachian Road Show Band took the stage and man could they play and sing. There's something happy and infectious about bluegrass, they were absolutely great.
My favorite of the art on display. Maybe because it was a balmy 15 degrees today.
While we were waiting for the show to start, the art on display for this period was from former Disney artist James Coleman.
Dad got us tickets to a bluegrass show at Monthaven. Not really in our wheelhouse but we're trying to do more things.
Day two of teaching the class. They have to split it into two sessions since the entire office can't all be training at the same time. Half one day, half the next.
One nice thing about going downtown for the class at this time of year was getting to see the Nashville Christmas tree in person.
Here's the room where we're doing the training. Not bad, how come JIS never gets cool digs like these?
Back in 2020 a crazy person drove his RV downtown and blew it up on Christmas Day. I'm on 2nd avenue headed to the Public Defender to help teach a class on cybersecurity and they're still working on the buildings next to where the blast was five years later.
My yearly visit to the cardiologist for my wonky heart. All is well, though according to this chart I am not playing nearly enough tug of war.
We had extra lights left over since we had a company do some of ours this year, so I went up and gave Dad's house a little Christmas cheer.
