Christmas Letter 2025

Merry Christmas, my Friends!

Well, this is the year it happened. I did not even try to send Christmas cards – not even to the people who sent cards to me. So this is my Christmas greeting, coming with lots of love. Presented in a way that I can write at the last minute and have it still be seen by lots of my friends and family.

This Christmas, I’m thinking about Mary’s Magnificat (from my church’s wonderful cantata) and how I do believe that God will bring justice and make things right. (See my earlier posts on this blog.) And meanwhile, we can find joy in the fact that God did not “recoil” (again from a song) with disgust at becoming human, but showed God cared about humanity by becoming one of us.

My big trip in 2025 was to go to Oregon to see my kids in June. I booked a cabin on the Columbia River for a few days, and also spent some time in Portland with some of my siblings and their kids. It was a refreshing and peaceful interlude.

Other than that, my go-to place for mini-retreats this year was Blackwater Falls, West Virginia – not too far away, but lovely. I actually visited in Spring, Summer, and Fall. It turns out to be a great place to get away and get some hiking and reading done (not at the same time).

My day-to-day life didn’t change much in 2025. I still love my job as Youth Materials Selector for my local public library system. I still take frequent walks by the lake outside my windows, and I’m still addicted to taking pictures of the local great blue heron.

And I probably have too many activities going on, but there’s nothing I want to cut back. On Monday nights, I co-lead a virtual ladies’ small group through my church. Even though we meet virtually, we’ve come to mean a lot to each other. Tuesday nights are when I play online Dominion (a game) with my youngest, Tim, who’s across the country. Wednesday nights are for choir rehearsal. And Sunday is for church (and choir) in the morning and afternoons with the gaming group (board games) I’ve been part of for eleven years now. All of those activities bring me lots of joy.

And I’ve always got projects going on. This year, I’m celebrating my 25th year (Can you believe it?) of writing Sonderbooks with #Sonderbooks25. The actual 25th anniversary will happen August 2026, but yes, I’m in the 25th year. I’m celebrating by – slowly – revamping my old Sonderbooks Stand-outs pages into phone-friendly format. And when I started doing that, I started rereading all the old reviews and a bunch of the books. So it’s taking much longer than planned, but I’m having a whole lot of fun doing it. Oh, and I’m always posting new reviews, almost every day. Need ideas for something to read? Do check out Sonderbooks.com. My life would probably be simpler if I stopped writing and posting book reviews, but it satisfies something deep within me to do lots of reading and then share with others about the wonderful books.

I’d still like to find a publisher for my book about Psalms, Praying with the Psalmists. But after attending a writers’ conference, I decided to make a website before I find a publisher rather than after – and I’m happy to report that prayingwiththepsalmists.com is up and running, with five of the twelve webpages up and running. Each page corresponds with one chapter in the book and offers info about a type of Psalm and links to examples. The goal is to get people trying out writing their own psalms, using examples from the different types. Check out the website and try it out! I’m hoping to do a break-out session about writing laments at my church’s women’s conference in January – so local people, watch for that.

Oh, and Book Award Committees! I’m now co-chair of one of the best award committees – the Mathical Book Prize. I’m still madly reading this year’s nominees. We’ll meet in January and announce our winners in February. I still love the combination of books plus math.

I’ve also this year created two ways to subscribe to my online writing. My substack, Sondermusings, is a way to keep up with my Christian writing and progress on my Psalms book and website. I’ve got an email newsletter, Book Talking with Sondy, for books, reading, and library news. I’d love to increase those numbers, so sign up if you’re interested! (Both are free.)

My reason for being extra-busy leading up to Christmas is wonderful (to me) – I’ve got my oldest, Zephyr, living with me for a time! As of last Saturday, so I was busy cleaning out the stuff my youngest, Tim, left behind in their room nine years ago, plus the stuff I’d put on top of it (mostly books from when I was on book award committees). But the end result is I’ve got Zephyr with me for Christmas! It’s a little rougher on Zephyr, as she wasn’t particularly keen to leave Portland. But she had some time with her dad and now time with me – and hopefully we provide a safe place to figure out what’s next.

So those are my Christmas Eve thoughts before getting to sing in 9 pm and 11 pm Christmas Eve services. Then tomorrow I’m going to spend a cozy Christmas at home – the first time in nine years that staying home won’t mean I’m alone!

Here’s wishing you all, wherever this finds you, a warm and joyful holiday season!