Black Friday was last week. Hopefully you finished all your shopping but if not, no sweat—your favorite blogger is here to help. I am just about to solve all your gift-giving conundrums but before I reveal my recommended present for 2025, let me provide some context…

For “Brent’s Gift of the Year” I choose a practical and inexpensive gift suggestion that retails in the $10-$15 range. The goal is for it to be versatile in a way that makes it a perfect choice for a white elephant gift exchange, stocking stuffer, or thoughtful present.

For example, in 2018 I suggested an LED cinema lightbox marquee, in 2019 I championed a blanket, in 2020 I pushed a framed photo, in 2021 I recommended a book of stamps, in 2022 I invited my readers to pick out a tasty six-pack of beer, in 2023 I pitched cookie mix, and in 2024 I endorsed premium air freshener.

My goal each year is to suggest a gift that goes beyond something that is solely material. Although I always pick something that is tangible/physical, I try to ensure that it elicits emotion, too. I think this year’s gift once again hits that benchmark.

Each year, our Christmas tree becomes more special. It obviously has nothing to do with the tree itself—we put up the same artificial pine every December. However, what increases its value is the collection of ornaments we hang from it. And no, I am not eluding to monetary value because we surely aren’t hanging diamonds or gold nuggets. Instead, I am talking about the sentimental value that is priceless.

Most of the ornaments that hang on our tree are special. This ornament follows the “date it and name it” formula I will mention below.

Take a look at our tree and most every ornament will tell a story. Either it marks a milestone, vacation, experience, preference, belief, or gift. Did you catch that last item? I said gift. Some of our favorite ornaments were gifts that now hang on our tree year after year.

My recommended gift of the year is an ornament.

There are so many options when gifting someone an ornament. The easiest route might be to simply find something that matches the person’s tastes. Give them an ornament of their favorite team, food, beer, or board game. This gesture conveys that you know the person and that you took time to celebrate their preferences in a meaningful way.

Sloan looks at a Snickers ornament found inside Old World Christmas. Gifting someone an ornament of their favorite candy bar shows thought and uniqueness.

You can also go the extra mile and customize an ornament. Head to the mall or go online where you can easily use a vendor to produce a picture ornament. Capture a special moment for the recipient (and even yourself) by choosing a photo that includes both of you. The picture ornament will be etched in time as it hangs on the person’s tree through the decades. Although the person will get older as each Christmas passes, their youthfulness will remain intact on whatever branch the ornament hangs.

Sloan will always be a baby in this picture ornament we gleefully hang from our tree each year.

But you don’t even have to go the lengths of finding a photo to achieve customization. You can convey thought and uniqueness by marking or engraving your ornament with something special. Honor someone’s milestone or life event by “naming it and dating it.” For example, the white elephant gift I am bringing to my work’s holiday party simply commemorates the party itself. Honestly, it’s not that hard…but it is thoughtful.

This is the EWU ornament I had customized for our office holiday party later this month.

And again, let me re-iterate in a bold way the best part of gifting an ornament: it has lasting power.

If the ornament you give is thoughtful and unique, it will stay on the recipient’s tree every year. Whenever they take it out at the beginning of the Christmas season or return it to storage post-December, you (or your family) will most likely be on that person’s mind. If the combination of the event/preference the ornament celebrates and the thought of yourself brings a smile to the recipient’s face, you have succeeded at giving a truly remarkable Christmas gift.

This ornament celebrated our wedding and was a gift from our mentor couple, Tim and Kathy McCormick. Sid and I remember them each time we look at this ornament.

Go on, give a thoughtful ornament to someone this Christmas season. I recommend visiting Old World Christmas for an impressive collection of branded ornaments or reaching out to JJ’s Designs for a beautiful but inexpensive customized ornament. Don’t Blink.

We are now in the home stretch!

It is December and that means we are in the final month of 2025. My best advice to my readers is to end the year on a good note and make the most out of the next 31 days.

Over here at Don’t Blink, I am going to try to do the same. December is always the most significant month for my blog. However, it’s not the quantity of content that will make December shine. In fact, my overall blogging output for this month will be the lowest of the year.

It is a huge month for “Don’t Blink.”

But the quality of the content (at least I hope) is what will distinguish this month’s output from all the others. I have several annual blog posts that will hit over the next 4+ weeks.

Tomorrow I will publish my annual recommended gift for the holiday season. This will be the seventh year in a row that I provide you with some shopping inspiration so make sure you don’t miss it.

The following week I will embrace my totally undeserved role of music critic and reveal my top five songs of the year. When you view my choices for 2025, it will mark the 12th time I have evaluated the world of music for Don’t Blink.

Then later in the month I will present my most beloved annual blog posts. My BIG blog post—a look back at my top 10 blog posts of the year—will drop the last week of December. Finally, my blogging for 2025 will conclude with my annual wrap up/reflection post of the past year.

Thanks for your readership this year. I am excited to end 2025 on a bang and I hope you will come along for the ride. Don’t Blink.

Thanks be to God for another memorable Thanksgiving. Our 2025 Turkey Day was spent joyfully engaging in some of our family’s favorite traditions. In hope that my kids can look back on this reflection decades down the road, here is a glimpse of this past Thursday…

Thanksgiving 2025 was an awesome day for my family.

Speaking of traditions, let’s start with the most fruitless one. Once again, I made the lame effort to justify my overeating by hitting Snap Fitness at 4 a.m. I went through a routine with anaerobic and aerobic components before busting out of that gym as quickly as possible because I had a parade to watch.

I found myself at Snap Fitness at the Ponderosa Village area at 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving. It was my pathetic attempt to make up for the calories I would eat later that day.

Upon my arrival back at home, I woke up Sloan and Beau and allowed them to come into our bedroom to watch the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. By the time the parade started at 5:30 a.m., they may or may not have finagled their way into our bed. We enjoyed our 3.5-hour tradition thoroughly as I took a liking to the high school band that performed a “Christmas Vacation” arrangement while Sidney gravitated toward the Broadway acts. However, the live performance of “Golden” definitely stole the show for Beau!

Beau watches the performance of “Golden” during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Once the parade concluded, we headed to River Park Square in downtown Spokane. Our ultimate destination within the mall was the AMC Theater. We caught the 10:30 a.m. showing of “Zootopia 2.” It was super cute and the experience was only amplified by the reclining seats and delicious popcorn.

Sloan and Beau settle in for “Zootopia 2” at the AMC Theaters in River Park Square. It was a cute movie!

After admiring the magical 50-foot tree in the atrium of River Park Square, we headed up north to my parents’ house. We were the first ones to arrive and passed an hour or so by watching the Chiefs vs. Cowboys game. Soon enough, my siblings and their families were over. My brother staged a Thanksgiving word scramble/picture riddle challenge for everyone to participate in that was super fun (congrats to my wife for winning!). Once the dust settled on that friendly competition, we ate the Thanksgiving meal. All I can say—and you just have to trust me because I am being 100% genuine—is that it was the best Thanksgiving feast I ever had.

Welcome to the Reser family Thanksgiving table! The meal was absolute perfection.

As is custom for the Resers, my family prefers to wait 1-2 hours after the meal before eating dessert. We spent that grace period chatting in the living room before converging on the different pies in the kitchen (apple, pumpkin, peanut butter). As per usual, I didn’t think twice and opted for pumpkin.

My slice of pumpkin pie—I went a little generous on the cool whip.

We then capitalized on the sugar high by playing a game of What Do You Meme? It was another competition won by my specific Reser family unit as Sloan came out on top. After some more socializing with our big group, we departed back to the Spokane Valley around 8:30 p.m.

Congrats to Sloan on winning our “What Do You Meme?” family game session.

By the time we arrived back at our house, we could not have felt more thankful. At the same time, I also felt guilt for how lucky our family is when so many others suffer. Please pray that my family finds an adequate way to give back in relation to the abundance of our blessings. Don’t Blink.

Past Thanksgiving Posts
Thanksgiving 2024
Thanksgiving 2023
Thanksgiving 2022
Thanksgiving 2021
Thankgiving 2019

It seems like five years is a good benchmark. This specific amount of time is seemingly a sweet spot. You can look back on something without fresh emotion influencing your evaluation nor the passage of too many days clouding it.

As I reflect on this Thanksgiving morning, I can’t help but think of the peak of the COVID pandemic five years ago. As the virus brought unimaginable negative impacts, many people weren’t in a celebratory mood. My blog post from November 25, 2020, titled “A Subdued Thanksgiving,” sums up the pulse of the country at that time. As people were told not to gather it goes without saying that Thanksgiving 2020 wasn’t a banner holiday for many.

So today a portion of my thankfulness is devoted to the fact that there isn’t a pandemic raging right now. People aren’t dying at a terrifying clip. We can freely gather with our families and eat, talk, and sing without restriction.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Seriously, just take a couple moments to reflect on what you were doing five years ago today. And then be thankful.

To end on a positive note, I want to share a Thanksgiving prayer my family has said for the past 7-8 years:

Good and gracious God. You do all things well. You make the sun and rain come, nurturing the earth, making it fertile and fruitful. Through Your gift of creation and the work of our hands, we reap an abundant harvest. We give You thanks for Your many gifts that sustain us; for health and home, dignified labor; for family, friends, neighbors, and those whom today we may still consider enemies. As we reflect in thanks this day, may we remember those who lack something we have. May our gratitude move us to love, serve, and give. Together we rejoice in Your gifts, and in Your abundant life! Amen.

Yep, when it comes to Thanksgiving 2025, I think it is pretty simple: rejoice and be thankful! Don’t Blink.

By my calculations, we have now supported our children through more than 10 sports seasons. Sloan has competed in a couple t-ball seasons and multiple soccer seasons. Beau has played t-ball, soccer, and basketball. All of these sports endeavors have been fun, fruitful, and developmental.

However, just like with everything, not all aspects of youth sports are enjoyable/convenient. It is easy to become cynical with practices that start seemingly before the work day ends, parents who treat the seasons like the major leagues, and games that drag on way longer than they should. But believe it or not, there is another youth sport staple that I might detest even more…

Picture Day.

Behind the scenes of Beau’s basketball team’s picture day. Not the best time to be a sports dad.

I almost feel like I rather be handed a speeding ticket than the picture brochure/envelope the coach hands me the practice before picture day. Besides a place for me to insert a check for overpriced photos, the brochure also represents a morning of wasted time and chaos.

Sloan and her teammate/friend/ Aminah posed for buddy photos during one particular picture day for T-ball. The photos always turn out cute but the process is usually a bit painful. 

I know I sound like a grumpy dad, but my wife and I value our weekends and evenings. Although watching our children compete is something we love to do, we prefer it doesn’t take up the whole day. Picture day requires that we show up early for our designated picture time, usually 30-45 minutes prior to the game. And then you have to show up early to your designated picture time so teams can get organized prior to the photographer taking over. Thus, picture day will always add at least an hour to that day’s sporting event.

Back to that brochure for a moment. Deciding on a package is always something my wife and I figure out in the car or a couple minutes before picture time at the site. Yep, probably not the smartest idea, especially when the options are as plentiful as menu items on a Cheesecake Factory menu but nowhere near as delicious.

Picture Day can give even the calmest folks an anxiety attack. If you have ever accompanied a child to the Spokane Youth Sports soccer picture day at the South Complex, you know exactly what I mean. Long lines, stressed photographers, huge crowds, and rowdy kids are enough to zap all energy from a team before they play their game and enough to rob parents of any sanity they thought they had. No joke, it is a s@#$ show.

Nothing is more of a cluster than picture day for soccer at the South Complex in Spokane. Beau and his soccer team might look like everything went smoothly but it was a goat rope.

And all of that is even before a single photo is snapped.

Once your team is finally at the front of the line you grimace as the photographer does his/her best to pose the kids. Then after that nightmare, you must worry about individual photos. Tucking jerseys in, making sure your child has a ball, and hoping they follow the photographer’s instructions all contribute to a certain level of stress.

Posing a child for an individual photo with a ball is one thing. Posing a child with a bat is an entirely different thing that requires a massive amount of patience.

After picture day is complete, I try to forget about it until the season is over and the photos once again come in late. I am sure the coach always enjoys meeting me and other parents at a local grocery store to pass out the picture packages that were supposed to be delivered a couple weeks prior.

And then after all that, what do we do with the photos? For our family, they end up residing in one of our junk drawers or junk bins. Although I will say that we have started ordering magnets and those usually end up on our refrigerator…so at least there is that.

Kudos to the photographers who brave the chaos so that they can make a living. Don’t Blink.

With the nights becoming shorter and colder, the warmth of one’s bed becomes a little more irresistible. The protection and heat provided will keep you pressing that snooze button on those freezing cold dark mornings.

But when closing your eyes for just a couple more minutes is not an option, it can be one of the hardest tasks to rip the band-aid off and jump out of bed.

On Friday, I had one of the best feelings ever…right after one of the worst. I woke up that morning to realize it was 4:05 a.m., well past the 3:30 a.m. time I usually on weekdays to head to the gym. What’s 35 minutes, you ask? Well, I usually plan my mornings right up to the minute with exercise, chores, getting the kids ready, taking them to school, and commuting to work. Even running five minutes off my schedule can throw everything off and put me in a cranky mood.

I was alarmed to wake up and realize that it was already 4:05 a.m.

But the schedule adjusting I would need to do because of my “sleeping in” wasn’t my only issue. I had to snap out of the best sleep I had in several weeks on probably the coldest morning we had so far this autumn in Spokane. I needed to kick off the covers, throw my workout clothes on, and venture out into the freezing, dark streets of Spokane Valley to get to the gym.

Then a realization hit me. The expletive I thought to myself changed to something else. The dread and disappointment vanished. My anguish literally transformed into laughter. Yes, laughter.

Sidney was understandably confused after waking up to her husband laughing and re-situated himself in bed. Knowing I needed to end the suspense, I looked at her and offered the reason for my amusement:

“It’s not Friday, it’s Saturday.”

Returning to sleep with gleeful relief was one of the best feelings I experienced all month. Don’t Blink.