Author Archives: brent

Magic At Old World Christmas

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Our family found a Christmas treasure this year. Tucked away off Sprague in an industrial part of East Central Spokane is a warehouse called Old World Christmas. As you can imagine, there is all kinds of magic inside.

There is a lot of Christmas goodness inside this warehouse.

It’s a pretty cool story. Old World Christmas is actually a company with a worldwide reach that produces glass ornaments and ships them to giddy customers on all corners of the globe. It also so happens that Old World Christmas is headquartered in Spokane. And when the company isn’t shipping ornaments thousands and thousands of miles away, they are offering their overstocked ornaments to locals at a heavily discounted price.

Sloan browses inside Old World Christmas in Spokane.

Twice per year, Old World Christmas opens its warehouse retail store to the general public. The schedule almost reminds me of Willy Wonka occasionally opening his chocolate factory 😂. You can go in the middle of summer for “Christmas in July” or you can go from mid-October through Dec. 23. When you walk through the doors, you enter a Christmas oasis with beautifully decorated trees and bin after bin of reduced-priced ornaments.

Beau browsing the Old World Christmas inventory.

We made our first trip to Old World Christmas during Thanksgiving weekend. In fact, many other families did too. Thanks to an in-depth feature in the Spokesman-Review, the hidden gem was made known to a larger audience of us living in Spokane.

At Old World Christmas, you can search in the bins for ornaments or you can just take them off the trees.

Overstocked, outdated, and chipped ornaments find their way to the Old World Christmas retail store. Many are priced at 70% off their original value. Most of them you can’t tell why they landed in the shop. The variety is insane: fruits, vegetables, beverages, household items, hand sanitizer, automobiles, animals, famous people, candy bars, and so much more are available in ornament-form at a cheap price.

A look at how Old World Christmas ornaments are priced. They are tons of $1 and $2 ornaments too!

My favorite section? The sports teams! Old World Christmas boasts bin after bin of MLB, NFL, NBA, and college ornaments. If you need a unique gift for the sports fan on your list, you know where to go!

They have all kinds of sports team ornaments at Old World Christmas.

During our first trip to Old World Christmas, I let both Sloan and Beau pick something out. Sloan chose a Taylor Swift-themed ornament while Beau opted for a mushroom. When we returned this past weekend, Sloan picked out a “World’s Best Teacher” ornament for Mrs. DeRuyter. I plan to make a Thanksgiving weekend pilgrimage to Old World Christmas an annual tradition for the kids where they can pick out an ornament. I can’t wait to see their collections grow over the years.

Sloan looks at a Snickers ornament found inside Old World Christmas.

If you are looking for a festive activity in the remaining days before we celebrate our Lord’s birth, venture over to Old World Christmas located at 4007 E. Main Ave. Don’t Blink.

Mary Thursday Rundown

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We are 12 days through December. Once the next 12 days pass, it will be Christmas Eve! On that happy note, let’s begin with the latest Thursday Rundown…

Mary – Netflix debuted “Mary” last Friday. The movie, which was released right at the start of Advent and just prior to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is a perfect way to prepare for Christmas. The film takes some liberties and throws in some extra action, but I was overall pleased and inspired. My prevailing thought is that “Mary” does a decent job of presenting the holiness of our Blessed Mother. When our Catholic Young Adult group became aware of the movie in early November, I think some of us were a little concerned at what direction the film would go. But as one of the wiser members of our group said, we should just be thankful that Netflix believed the story to be worth telling.

As you prepare for Christmas, make sure to watch “Mary” on Netflix.

Gift Wrapping Philosophies – One of my favorite holiday-themed blog posts I have ever written is from three years ago this month. In that entry, I contrasted the gift wrapping philosophies of Sid and I. We differ greatly when it comes to texture, design, and technique. Who has it right? Well, let’s just say it isn’t me who always gets complimented when someone observes their wrapping job.

If you can look past the baby gate we had up to keep Beau from ripping off all the ornaments on our tree, you can see presents wrapped entirely by Sid. (photo from December 2021).

Christmas Pop-Its – Throughout 2024, I have chronicled the different holiday-themed “snappers” distributed by TNT. Once reserved only for the Fourth of July, the company has made special Pop-Its for other special occasions like Valentine’s Day and Easter. Well, how could they pass on Christmas? Folks, let me introduce Exploding Reindeer Poop (as found at the Safeway right next to my house). If you buy some, just make sure not to throw them at Santa when he is coming down the chimney.

Safeway has stocked the different season TNT Pop-It’s throughout 2024. They currently have Christmas-themed “Reindeer Poop.”

SantaCon – Sloan and Beau have had a few encounters with Santa this season. It started with a Halloween meeting in October, a quick “hello” at the City of Spokane Tree Lighting at the end of November, and then a “meet and greet” at the Spokane Valley Breakfast With Santa event in early December. Which Santa pulled it off better?

The kids with a few different Santas.

DRONES – It has been a crazy week in the news with the apprehension of the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect, the verdict in the Penny trial, and Bill Belichick accepting an offer to become North Carolina’s head football coach. But the story that rises to the top of pure craziness, at least in my opinion, is the drone sightings in New Jersey. Large drones have hovered over the Jersey sky since November and no one knows who they belong to or where they are coming from. Experts can’t pinpoint where they are taking off from nor where they are landing. Russia, China, Iran, U.S. Military, and even ordinary citizens have all been identified as possible backers of the drones. Although it is a fascinating mystery, I also find it a bit unnerving. I would like to know more.

These mysterious drones over Jersey are a little concerning.

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I opened my rundown with the movie “Mary.” It is worth mentioning that today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 and subsequently 10,000,000 people converted to Christianity. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us! Don’t Blink.

Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2024

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Turn up the volume, readers, because we are counting it down again. For the 11th time, I am back with my annual “Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of the Year.” I have made sure to open up my musically-illiterate ears over the past 11.5 months so I could compile a list of the hottest tracks in 2024.

As I say every year, and as I have already alluded to above, I really suck at music. I can’t carry a tune, I never played an instrument, and I can read music about as well as I can read Swahili. But that won’t stop me from giving my ill-informed opinions about the best mainstream songs from the past year. So, yeah, take my list with a grain of salt.

Before I present the countdown, my overall assessment of music in 2024 was average. I thought last year punched above its weight class while 2021 and 2022 were lackluster. To better explain my positioning, I can say this: I had a pretty good idea of my top 3 songs but had to undergo some discernment on the other two. In an above average year, I know all five songs immediately and usually have an honorable mention. In bad years, I struggle to even identify my #1 song.

Alright, enough of my babbling. Here are my top five songs of 2024…

For the 11th year, I highlight my top 5 favorite songs from the past 12 months.

5. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart – Taylor Swift

I live in a Swiftie house where Taylor’s music is played on a daily basis so what did you expect? For the third year in a row, Taylor Swift is on this countdown. I have said multiple times that I like Swift songs that are serious, echoey, and mysterious. While “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” doesn’t master this formula like “Is It Over Now” or “Blank Space,” it comes close enough. The intro is intriguing as I get “Baba O’Riley” vibes.

My favorite part of the song is when Swift sings All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting More (with that distinct emphasis on “more”). It just hits perfectly. More catchy lyrics follow with I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks before concluding with the title of the song. Another superb track by Ms. Swift.

4. Put Some Miles On It – Marshmello and Kane Brown

Wait, this is just a song about a truck, right? I normally don’t choose a track that is such a shameless innuendo but when it energizes me like “Put Some Miles On It” I can make an exception.

In fact, a naïve and awkward blogger in his 30s can easily appreciate the song at surface level instead of entertaining the obvious double entendre. When I listen to it, I am totally following along with the story of a dude and his girlfriend breaking in a new vehicle. And because the lyrics at face value focus on a truck and the open road, it makes for the perfect driving song. Yep, cruising the mean streets of Spokane with this song made me feel like Superman as I listened to it mile after mile after mile.

3. Please Please Please – Sabrina Carpenter

Sandwiched between hits like “Espresso” and “Taste,” Sabrina Carpenter released a song that had me asking Alexa to please play. “Please Please Please” is a light, fun, and pleasant song that was kind of hard not to sing along to. With an almost dreamy-like melody, it is a song that releases stress and makes you happy. From the part where Sabrina sings I’m just kidding, but really…really…really to the big crescendo at the end, the song is just so dang catchy.

It is also really funny. Even after listening to “Please Please Please” a hundred times, I still find myself laughing out loud to different instances in the song, including when she calls her love interest a mother trucker (although Sid tells me that second word is a radio edit). Speaking of Sid, when Sabrina sings “the ceiling fan is so nice” it gives my wife ammunition to tell me how much we need to install our own ceiling fan. Thank you to “Please, Please, Please” for breaking up the serious and emotional tracks of satellite radio with something not so taxing—but really fun—on the mind/ears.

2. A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey

Call it a multi-genre phenomenon. What happens when you cram country, pop, and hip-hop together? In the case of “A Bar Song” the answer is complete gold. Nothing sounded more unique in 2024 than Shaboozey’s smash hit. The guitar playing, the “oh lords,” and the theme of shenanigans at a bar just make this song memorable and a blast.

Speaking of memorable, songs that make my annual list are usually personally memorable. My family’s summer started in earnest during a mid-June weekend trip to Walla Walla and this song seemed to come on over and over on both legs of the drive. We were hooked! Now, whenever I hear that distinctive Shaboozey intro, I am immediately transported back to that hot weekend where we celebrated my aunt’s birthday, went to the water park, and drank milkshakes from the town’s popular drive-in.

1. I Had Some Help – Post Malone (featuring Morgan Wallen)

Irony. That probably best describes my love for this song. But before I address that, let me just say this: “I Had Some Help” SLAYS! What an engaging, rocking song. The collaboration between Malone/Wallen, the distinctive riffs, and its easy-to-sing-along nature led this track to the top of my list. I can’t begin to tell you how “I Had Some Help” increased my dish washing productivity as I played it on Alexa over and over as I did kitchen chores.

Okay, back to the irony. Although “I Had Some Help” is a song where the artists remind us that the significant other also shoulders blame for a bad relationship, I don’t necessarily listen to it that way. When I consume the song, I interpret the title phrase from a positive angle, because let’s face it—we all need some help to do great things. And although the cliché teamwork makes the dream work line is meant to convey that “it takes two to tango,” I view it in the optimistic sense that the phrase was originally coined. Maybe if the melody was slower I would take the lyrics at face value but the song is just so intoxicating I can’t appreciate it for anything else than a positive 3-minute musical ride.

One last thing: although I don’t usually let the music videos influence my decisions on this countdown, the fact that Post Malone and Morgan Wallen looked to be having so much fun when they filmed theirs definitely didn’t hurt “I Had Some Help.”

Incredibly, this is Post Malone’s third time earning top honors for my annual list. He earned the #1 spot last year for “Enough Is Enough” and he also topped this chart in 2019 with “Sunflower.” What an artist!

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What will happen with music in 2025? Will Taylor still rule the world? Will Sabrina Carpenter continue on her upward trajectory? Will Shaboozy release anything half as catchy as this year’s massive hit? We will just have to wait…and listen. Don’t Blink.

Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2023
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2022
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2021
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2020
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2019
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2018
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2017
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2016
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2015
Brent’s Top 5 Best Songs of 2012

2024 EWU Holiday Video: Leveraging The Brand

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To watch the 2024 #EWU Holiday Video, tap here.

A Higher Ed Phenomenon

If you work in the marketing and communications side of higher education, it is inevitable: you will eventually help out with a holiday video. For years, colleges and universities have flexed their creative muscles to make unique and memorable productions that put their audiences in a festive spirit.

In my higher ed career, I have worked on many such videos for various institutions. Each one has been different. From celebratory to sentimental to audience choice to trendy, I have played roles in holiday videos that run the gamut when it comes to theme.

This year, I had the privilege of working on a holiday video that boasted a completely original/innovative approach while overseeing a large role in its production.

As I mentioned above, there are many different angles that higher ed institutions take with holiday videos. Usually, they aim to either make their audience laugh, cry, or feel inspired. Parodies, sing-a-longs, annual recaps, and presidential voice-overs are some of the common forms these videos take to elicit the desired reaction/emotion.

This is the story of how we leveraged our brand positioning through a holiday video that we titled internally as “Where Have All the Acorns Gone?”

A Strategic and Unique Direction

This year at Eastern Washington University, we went a totally different direction. Instead of creating a slapstick laugh fest or a sentimental tearjerker, we opted for a more strategic option. We decided to leverage our new brand positioning.

As I wrote about in September, EWU positioned itself as the region’s polytechnic. Although it took an immense amount of work to launch, that was just the beginning. Since President Shari McMahan kicked off our brand positioning effort 2.5 months ago when she premiered our brand anthem video, we have devoted tireless efforts to establishing ourselves as Washington’s leader in applied learning through strategic marketing. But while paid digital ads, radio spots, and student recruitment posters are just some of the traditional ways we have established our positioning, we have employed savvier methods too.

President McMahan has obliviously played an immense role in our entire brand positioning effort. But she also played a crucial role in our holiday video, too. This photo shows us working with President McMahan on her opening scene.

Where Have All the Acorns Gone?

Enter our 2024 holiday video. We used this highly anticipated piece of content to drive home Eastern Washington University’s standing as the region’s polytechnic. We teamed up with our creative agency, idfive, to make something that would prominently feature our students while telling a story that exemplifies how #EWUIsPolytech.

The gist of the script is this: Set to the cadence of The Nutcracker’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” a rumor circulates around EWU that there is an acorn shortage. Since the nut is a distinguishing feature of our campus, students from different academic backgrounds try to reverse the scarcity. Eleven different academic programs use hands-on techniques specific to their disciplines to solve the source of the shortage and return acorns to their normal abundance on campus. At the end of the video, the teamwork has paid off as a holiday celebration takes place in President McMahan’s office with a bowl of overflowing acorns.

The rumor is started when a student overhears President McMahan jokes about an acorn shortage but “can’t detect the sarcasm through the thick wooden door.”

Bringing the Vision to Life

Filming took place at the beginning of November. Our multimedia specialist Luke Kenneally handled filming, digital marketing supervisor Ginny Baxter provided incredible insight/hands-on magic as our art director, and I served as the producer. Sean Nelms from idfive joined us as the director.

It was such a satisfying experience working with these talented professionals for three (long) days. Our camaraderie was strong as we shared the same goal of creating the absolute best video possible. Over the course of those three days, we worked with 30+ student cast members as we crisscrossed the Cheney campus and filmed additional scenes in Spokane’s Catalyst and SIERR buildings. We also seized the opportunity to collaborate closely with President McMahan as she played crucial on-screen parts at the beginning and end of the video.

A celebratory photo of our crew after filming wrapped on November 6 (L-R: Luke Kenneally, Sean Nelms, Me, Ginny Baxter).

The Big Debut

Late last week, we debuted the 2024 EWU holiday video. My colleagues in higher ed know that there is much anxiety prior to such a release. No matter how hard a central marketing and communications office plans/works on a project like this, there is always the chance for biting criticism and mockery. After all, holiday videos are typically ultra-creative pieces and an out-of-the-box output doesn’t always resonate with all. In our case, would a holiday piece built upon a brand positioning strategy that was seen by some as controversial drive any of our loyal Eagles away?

Thankfully, my natural marketing director pessimistic concerns were unfounded. To this date, I have not seen a single negative comment on our digital channels nor heard sarcastic/WTF feedback from my internal EWU network. The roll out went smoothly and as of Monday evening, the video has garnered 30,000 views across our platforms.

Our EWU holiday video received an overwhelmingly positive response on social media and has already garnered more than 30,000 views across platforms.

Outcomes and Gratitude

The best outcome of all is that the positive reaction to the holiday video is in turn continued positive support for our brand evolution as the region’s polytechnic. People are embracing our applied learning platform and the reception of this major production proved to be a positive referendum on it. Our strategy worked.

Teamwork is imperative to produce a successful holiday video. To that end, I am grateful to so many. Our President’s Office was incredible. They helped with logistical support, allowed us to set up early in their offices, and provided full access to the star of the video—President McMahan. Idfive brought loads of creativity throughout the entire process and served as the perfect partner. The faculty, staff, and students I coordinated with from the academic departments were eager to help and so accommodating. Eric Limburg, our associate vice president for University Relations, guided the project with superb leadership. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my team members who stopped everything to devote three days to the shoot. Ginny Baxter and Luke Kenneally showed up each day with the best mix of positivity and motivation while Shelley Stickelmeyer worked behind the scenes to make sure our crew was taken care of and props were ordered.

When we finally settled on the script, it was rather daunting. There were just so many moving pieces and logistics. But with the commitment of so many at EWU, we pulled it off. As the video confidently and accurately states, there’s nothing on earth that can stop this polytechnic. Don’t Blink.

Short Days, Long Nights Thursday Rundown

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After a break from the Thursday Rundown due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I am back with five random topics! So while this month of December is still young, let’s get started…

Nativity Galore – Last night, we found ourselves at the LDS Church at 14111 E. 16th Ave. for its Nativity Nights event. More than 150 nativity sets from around the world were featured along with an actual live nativity. After we passed Mary and Joseph holding baby Jesus, we were given hot coco. Much in the same totally organic way that I found out about the magical Surfside Beach live nativity eight years ago, a small sign at an intersection alerted me to the one we attended yesterday evening. It truly was the perfect Advent activity.

Some photos from last evening’s Nativity Nights event.

Writing To Santa – Each year, I encourage my kids to write to Santa. Sloan is at an age where she can write her letter by herself and doesn’t even need her spellchecker dad by her side. Beau? Well, any disappointment from my daughter’s dismissal of my assistance is extinguished by my son’s reliance on me to pen his note. Although I jot down what he tells me to write, he handles all the illustrations. That is what you see him doing in the below photo.

Beau writing his letter to Santa.

Newest Cake Mix Cookie Flavor – I have written before about one of my favorite kinds of cookies to bake. Trust me, if you have never made cake mix cookies before you are truly missing out. In that blog post, I mentioned that I like to experiment with different flavors and I made good on that claim this past weekend. I whipped up white chocolate coconut cookies. It only took a box of Dolly Parton coconut cake mix and white chocolate chips to make these morsels of goodness. Although my wife and kids gave the treats an underwhelming review, I thought they were chef’s kiss.

The kids helped me make these coconut white chocolate cookies.

Thanksgiving Meal Time – I couldn’t help but entertain this question when it came across my feed on X. My opinion? I don’t think there is a bad time to eat the Thanksgiving meal. We ate at 4 p.m. this year which is custom for my side of the family. Last year, when we were with Sidney’s family, we ate at noon. The one advantage to eating late morning/noon is that you can bust out the leftovers that same day when you re-heat things for a late dinner.

This was a fair question.

Holiday Vibes – Downtown Spokane always does a fantastic job at diving headfirst into the holiday spirit and it is always especially evident at River Park Square. The mall is always decorated in such a classy way and its main centerpiece—the 50-foot-tall Christmas tree—will even bring the biggest Scrooge some Yuletide joy. I personally love bringing my kids downtown during the holidays.

Beau and Sloan in River Park Square. It is always so well-decorated.

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I believe that will wrap things up for tonight. Just a reminder, my top five songs of 2024 will drop next week so prepare yourself for that 😂. Have a terrific weekend! Don’t Blink.

My Recommended Gift for the 2024 Holiday Season

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Alright, December is underway and I am sure you have people to shop for. But is this a year where you find yourself in a rut? Is your gift-giving creativity at an all-time low? No worries, because I am here to help you out with my recommended gift for 2024. Before I reveal it, just a little background info…

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 Chinese gift exchange, stocking stuffer, or a 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 that the recipient would appreciate, and in 2023 I pitched cookie mix.

If you can tell by the above, I always try to recommend something that goes beyond just a one-dimensional material gift. I strive to support a present that will make the recipient feel a certain type of way. My goal is for the gift to awaken the senses and encourage the recipient to fondly remember the giver. I believe this year’s recommendation is right on target with what I try to do.

Perhaps nothing elicits memories, feelings, and relationships like smell. A positive distinctive aroma can flood the brain with dopamine and bring an individual back to some of the most pleasant and carefree moments of one’s life. Fortunately, in this modern day and age, these types of scents can be captured in a bottle.

My recommended gift of the year is air freshener.

Those of you who know me are well are aware that I champion the therapeutic effects of air freshener. I also feel like I know a good air freshener when I smell one. In fact, one of the most popular blog posts I have ever written for Don’t Blink was six years ago when I ranked my top Glade scents. But my recommended gift of the year goes beyond your generic Hawaiian breeze and apple cinnamon scents.

Specifically, this year, I am recommending that you purchase an eccentric but pleasing out-of-the-ordinary air freshener aroma. To get what you need, may I suggest a brand called Chemical Guys?

Beau holds my 2024 recommended holiday gift…air freshener by Chemical Guys. He is holding the Fresh Glazed Doughnuts scent.

Enter the world of wacky and delightful air fresheners with scents like buttered up popcorn, hot glazed buns, and crunchy bacon. Crazy, right? Chemical Guys produces air fresheners that specialize in nostalgia and fun. Imagine the look on someone’s face at a Chinese gift exchange when they unwrap a coffee-scented air freshener bottle or your cousin’s reaction when he comes face-to-face with the company’s beer-scented offering. Chemical Guys even sells more obscure scents like cold hard cash money and mom’s pound cake.

My recommended gift for 2024 is air freshener. Specifically, I am pitching the wacky scents from Chemical Guys.

You might be asking yourself: Are these air fresheners just gimmicks? Do they even smell as advertised? Well, let me provide you with the answer to those questions…no and yes. Because I wouldn’t recommend any product that your favorite blogger hasn’t actually tried, I ordered three Chemicals Guys products. I tried fresh glazed doughnuts, purple stuff, and chuy bubble gum. They were all distinctive, fragrant, and long-lasting.

Me holding the Purple Stuff air freshener by Chemical Guys. It smells just like grape soda.

The Chemical Guys air fresheners make terrific Christmas gifts for several reasons. First, you can order them in a size perfect for the glove compartment of your car or a size crafted for around your house. Second, like I already mentioned, they work. Third, they are extremely affordable as the smaller bottles run $4-$5 while the bigger bottles run $8-$10. Fourth, the variety is vast as you are guaranteed to find a scent that matches the personality of your recipient. Fifth, these air fresheners are extremely unique. Sixth, no one is never going to forget who gave them the crunchy bacon air freshener and if you don’t mind being associated with that scent, why not go for it?

After just smelling Chuy Bubble Gum air freshener by Chemical Guys you will feel like you want to blow a bubble.

I am excited for this year’s recommended gift and I feel like a lot of my readers are going to give Chemical Guys a chance. If you do, let me know which scent you purchased and I just might include your review in a future Thursday Rundown. Don’t Blink.

The Opportunity of December 1

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Happy Sunday! Today is December 1 and it is notable for a few reasons…

First, it is the beginning of the last month of the year. Some will be glad to get this last stanza over with while others will ride the positive momentum they have enjoyed from the past 11 months through the next 31 days. Whether 2024 has been a struggle or a blessing, I encourage you to make the most out of this final month.

Second, today marks the start of a big four-week run for Don’t Blink. December is the most significant month for my blog as I roll out my traditional yearly posts. This week I will reveal my recommended gift of the holiday season. The following week I will list my top five songs of 2024. Then, later in the month, I will publish my top 10 blog posts of the year followed by my end-of-year reflection. It is a great time to be a reader! But while I publish my most anticipated posts of the year in December, I also take some time to relax. Remember, quality doesn’t always translate to quantity—my total blogging output is often the least in December.

December is the biggest month for Don’t Blink.

Third, and by far the most important, December 1 happens to be the First Sunday of Advent this year. During this period, which will cover four Sundays and conclude on Christmas Eve, Christians strive to prepare for Christmas and the second coming. It is the ultimate 2-for-1. We take care to properly prime ourselves for Christ’s birth while also looking ahead to when He will return to earth for the final judgment.

We are now in Advent season.

Advent undoubtedly presents us with an incredible opportunity to contemplate and act in a way that will bring us closer to Jesus…but it isn’t always easy. Too often we package Advent as merely (and falsely) the beginning of Christmas, a period of time to “get our Yule on” as we shop, visit Santa, and bake goodies. I am not saying we can’t do these things before Advent ends, but I think it is important to make sure that the scale still tips in the proper direction. I struggle with this immensely on a personal level and also on a dad level. But this year I want to try to be more intentional preparing for the true reason of Christmas instead of plunging into the commercialization of it.

Need to prepare with Advent before we celebrate Christmas.

Have a great December, everyone! May you embrace the promise that this month brings. Don’t Blink.

Thanksgiving 2024

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After skipping to Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving last year, we celebrated back in Spokane this year. As always, we enjoyed a special and warm holiday.

Our family during Thanksgiving 2024.

I started my Thanksgiving with an early morning workout at Snap Fitness. I always joke that I need the exercise so I can burn 200 calories only to consume 20,000 calories hours later. I guess other people recognized my absurdity because I had the whole gym to myself.

A photo I took of an empty Snap Fitness gym on an early Thanksgiving morning.

After the conclusion of my workout, I hustled home and cued up the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sure, we could have watched the tape-delayed NBC broadcast when it came on at 8:30 a.m. PT on the west coast, but we are a little obsessive. Sid, Sloan, Beau, and I jammed in our bed as we streamed the parade live on Peacock right when it started at 5:30 a.m.

Beau holds his stuffed Spider-Man as the actual Macy’s Parade Spider-Man float goes by.

Our next Thanksgiving activity took place at the movie theater. My family met my sister’s family at the Spokane Valley Regal Cinemas for the 11:15 a.m. showing of “Moana 2.” Even though my kids love the film and Sloan even dressed up as Moana for Halloween one year, I had never seen the original movie until last night. Yep, I made sure to do my last-minute homework by watching “Moana” on Wednesday evening. The cram session prepared me well as I was able to enjoy “Moana 2” just as much as everyone else in the packed theater.

Four happy kids after watching “Moana 2.”

From the theater we drove out to my parents’ house in north Spokane. My dad and I watched some of the Cowboys-Giants game and then my sister’s family, my family, and parents enjoyed each other’s company for the duration of the afternoon/evening. Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious as I eclipsed the 200 calories I burned from earlier after my second bite.

Eating Thanksgiving dinner. Delicious!

Once we finished eating, we all moved into the living room where we spent the rest of the night talking and eating dessert. My parents have a single TV in the house that is exiled in the basement, so our family holidays are always centered around conversation which I wouldn’t have any other way. My choice of dessert was pumpkin pie!

Sloan, Beau, and their cousins doing Thanksgiving crafts while the adults visit.

We left my parents’ at 8 p.m. and then before making the 34-minute drive home, we drove by the infamous “Disney holiday house.” It is even better this year than ever before. We made it home around 9 p.m. and went to bed feeling really thankful.

We made a stop at the Spokane Disney house to cap off our Thanksgiving.

I hope you had a satisfying Thanksgiving as well. Can’t write it enough—I am very grateful for my readers. Don’t Blink.

Didn’t Have That On My Bingo Card

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For the second consecutive Sunday this past weekend, we played turkey bingo. After trying our luck at our home parish of St. Mary in Spokane Valley, we traveled to my parents’ parish, St. Thomas More, for its event a week later.

Sloan and I hanging out at Turkey Bingo at St. Thomas More Parish in North Spokane.

I guess the St. Mary event was good “practice” because we fared much better at St. Thomas More. Sloan and I inched closer to achieving bingos—in fact, my mom actually won a round—and our numbers were called in raffles. It was a lot of fun.

My parents and children playing turkey bingo at St. Thomas More in North Spokane.

Playing so much bingo this month made me think about a phrase that has entered our lexicon over the past several years. It is common/trendy to say the following when something unexpected happens to you: “I didn’t have that on my bingo card.”

For example, I could say the following: I didn’t have changing jobs on my bingo card for 2024.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, people will come to the table with placements on their metaphorical bingo cards they never foresaw. It might be for the better or it might be for the worse (or both).

Bingo cards of others might not be in full view. Your guests could be concealing some of their unexpected “numbers” or their card might be out in the open for all to see. If you have guests who fit the latter, it is important to be mindful, respectful, and sympathetic. If you are around guests who have hidden bingo cards, treat them with respect and tenderness—you never know if a particular surprising and deflating number was called.

As we enter the holiday season, it is important to keep this mindset over the next several weeks. During this time of the year, there is a lot of reflection that takes place and people are bound to battle with some of the bumps they faced over the past 11-12 months. Hopefully the bingo cards of your loved ones contained many happy surprises in 2024. If not, make sure to be kind. Not everyone will be yelling BINGO with enthusiasm tomorrow. Don’t Blink.

Debate Before Feast

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Can it be seven years already? Back in November 2017, I offered a plethora of ideas for a particular conundrum. Thanksgiving week and the following week all have numerous “days” that reflect the giving season (High School Reunion At The Bar Wednesday, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, etc.). But what about today? Why doesn’t Thanksgiving Eve Eve have its own day?

Well, I simply didn’t just complain about it. Instead, I offered five creative and (mostly) plausible ideas for how we could observe “the day before the day before.” I am not going to explain each one in excruciating detail like I did seven years ago (just go here) but I did pitch the following: The Day of Apology, Pre-Thanksgiving Movie Day, Dress As A Pilgrim Day, Americana History Day, and Grande Taco Tuesday.

However, as I have grown older and wiser, an additional option for a new day has come to mind. I like to call it Debate Before Feast Day.

I propose that on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we debate.

Over the past several years, I hear more and more about how people dread saddling up to the Thanksgiving table for fear that politics will be brought up. With division seemingly at an all-time high in this country, any political discussion is bound to bring up passionate arguments and perceived insults. Nothing like a seething back-and-forth to ruin a holiday meal, right?

In order to prevent hurt feelings and a possible food fight, I propose Debate Before Feast Day. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, individuals attending a particular Turkey Day celebration have the option to expel any political thoughts or election analysis with other passionate guests. Participants can jump on a video call and debate until they are blue or red (depending on the color of your political party) in the face.

It would take a little bit of coordination and perhaps a brave soul to moderate the clash, but it shouldn’t be too much work. The idea is that folks can get everything political out of their system so instead of being filled with partisan angst they have more room to fill with turkey and stuffing. People who cringe at the mere mention of “Trump” or “Harris” won’t have to worry about losing their appetite. Well-mannered individuals who couldn’t care less about politics won’t have to worry about refereeing any fist fights. It is simply a win-win-win.

Best of all, after Debate Before Feast Day, perhaps the people with opposing viewpoints had enough time to explain their positions to each other that they come to the Thanksgiving table with a renewed sense of mutual respect.

We might need Debate Before Feast Day more than ever this year. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I am going to get the “official day” declaration within the next couple hours. Oh well, maybe next year! Until then, go ahead and celebrate Dress As A Pilgrim Day. Don’t Blink.