December is here and that means the biggest month of the year for Don’t Blink. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will publish a slew of annual blog posts that always drop at the end of the year. First up is my youngest, but perhaps most creative, tradition. It is time for “Brent’s Gift of the Year.”

Every year for the past half-decade I have made a practical and inexpensive gift suggestion. In the spirit of my recommendation, I try to pick an item in the $10-$15 range that can be gifted in a versatile way—whether that be a Chinese gift exchange, stocking stuffer, or a thoughtful gift.

In 2018 I suggested an LED cinema lightbox marquee, in 2019 I championed a blanket, in 2020 I pushed a framed photo, and last year I recommended a book of stamps. Need a hint for this year?…

One word: Cheers

My gift suggestion for 2022 is a six-pack. No, I am not talking about chiseled abs, I mean six bottles or six cans of liquid delight. Anything that lands in Jeff Foxworthy’s 12 Days of Christmas must be worthy for my annual recommendation, right?

A six-pack is my recommended gift for 2022. If you want to upgrade my suggestion, you can even order a customized six-pack like my brother did for me.

But in all seriousness, I am not trying to be silly with this year’s pick. With the explosion of the craft beer industry, there are so many tasty, fun, and unique brews to choose from. With the plethora of flavors, styles, and packaging you can easily find a six-pack that will stand out.

From a Chinese gift exchange perspective, unless the final recipient is under 21 or doesn’t drink, how can you go wrong? Whether you play the version where items remain wrapped until the very end or whether the glorious sight of a good time is visible from the beginning, most people will be relieved and happy if they are holding a six-pack at the end of the night.

If you are searching for the perfect present for a family member or friend, I don’t think you can get more personalized than a six-pack. As I mentioned, there are just so many different beers available, allowing you to choose something that specifically plays to a person’s taste and personality.

Let’s not discount what a six-pack of premium beer provides to the recipient: refreshment, adventure, and plenty of good vibes. Most Christmas gifts well over the $15 mark don’t begin to even satisfy one of those qualifiers.

But I am not obtuse when it comes to the contents of the six-pack. Although beer might be preferred by many, there is nothing wrong with gifting a six-pack of soda. I will never forget one Christmas as a kid when my aunt and uncle gave my siblings and I each a six-pack of Coca-Cola in glass bottles. We thought it was the greatest thing ever. Cracker Barrel offers an extensive line of gourmet, quirky sodas in its gift shop that would be perfect for Christmas gifts.

Whether you opt for a six-pack of beer or a six-pack of root beer, there is something of true beauty with this type of gift: Recipients can indulge the moment they take it out of the gift bag or bring it back home with them fully intact. Opt for instant gratification or toss it in the refrigerator for a rainy day.

I hope your holiday shopping goes smoothly. My wish is that if you find yourself in a bind (or if you are shopping for yours truly), you will remember my gift recommendation for 2022 and head for the nearest Total Wine. Don’t Blink.

Happy December! I hope everyone has a magical month. Not much small talk tonight, let’s get right to the five topics…

Snow Fun – As I mentioned in last night’s post, Spokane received a lot of snow on Wednesday. At the end of the day, Sloan and Beau were going a little stir crazy since school and daycare were canceled due to the weather. So when I finished work, I took them outside for some fun in the snow. It was the best powder a kid could ask for as it was perfect packing snow and ripe for any snow activity. We threw snowballs, built a snowman, and constructed a snow slide.

Sloan and Beau had a great time in the snow last night.

National Pie Day – Today is a day for all dessert lovers—including yours truly. It is National Pie Day, not to be confused with National Pi Day on March 14. I am a big pie fan and enjoy all varieties from pumpkin to chocolate silk to lemon meringue. But my undisputed favorite is ice cream pie. Does it neglect the true spirit of what a pie actually is? Perhaps. However, this is my blog and I am including it as a legitimate pie and also sharing the blog post I wrote about ice cream pie back in 2016.

First Snowman of the Season – When I recapped our snow evening, I mentioned we made a snowman. However, I wanted to give our first “Frosty” of the season a little respect and not confine him to just a passing mention in a broad topic. So congrats, Stix, this section is all about you. This fella was made with Tootsie roll pops, an orange popsicle, M&Ms, and Beau’s Halloween hat from 2021. I had a couple of great helpers!

No, this picture isn’t crooked. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Stix to shift to his right side.

A Classic – Today marks the eight-year anniversary of one of my all-time favorite blog posts. I wrote about a childhood tradition that my dad faithfully did for the three of us kids growing up. Whenever we reached a milestone or achievement, he would use his superb artistic skills to illustrate the moment. My mom kept the drawings throughout the years. If you have the time, it is an interesting and fun blog post to read.

My dad had a neat tradition where he would create drawings for us on special occasions. Here is some of his work from my high school years.

My Picks – Okay, I will play along. You are supposed to choose your top 3. In numerical order, my choices are 1, 4, and 7. If you want to see where they land in terms of my overall preference, you can reference this blog post of my top 5 Christmas movies. I also chuckles that “Die Hard” is on this graphic. I watched the film for the first time last year and gave a loud opinion on whether I think it is a Christmas movie or not.

You are supposed to choose your top 3.

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I hope your first weekend of December is enjoyable. I can’t wait for mine, we have a lot planned! Stay warm and stay happy, my friends. Don’t Blink.

When you are blessed to live in an area with four seasons, you typically receive snow. Most people enjoy a little bit of snow—it is pretty, fun to play in, and it makes cozying up to the fire even more gratifying. But constant, heavy snow can wear out its welcome and pose inconveniences, especially when it comes to driving.

Driving in the snow is a skill that must be mastered if you have a driver’s license and live in an area that receives winter weather. I remember my driver’s ed teacher advising all of us to have our parents take us to a large parking lot when it snowed. Once there, he suggested that we get behind the wheel and experiment with driving in the snow, including purposely sliding to become acquainted with that feeling.

Personally, I received my winter driving chops by living on a street that had a massively large hill. When it snowed, that hill could be a major challenge to navigate, both going down and up. Because it was pretty much necessary to travel on if you wanted to get anywhere, I got a lot of practice. The most intense winter driving experience I received was driving back and forth between Spokane and Missoula when I lived in Montana. Some of the scariest moments in my life came on Lookout Pass at night during December. Talk about white knuckle driving.

At this point in my life, although it probably isn’t my favorite thing to do, I am pretty confident behind the wheel when it snows. However, I was a little worried about how Sidney would adjust. As someone who had only seen significant snowfall when she traveled out west with me, she had no winter driving experience. But now that we are embarking on our third winter living in Spokane, I can say that Sidney is a pro driving in the snow.

The first time Sidney saw significant snow was when we visited Spokane for the holidays back in 2014.

To be honest, the learning curve wasn’t that steep for her. From that very first winter we lived here, she picked it up with ease. That says a lot considering all the slide offs you see on any given snowy morning from cars driven by lifelong Spokane residents.

So it might come as no surprise that as the snow fell at a rapid pace this morning, Sid and I were both on the roads in the wintry mess. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do much additional driving besides going back and forth to the gym. Because of the significant snowfall and gusty winds, both school and daycare were closed, granting Sloan and Beau a snow day.

Would Sid and I prefer to drive on clear roads? Absolutely! But one of the tradeoffs of living in a four-season climate is occasionally driving in the snow. I am glad we are equipped to do so. Don’t Blink.

With Thanksgiving in the books and December knocking on the door, Sloan and Beau are already excited for Christmas. As their enthusiasm starts to build, Sidney and I face the same balancing act—letting our children enjoy the commercialism of our modern day secular Yuletide culture while making sure that the true reason of Christmas is emphasized, honored, and celebrated.

The message in this magnet is key.

One common struggle is the obsession with gifts. Just in the same way that I intently focused on the presents I wanted as a 5-year-old, Sloan also eagerly anticipates what Santa and others might bring her. Totally normal behavior but it is something that does need to be reined in.

A couple weeks ago, someone encapsulated to me how to “rein in” gift obsession in a very profound way. As I was getting my blood tested, I chatted with the woman who was performing the exam. We discussed the upcoming holiday season and the pressure to buy buy buy. She shared with me the philosophy she used for purchasing gifts for her children.

“Jesus Christ received only three gifts on Christmas,” the woman began, “so why should anyone else receive more than that?”

Wow. What a great perspective. It just doesn’t seem right that someone should receive more presents than the birthday boy himself.

I shared with Sloan this wisdom over the weekend as she started to make a Christmas list. To her credit, she did take it to heart. When she presented her list to me, it only contained three items. The only issue was that next to each item was the number 14.

“Why did you put a ‘14’ next to the items on your list” I asked my daughter.

“Because I want 14 Barbies, 14 LOL dolls, and 14 OMG dolls,” she replied.

Perhaps she missed the mark just a bit.

I am realistic and know that at the end of every Christmas season I will probably feel that I fell short when it comes to our Santa vs. Jesus conundrum. By all means, Sloan isn’t the biggest culprit in the tilting of the scale toward the guy in the red suit. My love of all things Christmas—including St. Nick, a certain Chevy Chase movie, light displays, etc.—prove that I still have the same fixation on American commercialism that young children do.

But with Advent now underway and plenty of time to reflect on the incarnation of Jesus, perhaps we can make more headway this year. The perspective from the woman who tested my blood is a good starting point. Don’t Blink.

Over the years, I have examined Thanksgiving from countless angles. However, I have embarrassingly neglected to focus on the MVP of any Turkey Day celebration. Let me explain…

I once read a quote that advised men to wear a suit and tie to Thanksgiving dinner out of respect for the painstaking lengths that the cook(s) went to prepare the holiday meal. Although I personally don’t go that far, I think it is important to properly appreciate and recognize the “architects” of the Thanksgiving feast.

My mom has been the “architect” of the majority of the Thanksgiving feasts I have enjoyed in my lifetime.

There is a lot of pressure on the person who is responsible for preparing the bulk of the Thanksgiving meal. Not only is the menu expansive and many of the items tricky to master, but Thanksgiving is a special occasion. Because of this, people naturally will remember the day for years to come. Making sure the food is a positive memory is important to many cooks.

I vividly remember holiday dinners at my grandma’s house. Adults would do their best to barricade the entrance to the kitchen so my grandma could cook in peace.

“Your grandma gets nervous when people are in the kitchen,” my mom would say.

Nervous? No way. My grandma’s cooking was so superb that I doubted anything could rattle her. However, I do remember one time breaching the invisible barricade that was the warnings of my elders and coming pretty much face-to-face with my grandma as she did her thing in the kitchen. The look on her face told me that the very last thing she needed was a kid with no cooking chops taking up space in her kitchen.

I feel like a useless slouch in the respect that I have never prepared a Thanksgiving dinner before. Perhaps you are in the same boat as me? Although I am sure we would both do our very best to make the meal if we were called upon to do so, something tells me that our families are just fine with us sitting on the sidelines (although my cooking is improving). With that said, I think the very least we can do is be the biggest cheerleader for the cook and help out in non-culinary ways.

As you enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow, make sure to seek out the cook to offer assistance and properly convey your gratitude for his or her efforts. May everyone have a blessed holiday. Don’t Blink.

A memory that is brought up frequently with my cousins and siblings revolves around a trip we took to Silverwood probably 25 years ago. My late Aunt Nancy and Uncle Randy loaded us all in their RV and took us to the theme park. That evening we camped inside the vehicle on Silverwood’s campground. The next morning, we ate cookies and drank plenty of milk for breakfast. We still laugh when we reminisce about stuffing our faces with Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies.

That was definitely an unconventional breakfast. Although I have not had many more cookie morning meals in the past quarter of a century, I have commonly fell back on some other non-traditional breakfast fare. Tonight I figured I would share with you four non-traditional and Peculiar breakfast foods that I regularly eat in the early morning.

Pizza – Okay, I admit, pizza is probably the most popular “non-traditional breakfast food” in the country. In fact, at this point, it might actually be considered a legitimate breakfast food. Oh well, for the purpose of this blog post I am categorizing it as non-traditional. The “cold pizza” breakfast is Americana at its finest and I frequently indulge. Is there anything better than waking up on a Saturday morning and raiding the Friday night pizza box in the fridge? I think not. Sidney and I love to celebrate Saturday mornings by grabbing a cold slice and watching Netflix. Breakfast of champions.

Pizza for breakfast is awesome.

Pumpkin Pie – Legendary ESPN NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. is well-known for his habit of eating a piece of pumpkin pie every morning for breakfast. An unconventional choice for an unconventional man. But just in the same way that his NFL knowledge is brilliant, his decision to elevate pumpkin pie as his most important meal of the day is as well. I have taken a page out of Mel’s book during the holiday season when leftover Costco pumpkin pie is readily available in the fridge by cutting myself a piece for breakfast. After all, doesn’t pumpkin pie simply capitalize on the Pop-Tart breakfast staple combo of crust and fruit filling?

Pumpkin pie is acceptable for breakfast…just as long as it doesn’t have mold on it.

Protein – For the past three years, I have dedicated myself to a 6-week body cleanse in the fall. Part of the cleanse is a protein-packed diet. For breakfast, I eat a protein bar and a protein shake. Because I am eating less than usual and because I am not eating sweets during this time, I always look forward to my protein morning meal because the flavors of bars and shakes kind of satisfy sweet tooth.

A look at some of what I would eat. For breakfast I would have a protein bar and shake. For lunch I might have scrambled eggs or a pork chop and banana.

You mean this can actually be good for you? A look at one of my actual protein breakfast combinations.

Peanut Butter Sandwich – For many years, I would eat a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. Oh, you mean peanut butter toast? NO. I mean a peanut butter sandwich. For the nearly six years I worked at CCU, I would exercise on-campus, shower, and report to my office. I would eat breakfast once I got settled and 95% of the time it would be a peanut butter sandwich.

Eating a peanut butter sandwich at work!

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Although many of these options are unconventional, the silver lining is that I ate something for breakfast. No, eating cookies was probably not a good choice but chomping down a slice of pizza is probably better than beginning the day on an empty stomach. Don’t Blink.