December was a month of not much reading, very little listening, and a whole lot of watching. I’m going to blame the cold weather {my daily walks were practically nonexistent} and an unexpectedly busy week of festive gatherings. With hibernation season in full swing however, I expect January and beyond to be filled with cozy activities – and more reading. Hopefully.

📱Waiting for Christmas | Lynn Austin | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This one had too many holds last year, but I managed to snag it this year! Apparently a “sequel novella” of sorts to All My Secrets, which is on my TBR, it read fine as a Christmas standalone as well. I appreciated the way to story is split into 4 parts, to match the 4 candles of Advent.

📱 A Little Holiday Fling | Farah Heron | ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this one. This was a fun take on “Christmas Spirit versus Scrooge” considering both main characters are Muslim. I loved the banter and watching Ruby’s enthusiasm win over Rashid as they put together a month-long Christmas adventure for Rashid’s nieces. The narrative lost steam a bit {pun intended; note: this one is fade to black} once they became an official fling/couple, and as Ruby navigated her move to England it felt forced. Ruby felt forced. I wanted her to wake up and look past herself so badly. I did love all the Pemberley glimpses in the final chapters, and it was a fun read in the end.

📱 A Yorkshire Carol | Jennie Goutet | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
An Instagram book club pick that was such a fun festive addition! I will forever love the friends to lovers trope, and this was no exception. The idea of going and spending “the month of Christmas” at someone’s house, with a lot of other people – some strangers – is such a wild concept, but it makes for excellent storytelling.

📖 Christmas at the Ranch | Julia McKay | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
My final read of the year! Absolutely loved the small-town setting, and the addition of horses via the ranch was so good. {I never really outgrew my “horse girl” phase}. With a second-chance romance and some messy family dynamics, it’s a festive read with a little bit of meat.

Listening:
True confession: I need to finish listening to the final episode{s} of A Jane Austen Year podcast. I was trying to get a 15-hour audiobook finished, and the podcast slipped my mind. And then I made it to 95% of the audiobook, and my Libby loan expired. So, that’s fun.

Watching:
December was cold and gross and busy, and I found myself watching instead of reading a lot of nights. Especially once Mr.’s holiday vacation started, and we began our traditional binging.

• 📺 Great British Bake Off | Netflix
  I decided to go back and rewatch old seasons, starting with 2017.
• 📺 Holiday Baking Championship | HBOmax
  Always good fun, the decision to split into teams this year was wild. I’m not entirely convinced the right person won, but it was a good season.
• 📺 Gingerbread Land | HBOmax
  This one wasn’t quite as good as I hoped, but it made for good background viewing while I was working to finish a crochet project.
• 🎬 Christmas at the Catnip Cafe | Hallmark+
  My other Black Friday score was a 3-month subscription to Hallmark+ for 99-cents a month. At first I thought this was based on Codi Hall’s book A Cat Cafe Christmas, but the author confirmed it is not. {I ended up liking this movie better anyway, shh!} And I loved when Kimberly Sustad made a cameo + reference to her own kitty-fueled Christmas movies.
• 📺 Baked with Love | Hallmark+
  Is there such a thing as too many baking shows? I think not! And I still have a few episodes of this one to finish in January – which is a perfect time for cozy baking goodness.
• 📺 A Garfield Christmas | Prime Video
  Shout out to Erin for reminding me of this one! It’s been ages since I watched Garfield, and it was nice to revisit this old favorite.
• 📺 The Gilded Age (Seasons 2 & 3) | HBOmax
  For some reason, this is a holiday show for us, and we waited to watch season 3 until now. We also rewatched season 2, managing to binge both seasons in just over a week. This show excels at ending seasons with a twist, and I think season 4 has potential to be fun.

On the Blog:
Things were a little slower around the blog as well {but there will be a flurry of posts coming soon! Prepare yourself accordingly}. I did post a list of “Fast & Festive” Christmas recommendations, and jumped in on a 12 Days of Christmas book tag. I shared a glimpse of our cozy Christmas decorations, and some of the soup we’ve been enjoying. The birds have also found my WoBirdy feeder, which is a lot of fun.

I did not manage to complete the December prompt for Canterbury Classic’s Jane Austen Reading Challenge, but this year did remind me how much I do love Jane. I can already promise more Austenesque books {and movies} being shared in 2026.

These Bookmarked posts were an experiment in 2025, and I like the way they worked. I will continue using this month in review format in 2026, but I will make at least one slight tweak: no more mini reviews on the books read. I want the flexibility to focus more on specific books, or pairings of books, whether that’s full reviews or collections of mini reviews.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season, and the transition to 2026 has been gentle and kind.
May it be a year filled with excellent reads, new friends, and delicious eats!