December is almost over, and given that the last three days are expected to be calmer workdays, I decided to pass my judgment on the month already (though I’ll judge the year as a whole next week).

December is always a bit different – with some preparations for Christmas as well as wrapping up some yearly goals, it can turn hectic. The weather can also be unpredictable, so while I’d love to enjoy the first touch of winter, that can be tricky and impossible to plan. Given that most yearly goals at work are aimed to wrap up by the end of November (so there’s enough time to go over it and determine potential performance bonuses), December tends to be a bit more relaxed, which is good after the busy October and November.

When it comes to reading, I entered December with just 1 book left to top off my reading goal. This was easy to tick off and created quite a void, in which I was bouncing between reading random favorite passages for inspiration and reading bits of my own drafts in hopes of getting a more specific idea for future edits in my usual reading time.

Hiking was a bit the opposite – I went on a hike the first weekend – the usual “wrap up of the year” for the hiking club. This is a bit more social event, the hike being shorter and ending up in a chalet or restaurant for a bit of sitting around with Christmas songs. I skipped the next week, as the snow melted in the hills and it was very likely to be foggy and muddy.

Fortunately for me, the weather around the holidays was better, and I had my chance to meet my monthly goal of three hikes with one on the 20th and one on the 27th – just yesterday. As usual in December, I kept them relatively light. They had their specific challenges, which I’ll cover soon in a separate post, as usual.

When it comes to writing, December was similar to the past months – I planned to tackle some edits where I finally had a specific idea, and I managed those, as well as some other that I didn’t even expect. I ended up with two spontaneous ideas, one for the early part of book three (related to the changes in book two) and one, surprisingly, for a moment that’s around mid-way through book three.

As a whole, December was a decent month, and in many ways, I hope it’s a sign that I might be on a good track with figuring out some kind of balance between my hobbies.

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That’s a wrap for the month. I hope your December was good (and not too busy or stressful) and that we’ll start 2026 in a positive way.