Sunday Snippets 12.21.25

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In this week’s edition of Sunday Snippets 12.21.25…

Christmas is just a few days away. Some will be traveling, and some will be staying home. I, of course, am staying home as usual, where I prefer to spend the holidays. My girls will probably bring a plate of leftovers, which I will enjoy.

I did the whole holiday thing for years. Made holiday meals, different kinds of candy, DIYed homemade gifts, the whole nine yards. But I figure, once your kids are grown and have families of their own, it’s time for them to begin their own traditions.

And I retired from my role in my home, as desired, with the kitties, and say I have done my job. Yes, I could go as Grandma, but I prefer to do holidays this way. It’s quiet and peaceful and lovely in my own home.

A Movie I Watched:

The Covenant

I watched the movie, The Covenant, with Jake Gyllenhaal. It was heavily inspired by the real-life experiences, bonds, and sacrifices of US soldiers and Afghan interpreters during the war in Afghanistan. It particularly highlights the tragic reality of interpreters being left behind after the US withdrawal, where they become the hunted.

The characters Sergeant John Kinley and interpreter Ahmed are fictional. But they represent many soldiers and their local allies who formed deep connections and faced immense danger, as explained here.

This was a great, action-packed movie about the bonds forged by soldiers in war. And how many can’t bear leaving their interpreters behind.

What I’m Watching:

I’m still watching Homeland on Netflix for the second time. I usually pick up things on the second round that I missed on the first watch.

Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody returns home following eight years in captivity. CIA agent Carrie Mathison thinks he has turned and is connected to a terror plot to be carried out on American soil. She draws him into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that imperils America’s national security.

Later, Carrie is promoted and returns to the front lines overseas. She is assigned to one of the CIA’s most volatile and dangerous stations in the Middle East. And at the heart of the battle in the war on terror.

Years later, after being disillusioned and placing herself in a self-imposed exile in Berlin, Carrie becomes estranged from the CIA. She eventually returns to the States to work for a foundation that provides aid to Muslims living in America.

What I’m Reading:

I just finished reading The Correspondent, a book I received to read and give my honest opinion. My book review was published yesterday here.

Before I Forget

I’m currently reading Before I Forget, another book to review. It was hard to put this book down to sleep last night.

Book Summary:

Call it inertia. Call it a quarter-life crisis. Whatever you call it, Cricket Campbell is stuck. Despite working at a zeitgeisty wellness company, the 26-year-old feels anything but well. Still adrift after a tragedy that upended her world a decade ago, she weighs a new burden. That is her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Then Cricket’s older sister, Nina, announces it’s time to move Arthur from his beloved Adirondack lake house to a memory-care facility. Cricket has a better idea. She will return home to become her father’s caretaker and to repair their strained relationship and shake herself out of her perma-funk. But even deeply familiar places can hold surprises.

Cricket settles back into the family house at Catwood Pond. It is a place she once loved, but hasn’t visited since she was a teenager. She discovers that her father possesses a rare gift as he loses his grasp of the past. He is increasingly able to predict the future.

Before long, Arthur cements his reputation as an unlikely oracle. But for Cricket, believing in her father’s prophecies might also mean facing the most painful parts of her history. As she begins to remember who she once was, she uncovers a vital truth. The path forward often starts by going back.

With laugh-out-loud humor and profound grace, Before I Forget explores the nuances of family and the complexities of memory. And how sometimes the people we know best are the ones who surprise us most.

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I hope you enjoyed this installment of Sunday Snippets 12.21.25. See you next week!