trying new things

Instead of setting New Year’s resolutions, which I gave up on decades ago, choosing goals or a focus word, I decided to try something I had never heard about. Rauhnächte. Have you heard of it?

"The Rauhnächte (Mystic Nights) are a period of 12 holy nights between Christmas and Epiphany (Dec 25th - Jan 6th) in ancient Germanic/Celtic traditions, seen as a time when the veil between worlds is thin, perfect for introspection, setting intentions, and spiritual cleansing to prepare for the new year. Rituals include smoke-cleansing homes to banish spirits, reflecting on the past year, and a popular "13 Wishes" practice where one wish is burned nightly, leaving the 13th as a guiding intention for the year ahead." 

From what I've read, start and end dates vary. Is the 13th wish chosen by that which we cannot see, or by pure chance? You decide.
 

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On December 24th, I wrote 13 wishes on paper and chose them one by one without looking. I tossed wishes into the fire place each night, starting the 25th. One by one my wishes went up in flame. Poof!!

13 days is a long time to wait and wonder. It felt kinda weird. Am I dismissing 12 wishes forever-n-ever-n-ever? I sure hope not. I truly hope by participating in Rauhnächte that I did not open up my world to weirdness. According to my friend Google the Mystic Nights are also celebrated by Pagen, and probably others. Like me, who are not German/Celtic/Pagen. I can't even pronounce "ROW-na-tek-teh"!! Translated from German as "Rough Nights". Also known as "Twelve Nights". I did not smudge my house, nor burn incense or do any other related rituals. Of which there are many.

January 6th finally arrived. A familiar notable date. I grew up celebrating Dia de Los Reyes Magos (aka Three Kings Day) on January 6th in a much different way. That is another story.

Are you curious what my remaining wish to focus on this year is??!? I was too!

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wait for it

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wait for it

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the first wish I wrote down!

I was completely stunned!! I am still stunned. How in the heckle bejeckle did this happen? I mean, my first wish made it though to the end? 2026 is the Year of the Horse and my wish is about horses. I recently received the book Sacred Spaces and a beautiful Horse Journal from Linda, to help me along my way. Did I mention my first wish remained?! Jaw Drop.

Looks like it is up to me to make my chosen wish happen. Next month, it will be two years since I was on a horse. Nemo and I walked around the arena briefly, maybe 5-10 minutes.

me and Nemo

2.3.24

You gotta believe. 

land of wonders ~ december

December on Hidden Cactus Ranch started out much like November closed out. With snow, happy dogs, and snow shoe walks.

 

Tankee 12.1.25

Tank, Remi and Jameson

12.2.25

snow much fun (6X in December)

a snowy porcupine

Nemo is always concerned about my poles

12.3.25

Nemo (22 secs)

Grand dog Jameson turned a corner and is holding his own for now. He is on a raw dog food diet, and a couple meds. He has gotten so skinny. On cold and windy days, I put our old dog Sam's winter coat on Jameson (clipped up).

Heading down to the pines (18 secs)
12.5.25

Our weather turned cold(er) and we didn't go out on walks. I just can't leave J behind. 

Jameson on his fav bed
12.7.25

While flying high in the sky on our way to Vegas, I enjoyed different land views.

Brad said these are crop circle patterns
12.10.25

mountain view from Denver airport

I was in awe of the detailed texture, patterns and rich colors of the desert.

Nevada

It was below zero when we returned from vacationing. Purr was not amused.

12.14.25

A welcome return to gorgeous land sunset views...

close-up

...and more snow shoe walks.

12.16.25

whispy clouds

ground fog 12.18.25

Having recently returned from NFR Cowboy Christmas, we thought it was ironic when this swag bag arrived from Snake River Farms. Brad occasionally orders specialty meat from SRF.

As long as I am off the land topic, I wanted to share an updated photo of my most treasured plant. You may recall the Christmas Cactus I have had since I was 17. It was temporarily relocated to our bedroom in order to have space for a Christmas Tree. It is now 54" wide!

For a couple days, our land wasn't so wonderful. We had wild high winds and warmer temps. It melted and turned our snow into messy slush. What I call ugly snow. 

Jameson's mom took him to her new home for a few days. It had been a minute since it was safe to be in our woods. It felt odd to walk them with only one dog.

12.22.25

mother natures pruning

There were tons of deer tracks all over our woods. As if they held a dance party during my absence. Have you ever noticed some melting deer tracks turn into heart shapes? Beauty can be found in every situation. If you are open to it. I found so many heart shapes!

follow your heart

After Christmas Eve with our family at home and Christmas Day at Brad's parents, we welcomed the stillness of natures fog.

Cierra 12.26.25

We enjoyed a shorter slushy walk in our Enchanted Woods area, after the fog lifted.

Leo and Jameson

Hope & Harmony waiting to come inside
12.26.25

The closing of December was sparkly. Sparkles were literally blowing sideways past our windows. Glimmering reflective light crystals are one of the hardest things to capture. Much prettier than the video clip.

flying sparkles (7 secs)

On our last walk of the year, we found the winds had helped Mother Nature do some tree trimming in our woods. 

A large oak tree with a split had shifted. It needs to either finally fall, or get cut down. Which I understand is a tricky tree situation. I've been watching this tree get increasingly dangerous for years. The split is now complete and reaches the ground. The left arrow points to the trunk split. The arrow on the right points to a large hung up tree sized branch. Waiting to fall on someone’s head. It will not be mine, or our dogs. We turned around and will refrain from walking that part of our Y path. 

big two-trunk tree 12.30.25



little down branches

 

big down tree

Our grand dog Remi is a Bernese Mountain Dog that upon occasion goes rouge on our walks. She is very (very) routine oriented and stubborn. See the black dot at the bottom of the field, near the tree line below? We were going to walk the Western part of our property, but she likes to head north to the pines. So she did. By herself. I looked up from putting my trackers on my boots, and I couldn't believe where she was. Wow, that dog covers ground like a ranch dog!

In order to get Remi to stop, I hollered. Pretty sure they heard me in town. She plopped down to wait for us, as she often does. Sigh. I don't need her walking the woods alone. Remi might look like a bear with a big bark, but is fairly helpless. Although she might lick you to death.

12.31.25

see, Remi’s drop-n-plop

12.31.25

This my friends closes out not only December, but 2025 land of wonders. Onward.

New Year wishes

Wishing each of you a Healthy & Happy New Year!!

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2025 seasonal card



inside stamped sentiment



back of card

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Thank you all, for your continued Blogger friendships! I love reading, learning and interacting with each of you!! 2026 is going to be a great year. If I say it enough, it could happen LOL!

I look forward to unfolding, unpacking and letting go of that which feels heavy. Another year of sharing and caring, learning, reconnecting and expanding horizons.

All my best to you for 2026!!

cowboys are in town

Here we are, already at the end of December and I have yet to click Publish on this post. I better do so before next year rolls around! Here we go...click!

For many months, I continue/d following my PT's advice to avoid hiking elevation until my knees improve. That meant skipping our treasured traditional Fall hiking trip. As the days passed, the thought of not getting away for even a small break started gnawing away at me. Our Fall get-a-way the past few years have been to outdoorsy places. We both enjoy the solitude of the north woods, but I realized we tend to do/see things I like best.

This year it was Brads long overdue turn to plan a year-end vacation of his choosing. Not exactly Fall, but it counts. He made all the arrangements (yay!) for us to attend the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas!! All I had to do was nod in agreement. Seeing the Finals in person has been on Brads bucket list for a long time. Have you seen it or watch it on TV?

I know, I know vacationing in Vegas...is loud. In more than one way. There are just as many Vegas haters as there are lovers. I am happy to say this trip made me/us love Vegas! Older age has taught us the virtue of how to enjoy it the right way. Or at least our way.

This was our third Vegas trip together. Brad has been their more often for work. The annual World of Concrete is held their.

Our first Vegas trip was shortly after 1993 when the Luxor was built. Pretty sure I got asked 100X if we were getting married. Nope. Never even crossed our minds. If you are not familiar with Luxor, it is the Egyptian themed pyramid building. The elevators are glass, and go up/down the pyramid sideways. Anywho, I recall we had a nice time except for the street hookers approaching Brad. All men were scouted on the street. It didn't matter that I was right next to him. It left a bad impression on me. Do what you want with your own time, just don't get pushy.

Our second trip to Vegas was during the 2015 World of Concrete show. A group of 6-ish co-workers and spouses were invited to experience the yearly extravaganza. The concrete show is gigantic and was so impressive! No one approached us for ulterior motives. I learned Vegas streets are cleaned up every X amount of years. We stayed at Caesar's Palace and it turns out I like Vegas. 2015 was a great trip! 

us in 2015

Fast (or not so fast, ha!) forward to this Vegas trip. It was the best. Travel preparations went on for weeks. I tried in vain to add some style to my well worn wardrobe. No luck. At least we both found cowboy boots locally that fit well. Our boots were worn out/no longer fit. In the end, we both packed what we already owned. Totally okay. Fashionista's we are not. 

As the trip approached, the unthinkable happened. Fed Ex. had lost our Rodeo tickets. Poof! Gone. Brad spent days working that conundrum out. The folks handling rodeo tickets were so awesome! We were promptly offered other tickets. Much better tickets than we had purchased, at no additional cost. They arrived overnight. Brad guarded the replacement tickets with his life. Once everything was worked out, Fed Ex became their problem. 

If you are a Rodeo/Western loving person and have been wishing to go, take the trip! You will be glad you did. NFR is something to be experienced. Words cannot describe. I keep trying. I cannot really capture the essence. It includes a city that attracts similar minded people from all over the world, and transforms itself.

MGM lobby

"The Cowboys are in Town" was heard on repeat. It made me smile. We met so many nice respectful people on our trip! Your eyeballs will fall out of I share all the stories. There are too many to count and this post is already extra long. It made my heart swell and reminded me, there are good people left in the world. Many of them were in Vegas in the middle of December.

I still cannot get the whole NFR trip experience out of my mind!! 

I won't lie, it is always very hard for me to leave home. "What if..." goes on replay in my head. It turns out I had nothing to worry about. Our two younger kids took care of our animals and homestead while we were gone. Mostly Harmony's mom. Did I mention we flew out on the tail end of a snowstorm? We survived.

What can say about Finals Rodeo? Two word's "amazing talent"!! Both human and animal. I have seen my fair share of rodeo's over the years. Mostly the PRCA here and some rodeo's in Colorado. Watching the best of the best doesn't compare. It really was jaw dropping.

the pusher

We had recently watched an interesting interview at home about "the Pusher". Seen above sitting on the shoot, in black. I won't get into his important job. Sitting close to the roping shoots made us smile. This was the only rodeo photo I took.

I did not pack my camera and was SO entertained the entire trip that I completely forgot to take but a few phone photos. Whoopsee doodle! 

quick selfie waiting for the monorail

The NFR Cowboy Christmas is part of the experience. Day One was overwhelming. Day Two we enjoyed the shopping.

The Thomas-Mack Convention Center (same place that hosts the World of Concrete) was filled to the brim with two levels of vendors for a Cowboy Christmas shopping extravaganza like no other. I am not a shopper, but it was an experience I will never forget. We enjoyed several memorable vendor experiences. A pair of Christmas stockings, and a new cowboy hat came home with us. Shopping is much harder when flying.

If you've been to Vegas, then you know the popular city offers the best variety of culinary food! We stayed at MGM, and enjoyed special meals at Tom Colicchio's CraftSteak and Emeril's New Orleans Fish House. Both highly recommended. Outstanding food and service was impeccable. We also revisited a fav breakfast place, the Hash House. We highly recommend all.

Vegas is also known for entertainment shows. Our trip wasn't just about the Rodeo, Shopping or Food. It was also very much about Music. A big reason I agreed to go, was experiencing this guy in concert:

If you have never heard of Zach, he just won the CMA 2025 New Artist of the Year award. A very talented young singer-songwriter, known for his 90's Country style & Blue Grass music. MGM venue left something to be desired, but his concert was a-mazing!! 

12.12.25

He brought some incredible talent. The crowd went wild every time the fiddle player took front stage. A reminder that different music/talent is played in other regions.

I am happy to say my knee's survived the trip. Thanks to the Monorail and the many Escalators scattered throughout the city and airports. Walking/sitting that much was not easy. Brad was super patient and supportive. A sign of true love. I thank my lucky stars every.single.day for my old school gentleman, cowboy at heart guy. 

We did not gamble, and only walked the streets once for a short time. Not my cup of tea. This trip it was I who got approached, by a women who said "you me and a sailboat". We kept walking past as I replied "NO thanks"!! 

Brad told me "don't say I never took you to Paris"

The weather on our trip was gorgeous! A refreshing change. Las Vegas set record highs while we were there. Days warmed up fast to a sunny 74F. We wore short sleeves and never used our light jackets. It was a bit of a shock to come back to Wisconsin's single F digits.

In conclusion, we both loved this unforgettable trip. We learned. We experienced. We look forward to going back. It opened our eyes. We plan to travel a bit more. Nothing extravagant, but we definitely learned we need to just take the trip!!

Thanks for reading to the end. Now we can bring on 2026!