The Brown Family 2025 Holiday Update
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December 16, 2025
Dearest Friends,
It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is here! I know that your holidays wouldn’t be complete without my Brown Family Annual Holiday Update, so here it is, highlighting just a few of our fun-filled activities and accomplishments in 2025.
While I’ve blogged throughout 2025, this is your chance to get the “Cliff Notes” version of our year. Please read the exciting details (and check out the great photos) in my previous entries.
The Browns had a glorious year! Herbert and I are enjoying the fruits of his labor and are living it up in his retirement. This year we did two Viking tours, their Antarctica Explorer and their Adriatic and Mediterranean Sojourn.
We’ve done so many Viking tours (15, but who’s counting) that we’re now automatically upgraded to a full apartment accommodation at no extra cost, if one is available. I barely remember their regular guest suites, which aren’t too shabby. Yes, it’s quite an accomplishment. Go, Viking!
I also traveled solo to San Diego, CA and Naples, FL, where I was the houseguest of high school girlfriends who reside there. Thanks, Facebook, for keeping us connected! We had a blast taking in the local sights and sounds.
Respecting my friends’ wishes to remain anonymous, I don’t include their names here, as surely some of you would reach out to them. Who wouldn’t want to befriend someone living in a great place to visit?
When we’re not traveling, Herbert is busy with golf, flying his private plane, and hanging out at the club, and I’m busy with the usuals — luncheons, re-decorating, swimming at the club, and reading romance novels.
It’s unfortunate that the snob who leads my local book club refuses to consider romance novels. Too pedestrian for her, it seems. I’m contemplating starting my own book club for romance novel aficionados. That will show her!
Missy, Ted, and the girls are doing well. Missy is thriving as an emergency room nurse and Ted’s accounting practice continues to prosper, despite that even Ted finds accounting to be boring.
The family got a goldendoodle puppy in June, as if their household weren’t busy enough. Max is adorable but jumps and drools all over me when I visit, reminding me why I never allowed a dog in my house. They once asked about bringing Max with them on a visit. I didn’t have to say a word, my face said it all. They never asked again.
Their eldest daughter, my granddaughter Sara, intends to become an environmental scientist, as she’s gravely concerned about climate change. I try to avoid discussing politics with them, especially with Sara. She goes on and on, lecturing me. Why are our young people so opinionated?
Unfortunately, Mark’s foray into crypto didn’t go well. I’m relieved that, so far, the SEC is leaving him alone. Yet, this isn’t surprising, as the SEC was unable to investigate much of anything in 2025, since DOGE took a chainsaw to its budget and personnel. Yes, people lost their investments, but any fool knows that crypto investing is risky. How dare some say it was malfeasance!
Mark is moving on by starting a career in podcasting, providing financial advice to the masses in a format “free from the constraints of fiduciary burden,” his tagline.
On another note, I hope that Mark and his BFF Freddie — who have lived together since their graduation from Tulane in 2011 — each falls madly in love with a nice, young lady. Enough with the bachelor lifestyle, it’s well past time for them to settle down! I pray that their wives will get along well, or there will be hell to pay.
All of us will be together for the holidays, at a deluxe Airbnb in Florida. My granddaughter Sara wanted us to holiday in New York — to skate at Rockefeller Center under the Christmas Tree, take in the Saks and Macy’s store windows, see some shows, visit museums, and tour Columbia University (where she hopes to study).
As we pay the full freight of the trip, Herbert quickly cancelled that dream, blaming the cost. But really, what’s the fun of being in a crowded, cold city, when you could be in the warm sun on a beach, slathered in sun screen, staying in an air conditioned palace? (No insult intended to those who live in New York and Chicago. To each their own, I like to say.)
I’ll be meeting the girls for lunch at the club soon, and so, unfortunately, the Brown Family’s Annual Holiday Update draws to an end, as must all good things.
Here’s to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
And Happy Hanukkah and Kwanza!
And please, do send me a quick text about you and yours. I’m looking forward to it!
Kisses and hugs to all,
Muffy Brown
Need more holiday reading? Find loads of fiction, poetry, essays, and more right here!
- Almost Christmas Morning – Christmas Eve Essay
- Chorus of the Waiting – Christmas Eve Speculative Fiction
- Christmas Traditions – Personal Essay
- A Christmas Carol – My Favorite Things
- Consider Mrs. Claus – Christmas Poem
- On Patrol – Christmas Poetry
- Missing Everything – Emotive Christmas Fiction
- Dressed for Company – Christmas Poetry
- Gumshoe Gus: The Case of the Missing Ornament
Marguerite Schneider
After earning many degrees, working in many capacities, and attaining a notable academic publication record, Marguerite Schneider decided to satisfy her six year-old self by writing creatively. Her short stories appear in magazines including Crescendo and Persimmon Tree, and anthologies including by Chicago Story Press and Pure Slush. Marguerite is currently querying her first novel, Murder at St. Mark’s, a historical murder mystery. She enjoys gardening, yoga, reading, writing, volunteering, and walking her rescue dog Murray. Marguerite, husband Rich, and Murray live in the Bronx and Hudson Valley, New York.
Find more from Marguerite at LinkedIn or Google Scholar.
