Want a peek into my life this past month? I’m sharing the good, the bad, and the funny January things from 2025.
I’m trying something new today! I always find it extremely helpful to know what people are loving (or not loving). These little insights into other people’s successes and failures give me inspiration for things to try (or not try) in my own life. If you are similarly curious and looking for some inspiration in your life, I hope my sharing all my January things is helpful to you.
Without further ado, here’s a little peek behind the curtain of my life at all of my January things.
January Things 2025
Food
Food is such a huge part of my life, so let’s start there.
Old standby - Grilled cheese & tomato soup
It’s been a much snowier winter than I’ve experienced over the last few years. With all this snow, my kids and I have been craving grilled cheese and tomato soup fairly constantly. We don’t have it for every meal, but we have had it at least once a week this month. Easy, delicious, and warming – works for me!
Favorite new recipe – Crunchy sheet pan sliders
A dear friend recently gifted me Caro Chambers’ genius cookbook, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking. We have been slowly working out way through it, and let me tell you, there are some gems in here. One recipe even made it to the top of the new recipes I’ve tried this month: the Crunchy Sheet Pan Sliders.
You basically make a big burger patty into a huge rectangle and bake it at 375°F for 12 minutes or so. Then you pile that onto a package of Hawaiian rolls sliced in half slathered with your sauce of choice (we chose a ketchup and mustard combo). Top with slices of cheese (we like cheddar) and crushed up kettle chips(!!!!) before replacing the top bun slab that has also been slathered with sauce. Cover with tin foil and bake for another 10 minutes or so, then remove the foil and let the buns brown for a couple of minutes.
Everyone gobbled these tiny burgers up! My kids even asked if they could have the leftovers for dinner the next day, and they usually turn up their noses at leftover anything. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself Caro’s book for Valentine’s Day and make these sliders the first recipe you try!
Biggest food fail – Salsa verde tortilla soup
As I’ve mentioned, my 5-year-old is currently on a chicken strike. This is a problem when all I want is soup because I happen to like soups that contain chicken. When I saw that Half Baked Harvest had a tortilla soup that didn’t require chicken, I was excited. I love her recipes so I immediately added it to my meal plan. When the night came to make it, the kitchen smelled so good. The kids were even excited to eat it because it involved crushed up chips (and they love chips). Unfortunately, it was too spicy for them (even when I used mild salsa). Let’s just say that lots of milk was consumed that night.
If your kids are made of stronger stuff, you might want to give this a try. But be warned if they can’t handle the heat.
Dessert – leftover Christmas cookies
I may have gone a little overboard with the Christmas cookies this year. If you read my 2024 Holiday Baking List, you know that I made a lot of cookies. It was too many this year, so we’ve been eating leftover cookies from the freezer all of January. Unsurprisingly, the favorites (and first cookies to disappear from the freezer stash) were the brown butter sugar cookies and the chocolate crinkles. They are elite cookies.
Breakfast – Sheet pan blueberry pancakes
We love pancakes in our house, but this mama hates to stand at the stove and flip them. Enter sheet pan pancakes! You can make a whole batch of pancakes at one time in the oven with no flipping, no pancakes getting cold, and no weird first tester discard. It’s a revelation! We always like to add blueberries to ours, but you can make them plain or with any other mix-ins you like (chocolate chips, pecans, bananas, etc.).
Beverage
I probably won’t always include a separate beverage category, but I have a surprising amount of things to say about beverages this month.
Cocktail - Sleigh ride smash
Because I talked about how excited I was about my Christmas cocktail, the sleigh ride smash, so much in the lead-up to Christmas, I wanted to give a review. It was delicious. My husband and my mother-in-law both really enjoyed them. I thought it was a delicious drink, but it was too sweet for me to have more than one.
Hot chocolate
Just like our staple meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup, my kids have requested hot chocolate to drink a lot with all the snow we have had this month. I’ve just been using Swiss Miss packets with a dollop of marshmallow fluff when I give in to these requests. If you have any recommendations for better hot chocolate, I’d love to hear them!
Winter spice tea
My favorite tea in a bag that you can buy at the grocery store is Twining’s Winter Spice. It’s usually only sold like November through January, though, so I usually stock up as soon as I see it. This year, we got through Christmas and I still hadn’t seen it. Naturally, I panicked. I got online and prayed it hadn’t been discontinued. It was still on the Twining’s website, so I was hopeful. Sure enough, I found it on Amazon in a 6 pack. That should last me a while.
Water
My New Year’s resolution this year is to drink more water. I used to be great about hydrating while I was breastfeeding, but since I stopped, I’ve found myself barely drinking anything all day. It was time for a resolution. The good news is that I’ve definitely been drinking more water than I was. The bad news is that I haven’t found a good way to track my water intake because I just refill my giant water bottle every time I’m in the kitchen. If you’ve had good success with a method for tracking your water intake, would you mind sharing with me?
Books
I’ve set myself a goal to read 29 physical books in 2025 (one more than I read in 2024), and I’m continuing to listen to non-fiction audiobooks this year too. I’m off to a good start this January, so I thought I’d share some highlights (and one lowlight).
Best book of January – Today Will be Different
I picked up Today Will be Different by Maria Semple in the clearance section at the used bookstore. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but I had read another book by the same author (Where’d You Go Bernadette) and liked it, so I gave this one a shot. Boy, am I glad I did! This book was so funny, so honest, and so real. It’s short and pretty fast-paced, so you can fly through it. If you are looking for a quick, fun read, I highly recommend you pick up this book.
Not my favorite – Where the Crawdads Sing
I had heard so many positive things about Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. They even made it into a movie, so I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, for me, I just couldn’t get into it. The author is expert at setting the scene, so if you really like books that you can clearly visualize while you read, you’ll probably like this book. It’s a good story, just not what you’d call a page-turner.
Best audiobook of January – Furiously Happy
I love to listen to funny memoirs when I need an escape and Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson is definitely a funny memoir. I know people thought I was unwell as I laughed hysterically at her unapologetic, candid stories when I was sitting at traffic lights. The subject-matter can be tough at times (anxiety and depression mostly), but she’s so unapologetic about her mental illness that you can’t help but laugh right along with her.
TV/Movies
I’m not a huge consumer of TV or movies. I’d usually rather read if I have kid-free, chore-free time. But, I do find myself logging onto a streaming service occasionally. This month, I have one TV favorite and I watched one movie that I want to recommend.
TV – The Great British Baking Show
I know, I’m late. The most recent season of The Great British Baking Show began airing on Netflix in September and here I am talking about it in January. Despite being late to this season’s Bake-Off party, I still loved it. I always love it. It’s the show I look forward to the most. It’s just good, wholesome fun. If you haven’t watched Bake-Off, give it a try!
Movie – Barbie
Again, I’m late. Especially with this movie, though, better late than never. Barbie is such an important movie for women! And seriously, kudos to Mattel and Ryan Gosling for agreeing to be the butt of the jokes.
Clothes
I posted one article about my winter mom uniform, so I guess I’m a fashion blogger now. In all seriousness, there have been a few clothing items that have come in clutch this month, so I wanted to share.
Shoes – Sperry duck boots
It has snowed more here this winter than it has the past several years, so I’ve had to bust out the boots more than I usually do. Now, when it snows, I’m not talking feet of snow, just a few inches at a time. I need something more than just a sneaker or a fashion boot, but I don’t need ski resort boots. Enter my Sperry duck boots. They’re easy to walk in, they don’t look ridiculous if you wear them to the grocery store, and you can add a pair of thick socks or two to keep your toes toasty.
Accessory – Orvis gloves
With all the snow we’ve had this winter, I’ve been out shoveling the driveway a lot. That is a task that requires really good, warm gloves. I have many pairs of gloves in my collection, but I keep coming back to a pair that my parents got me from Orvis several years ago. I don’t see that the exact gloves that I have are still available on their website, but I have linked a similar pair if you’re in the market for some good snow shoveling gloves.
Sweater – Old Navy chunky cardigan
You know I love this Old Navy chunky cardigan because I wrote an entire blog post about how often I wear it and other sweaters that look just like it. Of all my uniform basics, though, this is the layer I reach for the most. It’s the perfect weight, it’s flattering, and it’s comfortable. If you’re still on the fence about incorporating a sweater like this into your winter mom uniform, let this be your nudge.
Products
There have been a few stand-out products that have been saving my life this January. They’re too good not to share!
Stick vacuum
If you sought inspiration from my What to Put on Mom’s Christmas List post this holiday season, you’ll know that I was very excited about my big gift this Christmas – a stick vacuum. Let me tell you, my excitement was not misplaced. My stick vacuum has changed my life. It is so easy to just do a quick vacuum every day to get the crumbs, the dog hair, and the displaced dog food. Heck, it’s so fun, my 5-year-old usually vacuums. And not only at my house – at his aunt’s house too. If you are even somewhat interested in a stick vacuum, make the purchase.
Hand lotion
Have I mentioned that it has been cold and snowy where I live this winter? Other than just being cold and annoyed by this fact, it has done a number on my hands. There are cracked messes, both of them. To keep them from becoming two open wounds on the ends of my arms, I’ve been reliant on hand lotion. And not just any hand lotion, Vanicream Moisturizing Cream. It does such a good job moisturizing cracked hands and it’s the only lotion that doesn’t sting my 5-year-old. We keep a tube of this stuff in almost every room of the house. If you’re looking for a good hand lotion, look no farther.
Experiences
Stuff is good and can be helpful, sure, but experiences are what really matters in life. I’ve had some good ones in January, and I hope you don’t mind me sharing.
Hockey game
As I mentioned in my 2024 kids’ gift post, our big Christmas present to our son was his first hockey game. He’s been obsessed with hockey for over a year now, so we felt it was time he attend a game. We took him a few weeks ago, and I’m so glad this was what we decided to give him for Christmas. The precise game we went to was a terrible game (15 penalties in the first period alone), but the memories we made with him were wonderful. We will definitely take him again.
Playing in the snow
The silver lining to all the snow we’ve gotten this January is that the kids have gotten to play in the snow a ton this month. My 5-year-old is out in it every single day. He loves to sled ride down the front yard hill and he even likes to shovel the back patio. My 2-year-old is less enthralled with the snow. Her first sled ride of the season ended with her face first in the snow, so she hasn’t been too enthusiastic about the snow since. That means she’s largely inside with me for a little one-on-one time while he’s out in the snow. I get to watch him love the snow and make one-on-one memories with her. Snow play is magical, even when you aren’t actually out in it.
Kid stuff
I put this category near the end so you can skip it if you don’t have young kids. For those of you who do have young children, these are my favorite kid-related January things.
M&Ms
We are potty training my 2-year-old and man it is not for the faint of heart. They say every kid is different, and this has been most apparent to me with my kids in our potty-training journeys. This kid needs incentives in a big way. That’s where the M&Ms come into play. If she goes #1 on the potty, she gets one M&M. She gets two M&Ms for a #2 on the potty. I’ve never been so thankful for a food product in my whole life.
Kid snow shovel
As I mentioned above, my 5-year-old likes to shovel the back patio. He prefers using the big, adult-sized shovel, but when my husband or I need to use the grown-up shovel, his kid snow shovel is a God-send.
Spot It game
Although Spot It isn’t the best gift we gave our kids this Christmas, it’s been the one we’ve used the most. We play Spot It all the time. It’s quick, it’s fun, it’s good for most ages. They have so many different versions too, so you can find the Spot It that speaks to you.
Blog posts
Lastly, here are the blog posts you have most enjoyed this January. If you missed any of these posts, I’ve got handy links for you below.
I hope you’ve been able to get inspiration from my January things. What have your favorite January things been this month? Let us know in the comments below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.
[Note: None of this content is sponsored. The links above may be general affiliate links, which earn me a small commission so I can keep making great content for you!]