My Week that Was - December 27

Old hat for da Bears. 12/20/25 dwm

 It was a pretty good game for the Green Bay Packers, until the last few minutes. The Chicago Bears finally moved the ball downfield and put a field goal on the board to cut the margin to 7, trailing 9 - 16. 

 The only thing the Bears could do was try an onside kick (kicking the ball along the ground for 10 yards then try to jump on it before the Packers). 

 Green Bay had the players with the surest hands on the field, including Romeo Doubs, a wide receiver, who had a good game going. The ball came right to him, although he backed up a little as he tried to gather it in. 

 The ball went through his hands and the Bears pounced on it, recovering the ball. Then they tied the game at 16 before the clock ran out and the Bears won it in overtime.  Yikes.

 I couldn't believe it. There were times of concern - there were three trips inside the Chicago 20 where we either didn't score or settled for field goals. The Packer defense seemingly stopped the Bears on fourth down, but a face mask penalty on one of our defensive linemen, advanced the ball and gave Chicago life.

Green Bay is 9 - 5 - 1 with two games to play, at home tonight (12/27/25) playing Baltimore, then in Minneapolis a week from Sunday for the last game of the year. We can still get a spot in the playoffs but it would be a good idea to win both. That's a let-down from what I forecast before the season, when I thought going into the 16th game of the year we would have 12 wins. 

Thanks to Aaron Rodgers beating the Lions Sunday, Green Bay can secure a playoff spot by winning one of the last two games or having Detroit lose at least once.

Monday, traffic was down, a sign school is out and there are plenty of people staying home or already on their winter vacation. 

Tuesday was my last day in the office this week, with a break for Christmas Eve Day, Christmas, and boxing day. The day was mostly quiet so I made a bunch of phone calls, making 60 over two days.

There was also a retirement party for a long-time friend and colleague at Oakwood. When we met he called me Super Dave, for the comedian-slash-stuntman Super Dave Osborne who had regular appearances on the David Letterman show for years. "Super Dave" quickly became "Super." 

One of many 'decked out' homes in Fitchburg. 12/24/25 dwm

I've been called worse. Hey, the blog is called "They used to call me Pointdexter," so you know I'm familiar with nicknames. 

After attending church for the Christmas Eve service, we drove across Madison looking at homes decorated with lights and inflatables for the holidays.

East of Agrace, off Cheryl Street is a neighborhood of people who go 'all out' decorating their homes for the season. 

Thankfully there weren't cars behind us so we could look at the lights and take a few pictures. 

From there we went west on Lacy, where we saw a backyard with fully-grown, mature trees, covered with lights (below left), that were very impressive! 

You can find more light displays when you scroll down.

On Lacy Rd. 12/24/25 dwm

 Earlier in the day Christmas Eve, we watched The Shop Around the Corner on Amazon Prime, after seeing it listed as one of the best Christmas movies by Rotten Tomatoes. 

 If you've seen You Got Mail a 1998 movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, you've seen the remake of this movie. In the unintended comedy part of the viewing experience is wondering why, since it states at the start of the movie that this story happened in Budapest, Hungary in 1940 is that everyone speaks English... in Hungary.

 There were three NFL games on Christmas and, much to my surprise, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 23 - 10. That clinched a play-off spot for the Packers before they play Baltimore Saturday night.

 I don't usually bring work home, but when it's signing birthday cards, I don't mind. Signing cards is a job that is easily interrupted in the office, while at home its something that fits between plays in a football game and I can do something else during the week. 

The Christmas china. 12/25/25 dwm

We had guests for Christmas dinner featuring Christmas-themed china, complete with Santa's face on the spoon, fork, and knives. On the menu: ham, potatoes, scalloped corn, macaroni and cheese, and two kinds of pie. It was very nice. 

Friday I gave the Prius a day at the shop to get some filters replaced, tires rotated, and spark plugs changed. It has been squeaking lately, it turns out the brake rotor and pads need to replaced as well. It's a bit much, but the car has been reliable with few breakdowns since I've done my best to keep up with regular maintenance.

Smart Motors gave me a new version of the Prius to use while it was getting fixed. It was quite nice with a lot more bells and whistles than my Prius, but the plan is to drive this one for several more miles.

The rest of Friday afternoon was dedicated to watching college football. The University of Wisconsin wasn't invited to bowl season this year, so I'm following other teams and pulling for them to win.

That's my week, thanks for reading, and Happy New Year! 

How many lights are in this photo? 12/24/2025 dwm

Two more decorated homes on Hollyhock Street. 12/24/2025 dwm