Well, that’s Christmas. We had the big family party in the old dairy barn again this year.  I always worry that the youngest, or now second youngest, generation is feeling pressured to come.   But they are bringing dates, and you don’t expose a date to 50 potential in-laws for dinner an d a bean-spitting contest in a freezing barn unless you think it’s a good time.  Most of them enthusiastically joined in the Hokey Pokey. It’s a wonderful thing to have four generations able to get together and actually like each other.  The clear winner of Christmas, if there is such a thing (it’s technically not a competition), was a beautiful drawing of all the family dogs, or at least the ones the guy who did it could remember. Lovely portraits of 10 dogs rendered in an elegant, AI-generated, colored sketch of each one. Pooping.  You don’t notice that detail at first, but once you see it there’s no going back. That will be framed and hung in the bathroom. One of the best items of the year was a tree ornament that is a model of a dumpster fire with the words “Everything is fine” on it. By itself, it is a great reflection on the year just passed. But to make it even better, the dumpster fire ornament is a product of Hallmark. That’s right, the font of all things treacle and cloying was pumping out commemorative 2025 dumpster fire ornaments. When you’ve soured Hallmark, it’s over.  It will be easy to bid farewell to 2025. There’s so much to look forward to in 2026.  There will be wars in Venezuela and maybe Greenland. Lookin’ at you, Canada.  Ukraine will be quartered and passed out. A global solution is possible — Denmark might end up with Taiwan as a consolation prize for Greenland, though Russia somehow ends up with a Little Mermaid-themed Trump Hotel in Copenhagen in the deal. We’re making measles great again, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if smallpox makes a comeback. There’s nothing to worry about because the Republicans have a concept of a plan for health care. We’ve been waiting nearly 16 years for their alternative to Obamacare, which is really expensive, crappy coverage. But it’s better than nothing, which is what Republicans are offering. The president’s slide into dementia will be punctuated by the steady drip of Epstein file material. This week we were all shocked, shocked, to see that Bill Clinton was involved.  Gee, you’d almost start to wonder if maybe he is not a man of high moral character.  There are some reputations so bad that they can’t be damaged, and both Clinton and Trump are in that category. But some business leaders, masters of the universe types, will get exposed. If it destroys those monsters, well, it’s a good start.  The weather this winter is right out of the Book of Revelations. 2026 can’t be any worse, we hope. Climate change is a hoax, and there’s nothing wrong with the planet that burning more coal can’t fix.  Sen. Mike Lee would strip mine Zion National Park if he thought there was “beautiful, clean, coal” there. The state Legislature is all over that one. Meanwhile, wind power projects that are substantially complete have been stopped again.  Through all of the climate change discussion, the idea that 3 or 4 degrees could make a material difference seemed a little alarmist. Now we know. Everybody spending their vacation in the country’s most expensive ski destination at the Heber bowling alley instead of skiing in the rain would give a lot to drop the temperatures a few degrees.  It was nearly 60 degrees on Monday. We heat miles of driveways around here, and acres of rooftops. Is it that unreasonable to refrigerate the ski runs? Um, yes, but don’t think it isn’t being considered. And against all that, the Democrats boldly offer—  OK, moving right along here.   Locally, there were a lot of interesting stories. There is a hotel under construction in Francis for reasons that nobody can explain. I think it might be entourage housing for people with mansions in Victory Ranch and Tuhaye who need a place to park the support staff, but who knows.  UDOT reinstalled a traffic island in the middle of S.R. 248 by the film studio. It had been there for years, then was removed (after a snowplow driver hit it and went through the windshield, I suspect). This summer it came back. For about a month. Then it was gone again. No explanation. And they did all that without hiring consultants. Watching the new lifts at Deer Valley dropped into place by huge helicopters was one of the highlights of the summer. I’m easily amused, but that was so fascinating to watch that when they scheduled a second day, my friends and I all went back for more. But hands down, the best news story of the year was Andy and Bonny Armstrong going camping in the Uintas with their pet ducks, Serrano and Lucy Boy. And rescuing a rooster that had been abandoned up there in the process.  I’ve never had a pet duck, and it would never occur to me to go camping with ducks. But just like that, a new world of really joyful possibilities opened up before me. Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986. The post More Dogs on Main: Fond farewell to 2025 appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less