Working Towards Wellness: December 2025

[itsfi]

Happy holidays, BIC!!! The year has flown by and the days will only go by more quickly as we move closer and closer to the end of December. With all the events, festivities and holidays this month brings, the season can be a fun and joyous time, but it can also be a very busy, heavy and sometimes stressful one as well. It's important to prioritize self-care during the holiday season; consider this month's game of BWell bingo one of the tools  available to help you keep wellness top of mind. 

Wellness Bingo: December 2025

All are welcome and encouraged to take part in this wellness bingo challenge, wherever you are in your own self-care journey, and in whatever manner this challenge will serve you best. Wellness takes work; let's do the work together, BIC!

For more information on this month's wellness bingo activities, take a look at: <<links to be posted>>

• How To Play
• Rows 1 Thru 3 Activities
• Rows 4 & 5 Activities
• How To Post

[Samtian]

@itsfi Close to a bingo already! Interesting sounding drinks and treats. Never heard of the connections game. 

[itsfi]

I had to look at the board; yes! I should have put on some music in the background and I'd have bingo, @Samtian. I should be more attentive to what activities I'm marking off in relation to the board, I guess, lol! I haven't been to coffee shops as often so the ginger spritzer was a new one - it was okay, I can see myself trying to recreate it at home, but changing things up a little bit. 😆 

Okay, let me see if I can explain Connections. Essentially, every day a board is posted with 16 words on it. The 16 words contain 4 groups of 4 words that are somehow grouped together, each group has a different level of difficulty. The goal is to figure out which 4 words are grouped togehter. The New York Times releases a different Connections game every day at midnight. There are sites that have previous games you can play. I included an older game in the spoiler to better demonstrate how to play the game. The basic set up is generally the same though there are some differences between how it shows up on the NYT (vs whatever company is posting the older games). 

Spoiler

Using the game from January 1, 2025 (figured that goes back far enough that people who are currently playing it have already completed that one. If you have not and were planning on doing that one, stop now and do not look ahead. I'll leave some space so answers don't get spoiled ...


***
This is how the January 1, 2025 Connections board looked like

- So, 16 words arranged in four rows and four columns
- You're allowed a certain number of mistakes - 4
- Shuffle - you can shuffle the placement of the words in case seeing them positioned differently on the board might help with your word association. 
- Deselect All - if you picked / selected / highlighted a few words but want to deselect all of them at once, you can press this tab
- Submit - when you have grouped 4 words together that you think belong together, you select / hit "Submit" and see whether your proposed grouping is correct. 

Okay, let's play.

Here, I've selected "Glowstick" + "Firefly" + "Radium" + "Aurora" with the idea that these 4 words should be grouped together because they are things that glow. After hitting "Submit", this is what appears on the screen (for the game as shown on the site that has past NYT Connections game - NOTE: this shows up a little differently on the actual New York Times site / app) - 

So, those 4 words were correctly grouped together - "Things That Luminesce". I mentioned there are 4 categories / groupings for each game, each with a different level of difficulty. The groups and level of difficulty are by color. My recollection is that the degree of difficulty is, by color, from easiest to hardest - yellow (easiest), blue, green, purple (most challenging), but I think that depends on the player. There are times when I cannot figure out the yellow grouping or when I can only figure out the yellow group by figuring out all the other ones first. lol

Alright, now that the first group of 4 has been correctly identified, onto finding out another group of 4.




This time, I chose "Earthworm" + "Slug" + "Salamander" + "Eel" and grouping them as having in common that they are animals or "slippery little suckers" 🤣 Yes, @Samtian, this is how my brain works sometimes. hahaha! I hit "Submit" and this is what pops up - 


"Slimy Animals" 

Fine. I suppose that is more eloquently stated but "slippery little suckers" seemed just right to me. 😂 Moving on to the next group of four, but before doing so, I selected "Shuffle" and it moved the remaining words around so that they now show up like this - 


Hmmmmm ...


Going with "Windmill" + "Clog" + "Tulip" + "Canal" being things from or known as being connected with The Netherlands or the Dutch. Hit "Submit" and ...


Dutch Symbols. Got it.

That leaves, by process of elimination, the last 4 words to be grouped and submitted together - "Raindrop" + "Gatecrash" + Skydive" + "Waterfall" but I don't know what the association of those words would be. 



Final results

Spoiler

That last one, the purple category, the most challenging, what they have in common is that the ending of each of the four words is synonymous with "plunge". 

Yeah, sometimes that's how the connections work. There's also been groupings where the words are commonly part of ____keeper, like bee + book + gate + goal 

There you have it. You can play Connections on the NYT's app or just through the website, whether or not you are subscribed to the NYT, but there are, of course, certain benefits and perks that come with subscription to the NYT.

Maybe worth giving a try, Samtian?

[Samtian]

@itsfi Oh wow that sounds kinda fun, I'm going to go play it now, thanks!

[itsfi]

Let us know what you think of it @Samtian 

[CorgiMommy]

I love the NYT games, I do Wordle, Connections and Strands daily. @itsfi 

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, Strands? I'll have to look that up; a lot of the NYT puzzles are new to me. Wow, they're part of your daily routine? Do you do have a set time in the day when you do them? All at once or periodically throughout the day?

[CorgiMommy]

I try to do them when I wake up at breakfast to get my mind moving @itsfi 

[Samtian]

Week 1 Update: I was hoping to do certain things for stamps but couldn't find one I wanted but thankfully it's "5" weeks this month so I got two of similar ones I wanted in one. But anyways week 1 is a cute snowman. 

• Healthy Meal- I'm slowly trying to go through our kitchen stuff and get rid of what we don't use. I have a friend who wanted stuff so I gave them to her. She asked how much I said it's free, but I'd never say no to food! So she's cooked some really good things for me this week so I ate good! 
• Hydrate- Another friend sent me a box of Liquid Death Cola that I didn't know existed. I actually liked it. At work on Friday our janitor saw me drinking it and asked if I tried the Rootbeer or Dr Pepper versions, so Saturday he brought me one of each. I liked the Doctor Death one not so much the Rootbeer. 
• Aroma- Lately I've been warming a candle I got from a friend from Trader Joe's the Honeycrisp Apple and it is d.i.v.i.n.e.
• Seasoned Drink- Trumoo has a chocolate marshmallow limited drink out so I get that and top it with some Dunkin Donut cold foam and I'm in heaven. 
• Routines- Mom has been in California for over a month so I've tried to get a routine down for cleaning and things on my days off work. 

[caitbird]

@Samtian   great job with your wellness progress! Love the snowman stamp!

[CorgiMommy]

I have never heard of Liquid Death, @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@CorgiMommy It's a sparkling water brand. Over the years they've added more flavors. Sparkling water for me is hard to drink haha but I do enjoy this one. The price is too much though. They like to make threats about if you don't recycle the cans and each box on the back has different really cool artwork. 

[itsfi]

@Samtian, your healthy meal story is awesome - you decluttered and paid it forward and got a healthy meal as a result! 🙌 [I think you can mark those other two boxes circles (declutter & pay it forward), if you wanted to.] Trader Joe's makes some really good seasonal candle! i still hold out hope that they'll bring back the chocolate croissant one again in the fall. 🤞 

Hahahaha, the first time I ever heard of or laid my eyes on Liquid Death was at Sephoria NYC. It took me a bit to realize that particular can was actually water - but before I did make that connection, I thought it was alcohol, beer specifically, and my head was spinning trying to figure out how I was going to firmly but diplomatically but fiiiiirmly ask a pregnant friend whether it might be better for her to have some water instead of that, before she could take another gulp from the can. 😲 😂🤣😂 

Love your snowman stamper - so cute!! ☃️

[Samtian]

@itsfi Those two were end of November haha so no luck for this week. But I still have more to sort. 

That croissant candle was good too! I still have one floating around. 

When Liquid Death first came out I got it, and my coworkers and bosses gave me some looks! That was a different crew years ago, so this week I've been getting those looks again haha. I can picture that scenario! 

[leenasmom]

healthy meal -  air fryer salmon and asparagus and brown rice 

inspirational quote -  this one has always been a good reminder - 

aromatherapy - my favorite candles this time of year are fresh balsam, marshmallow fireside and winter candy apple from bath and body works

create - does making our family holiday cards count?

holiday fun / seasonal drink - went ice skating with the kiddo and some of her friends and had hot chocolate after

exercise - soulcycle, pilates and weight training

[caitbird]

@leenasmom  great work on your wellness progress! Salmon with asparagus and brown rice sounds delicious. I love that quote, what a great reminder for all of us! I think making holiday cards definitely counts as a creative activity! And ice skating + hot chocolate is such a perfect winter activity!

[CorgiMommy]

Love your self care choices @leenasmom 

[itsfi]

@leenasmom, you're off to a great start with some fab self-care activities this month. If I'm not mistaken, there's a BINGO as well! Congrats!! 🎉 

Hot chocolate after ice skating sounds fantastic - what a great way to enjoy the holiday season. Do you drink your hot chocolate by itself or with any favorite toppings?

[ather]

@leenasmom  Great job!!! This quote is amazing! Such a great reminder!!!! Oooo skating and hot chocolate that’s the best!!!

[itsfi]

100% agree @leenasmom @ather - that's a beautiful quote! Thank you for sharing.

[CorgiMommy]

 no bingos but I am getting close 

Holiday fun - Zoo Lights on a magical night with my husband

Aromatherapy - making good use of my essential oils diffusers

Exercise- gradually increasing my exercise time after my surgery

Be kind  - offered my spot to someone that needed it more then me plus we did our annual toy drop off for kids in need (that one always feels so good)

Winter walk or hike - finally had snow so I had to go for a long walk

[caitbird]

@CorgiMommy  great job, it sounds like you have been having fun and paying it forward too!