The
Gertler Files
After
much scrutiny, the FBI has finally released The Gertler Files,
offering much-demanded transparency.
2025
was yet another full year
for the Gertlers of Camarillo.
The
biggest shifts of the year were done by young Ben, who in the spring
received both his high school diploma and his associate’s degree
(not, we should note, in that order) from Oxnard Middle College High
School (which can be sung to the
classic theme of Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles)
and Oxnard College, respectively. His
Hughes-side grandparents flew in to attend one of the two
ceremonies. In
the fall, he headed off to CalPoly Pomona, where he’s majoring in
mechanical engineering,
a track that should keep him busy for at least the next three years.
He became part of one the college’s two e-sports teams playing
Marvel Rivals in an intercollegiate league, is
dabbling in kendo, and
has a small part in an upcoming play.
Allison’s
friend Jack came to visit for a while at the start of the year. In
response, she took
a break to go visit him
in
Seattle, learning on the way that,
while train travel can be lovely, 31 hours in the seat can be a bit
too much.
The way home was accomplished by air. She has also worked on her
cosplay, and her craft of taking commercially-produced dolls and
reworking them into what she wants them to be. She also got her first
tattoo, a little clover on the inside of her wrist, and was so happy
with it that she soon got a second from the same artist, a red lock
from her favorite video game series Ace Attorney.
Lara
had much her usual year. She’s approching 25 years at the same
workplace. She met up with her brothers for a short outing to
Nashville, and made a couple of trips to the East Coast to visit her
longtime
friends, Laura and Ericka. She took a brief trip to Long Beach to
celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary, and since it also happened to
be Nat’s 25th anniversary, he came along! She’s currently in the
midst
of several instrument-building
projects, and is trying to learn to play old-timey banjo.
Use
a hand mixer
to
beat butter,
brown sugar, and molasses for about
2
minutes on medium
speed.
When
the mixture has turned fluffy, add in the egg and vanilla extract and
continue
to beat until just combined
and there are no streaks. Then, in a separate bowl, whisk together
the spices and
dry
ingredients—as
well as the fresh ginger, orange zest, and black pepper if
using—until they are combined. Then, gradually add them into
the wet ingredients,
whisking on
low
as you do. Here
we are, really just looking for the dough to come together.
Overmixing will lead to
too-dense
cookies,
so
stop
when you see that
the dough is just able to hold together and is evenly mixed. Once
mixed,
divide
the dough
in half and form two
even
discs
by
pressing lightly with your hands or gently rolling to about ¼”
thick in between two pieces of parchment paper—just be sure not to
press
too hard.
When the discs are formed, wrap them each in
plastic
wrap and
put them into the fridge to chill until
firm,
about
2 to 3
hours.
Preheat
the oven to 350° and as it heats, line two large baking sheets with
parchment paper—if you rolled the dough out
between
two sheets,
you can reuse those here. If you haven’t already rolled
the
dough out to ¼”, do so now.
Once
the first dough ball is rolled out, use a 3” wide gingerbread
man
cookie
cutter
to cut out individual
cookies and transfer each to the parchment-lined baking sheets. Place
the baking sheets into
the
heated oven
and bake for 9 to 10 minutes until the cookies have puffed
slightly
and set. Remove
the sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to finish cooking on
the
still-hot
baking
sheets
for another 5 minutes before
removing the cookies and transferring them to a cooling
rack
to
cool completely. Repeat the
cutting
out and
baking
process
with
the second disc of dough, and once both batches of gingerbread men
are completely cooled, decorate with icing
and
sprinkles,
or other
toppings
as desired, and
enjoy.
Nat
continued his publishing work this year, putting out successful new
books (biggest hit: The
Dalgoda Omnibus,
collecting a respected 1980s science fiction comic book series) and
others he’s similarly proud of despite not yet being a success
(notably, Cross
Word Craze,
a collection of both crossword puzzles and crossword-related
newspaper clippings from a period in the 1920s when they were all the
rage.) He also got to do a bit of performing, taking one of the top
three roles in, well, a
three-person audio drama for the series Premiere
the Play.
But his moment of greatest visibility came from his having been a
genetic donor decades back. One of the daughters of that donation
decided she wanted to meet her biological father as part of the
popular web video series
Truth
or Drink,
and
(always willing to meet these offspring on their own terms) he
complied. The
resulting video, released less than three
weeks as this is being written, has already racked up over 1,000,000
views.
(For the curious, this is the seventeenth donor offspring that Nat
has met, out of a total of at least 22.) He also gave presentations
at the San Diego Comic Con and the Peanuts Collectors Club’s
Beaglefest. A relaxing trip to Las Vegas ended up in a less relaxing
stay at a a hospital there; many people go to Vegas to drink
too much,
but he chose to drink
too little
and
ended up with dehydration.
Nat’s brother Dave came for a welcome visit, something that doesn’t
get to happen real often as he’s based in Delaware.
Fletcher
remains primarily a solar-powered
cat,
despite the
demands of the petrochemical lobby.
Our
plans for the
new
year, at this point, remain more of the same. More college, more
crafts and another visit from Jack, more working and making
instruments, more books, and more laying in the sun. We wish to all
our friends comfort
in
2026,
and to all the world, better things than we are getting now. May your
days be filled with joys
and
your snacks
be tasty.
--Nat,
Lara, Ally, Ben, and (we presume) Fletcher
