My Best of 2025 Recap

Hi, friend. I wanted to stop by to say hello, share a quick recap of the year, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Before I do, I need to acknowledge how saddened and shaken we all are following the senseless shooting at Bondi Beach yesterday. I have no words. I know many of us turned on the TV and watched the breaking news, feeling shocked and heartbroken.

My phone started ringing repeatedly yesterday while I was folding laundry. When I opened our family group chat, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. A shooting. Here. Impossible. This is not the case in Australia. We have gun control.

We all started checking in to say we were safe, and then my heart dropped when I remembered Sam had left earlier, saying he was heading to the beach. When I tried to text him, my fingers didn’t work, and I fumbled.

But he must have seen the incoming message too, because the reply appeared immediately. He is safe; he went to another shore. Give thanks. You know that calming relief you feel after panicking? That’s what I feel.

Then, I immediately thought of those who weren’t so lucky. The victims who will never be able to send that message to their families, I’m safe. Very sad. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everyone affected by this terror attack. I just hope there is no retaliation and everyone stays safe.

It’s hard to move on from something so bad, but since this will be my last post for the year, I wanted to recap 2025 and share some of the highs and lows of the year. Thank you very much for being here today. I really appreciate you stopping by.

My Best of 2025 Recap

Yes, I must say that 2025 is my favorite year since 1984. The gap between favorite years is quite long, isn’t it? I don’t want to create the impression that nothing good has happened over the years. Of course, amazing things happened. But 2025 feels special and for me will always be the year that I started doing things outside my comfort zone and allowed myself to experience the most amazing adventures. I love it!

So, instead of going over every little detail and letting you fall asleep, here’s a quick recap of the highlights.

The Supreme

Travel in 2025

Family Spotlight

• The year-round Cousin Connect meetings are always a highlight every month.
• We had a small birthday celebration for me, my husband, and our two sons. I’m not much of a party person when it comes to our family’s birthdays, but invite me to your party and Ruth’s Party will happen, I promise.

Home Wins

• I completely reorganized my office space and made it comfortable.

Friends

• I am so grateful for the amazing friends in my life and the fun adventures we had over the holidays in 2025. Over the years of friendship, they have been through the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I couldn’t ask for a better person by my side.

Which is not too high

Work

We can’t have everything, right? Even though 2025 has been my favorite year in almost every way, work has been extremely challenging. In my 28 years as an educator, I have never faced a year like this, and it truly tested me.

Although I wish I could share more, I can’t. But if there are any educators reading this, I would love to know. Is it just me, or are you feeling the same way this year? I was so tempted to go, and I had never even thought about it before. Never. Hiss.

My blog

This year, I stopped posting as often as in previous years. My husband’s work schedule changed, which meant we could spend more time together in the evenings. He always supports my blog. Haha, he never reads them, but he loves it when I have a creative outlet.

So I’m still blogging, but dinner at home or occasionally going out, along with time on the couch binge-watching all the shows, is getting too tempting. I decided to cut back and post three times a week.

But as time went by and work started to tire me, my energy disappeared. Writing no longer feels easy and starts to feel difficult. I started questioning everything and telling myself that my blog was bad. Why do I even write about my daily life? Who wants to read this? Where does my energy go to share fashion, recipes, and home organization?

The negative thinking took over, and after long days, I was too tired to think, let alone write. So I started to disappear a little bit from here. But it’s the last week of preschool, and starting this Friday, I’ll be off work for five glorious weeks. I’m going to take a break, pull up my socks, and find my passion again.

Before I sign off, I want to end on a good note and share this photo. Here I am with some of the lovely ladies I work with, and I’ve blocked a few faces because I didn’t ask for permission to post. Not all of my work friends are in this photo, but if it weren’t for them, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this year. I love that even on the hardest days, we can still share a laugh.

So that’s all from me for this year. I hope you have a merry Christmas, and may 2026 be good to us all. Sending warm hugs and lots of love.

In touch with Holly and Sarah