Pop the confetti, a new year is here!

But first... some reflections on 2024.

I’m a sucker for all the New Year’s lists and recaps. I love seeing the reflections and the “best of” lists and hearing about what worked and what didn’t. Highs and lows, goals for the new year, reviews of the best books—I’m here for all of it. Typically, I try to spend some of the week between Christmas and NYE planning for what’s to come and reflecting on the year we are wrapping up. I didn’t do much of that this year because December was exhausting, and I’m still trying to recover.

But, I can’t let a chance to do a little reflecting go by, so here I am, with a few thoughts to wrap up 2024.

Word of the Year

My 2024 word of the year was creative. After a string of years where I chose productivity-centered words, I was ready for something different. It was a good choice, and when I look back over 2024, I can see where I let it lead me to try new things.

I rediscovered the joy of thrifting and dabbled in some thrift store makeovers (lamp, magazine holder, bookshelf), slowly dipped my toes in the waters of reopening my Etsy shop, and participated in 1000 Words of Summer. I had an essay published in Literary Mama and a poem published in The Wake Forest Review.

Creative Cohorts were also a big part of embracing my creativity.

Laura Rennie

and I facilitated a fall and spring round of our Creative Cohorts, walking through The Artist’s Way and Walking in This World (both by Julia Cameron) with groups of incredible women. I am always incredibly inspired and invigorated seeing the insights and creativity that come out of these cohorts! (Sound like something you need in your life? We still have a few spots open for our Artist’s Way cohort that kicks off January 13th—we’d love for you to join us!)

Year in Review

At the end of the year, I like to scroll back through my camera roll and remind myself of everything that happened throughout the year. It’s amazing how it jogs my memory!

I was reminded of so many beautiful ordinary moments: hundreds of hours at the pool, cheering at swim meets, library trips, bike rides, and playgrounds. There were school events and field trips I chaperoned. There were wonderful memories made on family trips and milestones like preschool graduation. The joy of having all my kids at one school for one year. A girl’s weekend in DC and fun events around town that I look forward to every year, like Art in Bloom, a historic home Christmas tour, and the State Fair).

Not everything made it on the camera roll. I (once again) overcommitted myself in a volunteer capacity and have been wrestling with setting some better boundaries around volunteering going forward. I wrote a poem to mark the ten-year anniversary of my dad’s passing. I dealt with the strain of being in the sandwich generation. My part-time work went through some big shifts, and I spent a lot of the year muddling through what I wanted that to look like going forward. (I ended the year starting a new part-time job that I’m incredibly excited about!)

It felt like a year of lots of little transitions with changing seasons of motherhood and work. Transitions always involve growing pains, but I’m starting to feel a little more settled in some of those shifts and am excited to see where 2025 takes me.

What Worked & What Didn’t

I don’t remember where I first saw the practice of naming what worked and what didn’t as you close out a year, but I love reading other people’s lists, so while this list is by no means complete, here are a few things that worked and didn’t work in 2024.

What worked:

• After reading The Anxious Generation, I decided when school started back in the fall, we would make a rule: no screen time on school days. Taking it off the table as an option has been great—there is less whining about screen time or trying to negotiate for more. There are still some other areas around tech I’d like to make some adjustments but this decision has been a solid one!

• Audiobooks in the car. My kids LOVE to listen to audiobooks in the car, and because we have a 25-ish minute drive each way to school, we have plenty of time. They fight less about what we are listening to (no one can agree on music or podcasts), and it’s gotten them interested in new books—win/win!

• On Fridays, the kids buy lunch at school. It’s a fun Friday treat for them and it makes my Friday morning easier!

• Having all the kids at one school. I’m halfway through the one school year where everyone is in one place, and it’s been glorious. When I had two in elementary and one in preschool, I headed to Panera to work during preschool hours, which worked, but it’s been incredibly nice to actually get to be home during the day!

• I got an Apple Watch for my birthday this summer, and it’s helped me to have less dependence on my phone. I’ve always felt like I needed to have my phone close by if the kids are at school, just in case. But with the watch, I know if there’s something important, I’ll get notified, but I don’t feel like I have to carry my phone all over the house with me anymore.

• A shared family Google calendar. I love paper calendars and writing things down, but moving to a shared Google calendar has been huge for keeping our family schedule straight.

• Chatbooks. The simplicity of Chatbooks means I actually get some of my photos off my phone and into print, and my kids love looking through them. (Use this link to get $10 off your first order if you want to give them a try.)

What didn’t work:

• Photo organization: Every year, I say I’m going to get my photos under control, but the 55,322 items on my camera roll say otherwise. I’ve tried several different strategies and made some progress, but there are just a lot of photos I need to organize (and I keep taking more!).

• Overcommitting myself: I have a bad habit of agreeing to do things if I think no one else is going to take them on because I somehow feel responsible. Then I end up overcommitted. I’ve gone through phases of being better about this, but this was a year of overcommitting. Hoping to set better boundaries in 2025.

• Bedtime: Between kids getting older, our school not starting super-early, and our family usually eating dinner on the later side because of schedules, bedtime has kind of gone off the rails. I’m hoping to get us back on track this year.

• Earning rest: I often tell myself that I can rest when I’ve finished XYZ. I’m working on letting myself rest even when the to-do list isn’t done, but it’s definitely a work in progress.

• Work hours: I did a lot of freelance projects this year, and I really leaned into the “I can do these anytime” mentality, which meant I didn’t have consistent work hours. Then, I tried to squeeze too many things into my day because my work was flexible. When I started my new job in December, I did a better job of blocking out work hours while the kids were in school and not letting other things eat into those hours. That’s something I want to do more of in 2025.

Reading Recap

I met my reading goal (100 books), but towards the end of the year, I got a little worried I wouldn’t make it. I felt like I had a harder time than usual really getting into books this year, especially fiction. At the end of the year, I tried a few audiobooks to help me reach my goal (I usually prefer a paper book in my hand), and I had a realization about which types of audiobooks work for me: Memoirs read by the author, and re-reads. I love hearing an author’s life story in their own voice, and it’s fun to revisit a book I already love in a different format. Other than that, I’m sticking to paper.

Nonfiction Favorites

• How to See A Person by David Brooks

• The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

• The Plan by Kendra Adachi

• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt,

Fiction Favorites

• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

• By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

• The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton

• The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Re-reads I enjoyed on audio

• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

• Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Happy New Year!

Well, for someone who said I hadn’t had much time to reflect on 2024, this sure did get long rather quickly—my thoughts on the year ahead will have to wait for another post!

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