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Looking back on a beautiful year

2014. What. A. Year.

Without a doubt, 2014 was the biggest, craziest, changing year of my life yet. I can't believe it's over. In elementary school when we logged on to the computers, we would chose our high school graduation year account. 2014. It always seemed so far off. But now it's coming to an end and I can hardly believe it.

It was a year of forging close bonds with friends, old and new, a year of hellos and see ya laters, a year of new places and finding home, a year of capability, a year where there was a lot of unknown, but also a lot of clarity. It's a year I'll never forget. Here's a little month-by-month reflection, with pictures, Vimeos, and my favorite post from each month:

NYE 2013

The day was spent downtown with Jessica and Mackenzie, then the evening followed by attending my third grade teacher's wedding, seeing Riley and Sierra, and babysitting some cute babies with Mack. We ate Chinese food with baby spoons and quietly toasted to the new year with water in champagne glasses :)

January
Ice skating and APES adventures
{Our Generation}

Stephanie

 February
Sadies with some great friends, a day of love and kindness and a beautiful sunrise on Mackenzie's birthday
{Style Files: Snow}

March
Becoming a legal adult and being thrown a killer surprise party and deciding to go to CU
{Applied, Accepted, Confirmed}

April
Winter Park Ski Trip, prom, and Senior Boards
{Choir Trip 2014}

May
Finishing high school and G R A D U A T I O N !
{The Race}

One last choir concert

June
Adventures with Tater and CU orientation
{The Wild Spirit of June}

July
San Diego, welcoming Bella into the family, hikes with friends, and a super Sonic boom;)
{Sunrise}

August
Some see ya laters and the big move to Boulder to start college!
{The Bubble}

September
Seeing Riley at the CU v. DU game,  Livi's first homecoming, and some crazy Friday nights
{Home}

October
Katie Herzig concert, seeing Jessica after 2 months, sister time, and Halloween
{Thick as Thieves}

November
Caramel apples, visits from Sierra and then Riley to BoCo, 5ever being reunited for the first time since June, and beautiful snowy mornings from my bedroom window
{Giving Thanks//Memories}

December
Decking the halls, cookie birthday parties, and our annual Christmas party
{The Best Week Ever}

It was a great year with great people. I can't wait to see all the joy that comes in 2015!
Happy New Year!

xo
Hannah

Christmas Eve Thoughts

Every year, we attempt to take a picture in our holiday best in front of the tree. Key word: attempt

The ladies, including the dog of course.

Required Christmas PJ pic in front of the tree. All verrryyy tired

I have escaped away for a few quiet minutes in my room, lit by candles and twinkling lights. Christmas is tomorrow. That's a phrase that is still can't swallow. I feel like this year especially the season has gone by far too quickly. It slipped through the cracks of this crazy life and I don't want it to end yet. Didn't we just get started?

This past week has been quite the whirlwind. Finals, packing, Christmas party prep, the actual party, a trip to see family, the flu, lots of shopping and wrapping... life is in full speed. It's exhausting and I want to drop in a dead sleep but I love each moment. I am home. I am with my people.

And now it is almost the big day. We went to Mass tonight, had our annual dinner at Red Lobster with my aunts and uncles and cousins, snapped a few family pictures in our holiday attire, unwrapped a gift, and will soon settle in for a holiday movie and cookies before reading The Night Before Christmas and lulling into sleep, all three of us kids (plus three pets) stuffed into my room.

While time goes by quickly, joy is rich and abundant. Colorful Christmas lights peek through my blinds from the outside. Kids are trying with all their might to go to sleep, with hopes of hearing reindeer on the roof. All are clad in new matching pajamas. Family members gather together in good spirits. Bellies are stuffed full of food. For a hot minute, the challenges of life are simply glossed over.

I think why I love Christmas so much is because of the happiness. The magic. When else does everyone feel that glee, that excitement, that love? Oh the love. It pours out. Of course I do wish that there was the magic all year long. But as I've grown up, I have recognized how beautiful it is to only feel it once a year. It makes it even more precious. And we have all this joy because of the birth of a baby. An innocent baby who would change everything, in the most spectacular of ways.

Merry Christmas Eve friends. Love to you all.

xo
Hannah