Everyone says time flies. We always comment on how fast the days and the weeks and the years flow by. And it seems to be the theme of the day when we’re standing on the threshold of a new year, getting ready to close the door on the old one.

Except I don’t feel like that’s really the case. I don’t feel shocked and awed that we’re about to close out 2018 and begin a new year. I don’t feel like the days slipped through my fingers.

They didn’t drag, either. They were just full. And the things they were full of are the amazing things.

This year, I grew a tiny human. I made a little person. From scratch. There isn’t a time I think about that and don’t find myself filled with amazement. Somehow, my body knew how to put together tiny feet and hands and an adorable little nose and fluffy blond hair and smiling gray blue eyes. That’s magic.

This year, the Army promoted me to a new rank. Only 26% of my original cohort are still serving and out of that group, only about 60% of us were selected for promotion. Most of us selected will serve until retirement, but that’s still an extremely small group. People leave the Army for lots of reasons, mostly voluntary, some involuntary, but I’m amazed that I stuck it out and I’m part of that small group that will serve all the way to retirement.

This year, I stopped paying lip service to the work-life balance bit and started setting boundaries. An alarm goes off on my computer at the end of my working day, when I need to leave to go pick up my son, and even though I know my husband can pick him up, I leave. If there isn’t an emergency, I leave. There has only been one day I had to call Scott to ask him to pick up little man because of work. One. And my work hasn’t suffered and the job hasn’t suffered. If anything, I’m way more efficient and productive.

This year, I didn’t set foot on an airplane. Not once. That’s probably the first time in the past 20 years that hasn’t happened. A lot of it was due to medical constraints, but still. The amazing part? I don’t feel like I missed out. I’ve been to a lot of cities and a lot of countries in my life, and while there are more out there I want to see, that same wanderlust has kept me from getting to know the places I live. This year, I feel like I toured and got to know my town. It feels like a home now.

This year, I started this little blog just for fun. I started writing and taking pictures and making recipes and having fun. And you guys came to visit. First you trickled in, and then you showed up in force. More than 100 of you a day stop by to check out your favorite recipes and my stories and occasional rants. The numbers are modest ones, but I’m amazed and overjoyed that so many of you stop by!

A lot happened this year. Enough to give some weight and gravitas to the days to keep them from flying by, and to firmly lodge them in my mind as treasured memories. I hope that if you didn’t experience the same, you take that mindset with you for the next year and let your memories be the amazing thing, not the passing of days.

Your 5 Favorite Recipes

These are the recipes you guys visited the most this year. I hope you enjoy making them!

Classic Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Mulled Apple Cider

Roast Turkey Breast with Honey Glaze and Roast Vegetables

Mom’s Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

With that, I’m taking a vacation until after the new year! I feel like I owe myself the break, and you guys should take a break from the world online and enjoy life IRL. And I hope you’ll come back to ring in 2019 with me when I come back with new recipes and new stories!

Happy holidays!!