Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays.

We'll be in Charlotte for Christmas, which means we're simultaneously staying home for Christmas and not going home for Christmas. It's one of those confusing moments in life where I wonder if I'm really an adult or not. Rob has this whole week off of work and I woke up every morning this weekend and cuddled up to his warm body, excited for Monday because it meant hot coffee and slow mornings infused with the magic of a relaxing staycation.

I have an amazing husband and an apartment that feels like home and sweet in-laws who live thirty minutes down the road, but because I'm not packing a bag and heading to Roanoke, I have sometimes felt the need to encourage holiday spirit this year with extra Christmas music and string lights and at least two hot chocolates a week, which is sort of a lot for a person with a lactose intolerance.

The most ridiculous part is that we're going to Roanoke on the Saturday morning after Christmas--we're not missing it, exactly, but it still kind of feels like we're missing it. The Christmas festivals in downtown Roanoke will be done and high school friends will be packing up to go back to their homes away from home by the time we get into town.

Three days ago I fell asleep thinking about Minneapolis and woke up the next morning positively melancholy over it. I've seen my parents and my brother and my friends so much since we moved back to the East coast, but living far away absolutely had a romantic quality to it. It's complicated because constantly booking flights and missing people are two things I was thrilled to be saying goodbye to, but the coziness of winter in Minnesota coupled with daydreams of Going Home For The Holidays is already very sentimental for me. I go back and forth constantly.

My hope is to land somewhere beyond what comes across as ungratefulness or an irritating obsession with all things nostalgic and start being grateful for the blessings that are so very present in my life all the time. Because I have more good things in my life than I can even count. And I will be home for Christmas.

May your days be merry and bright.

Two weeks ago, I shared a link to a reader survey and I spent a lot of time with your answers. I responded in part with this post, but wanted to share a bit about what I learned from what you all had to say about my blog. It felt odd to gather your input and then not share what I was doing with it, so in the spirit of transparency and in an effort to do better, I'm writing this now.

First of all, I want to thank every one of you who took the time to answer and give me your feedback. My readers are so important to me and I really care about your thoughts and opinions. In general, the survey results reflected mostly sweet, reassuring, and positive responses about my writing, recipes, and personality; but there were definitely some negative reviews--mostly about the number of sponsored posts I've taken on in the past months.

I'm not someone who seeks out constructive criticism and then gets their feelings hurt about it, so I found a ton of value in the negative comments. My plans and goals for the next year have been strongly influenced by the things you didn't like in 2014. So here's where I am now: I hear you. But I feel like I'm at a crossroads. Blogging is fun, I think I'm good at it, it makes me happy, and I'm finally at the point where I'm earning enough money that I feel self-employed.

I want you to know that even though I take on a lot at times, I often do say no to things--there are plenty of brands out there that wouldn't be a great fit for Freckled Italian and I turn those down. But I will admit that this year, as my earnings grew, I got more and more ambitious about what was next. Ambition can be good and bad, of course, and now I'm ready to take a step back and do some reevaluating.

I will continue to work with brands because it's part of what I do, but in 2015, I will absolutely be taking on less sponsors and focusing on getting back to writing--getting back to the things you used to love about Freckled Italian. People also said they miss the once more frequent personal posts, and would like to see more things about marriage, friendship, and family. I would like to see that too, and sharing more from the heart is my main goal for 2015.

So what can you expect from Freckled Italian in the new year? Openness and much more writing. More photos, food, and entertaining. Exciting brand collaborations. More recipes and personal style posts. A YouTube channel. Hopefully some fun trips. And maybe a dog!

Thank you so much for reading this blog. It truly means the world to me and I have nothing but love for all of you.