The week between Christmas and New Year's Eve is always a weird one--busy but slow with long to-do lists and automatic out-of-office email responses. The flurry of shopping and gift wrapping is over and we have a few days to catch our breath before the celebrations kick up again one last time. I kind of like it when I'm forced to slow down and take things as they come each day, even though most times it's a lot more challenging for me than it may seem at first.

We spent the weekend in Roanoke, drinking cocktails and seeing old friends and holding new babies. It was the perfect way to round out the holiday season. Now I'm looking forward to spending a few days reflecting on another year and looking ahead at what's to come in 2015.

2014 was the year that Rob and I began our marriage. I was 25 years old and everything was beautiful and our friends and family were there and walking up to him on that May afternoon was one of the happiest moments of my life. We laughed and cried and vowed to love each other in sickness and in health, and then we hugged everyone and drank champagne.

2014 was the year I lived through a winter in Minnesota and immediately looked back after it was over to realize that I had thrived there. I made new friends and worked for myself and set goals that I met and then exceeded. Then we moved to North Carolina and I struggled with the idea of calling Charlotte "home." I still have mixed feelings about it but Rob is here and I believe in the magic of home is wherever I'm with you.

2014 was one of the happiest years of my life so far, but there were awkward moments of transition, sadness, and even despair. Over the past few months I have finally learned to let go of the things that used to keep me up at night--the ones I can't control. Life is full of a little bit of everything, isn't it? I don't always succeed, but I do my best to make the most of what's in front of me. And I get better at it every day.

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Rob and I are back in Charlotte for a few days of work before we head to Richmond on New Year's Eve to spend the holiday with my brother and our friends Tina and Michael. I've been looking forward to this party since we missed it last year in Minneapolis. Being within driving distance of so many people we love was one of the main things that made this move to Charlotte so exciting, and I have every intention of taking full advantage of that this year.

Wishing you a wonderful final Monday of 2014. Happy New Year, friends! It's almost here.

Photo by V.A. Photography, last year (more here and here).

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.