Watching the sun set on 2025  Photo by Marta Sitkowska on Unsplash

’Tis the time of the yearly recap, the year-in-review post, and a look back at 2025’s highs and lows. Sort of the Christmas letter of the blogging world! Wait, don’t click away—I promise this won’t be a recitation of accomplishments that makes you feel bad about yourself. Quite the opposite.

Some people have long lists of goals and accomplishments to share in their recap posts. Not me, at least not this year. Mainly because I didn’t set any major goals in 2025. Basically, I just wanted to get unpacked and settled, and allow myself to recover from the multiple stresses of the past two years. At the beginning of 2025, I was simply too burned out to set any goals or take on any projects. It felt really, really weird. And it feels weird to not have much to show for 2025, which was mostly a quieter, less stressful year, with one big exception. 

Tending the soil

As I wrote in “You Cannot Always Be Harvesting”: “Just as in gardening, in writing, in other creative endeavors—even in life itself, there must be times of planting, feeding, nurturing, even lying fallow.” 

I would call 2025 a year of preparing the soil. Digging out the rocks, adding compost, and yes, allowing some areas to lie fallow. Much of my time and energy was consumed by unpacking and getting settled after our move, and organizing and supervising multiple home projects. I was also responsible for prepping and maintaining our old home while it was being shown.

While 2025’s harvest wasn’t particularly impressive, I can see a few tender shoots pushing through the soil. Smaller accomplishments I can build on in the coming year.

I didn’t take any big trips, but I did go on a beach weekend getaway with my husband, our first in literally years.

I didn’t immerse myself in art journaling, but I did resume regular sketching in my France sketchbook, in person and virtually.

I didn’t “get in shape,” but I did start a new at-home workout plan to get into the habit of doing something physical nearly every day. I wanted to get this habit in place before a new year started, and so far, I’ve been mostly sticking with it.

I tried to hold on to my word of the year, ease, through all the ups and downs of 2025, which was not easy, especially when I wound up immersed in grief, again, with the loss of my horse. 

I still pursued simple pleasures and everyday adventures, and I posted more regularly on Catching Happiness, which always makes me happy. Not a flashy year, 2025, but a solid one.

Hopes for 2026

What’s ahead for 2026? I feel more grounded, less scattered, and more capable of dreaming and planning. Grief is still with me (I suspect it always will be), but it’s a passenger—it’s not driving the bus. I do plan to set some specific goals for 2026, though I’m not completely sure what they are yet. I’m planning to use the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day to reflect and come up with some possibilities. I’ll likely turn to Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year or Jamie Varon’s Year in Review to continue reviewing 2025 and get a start on planning 2026. (Both are free, and I have no affiliation with them—I just appreciate their work.) 

As always, thank you for sharing another year with me and Catching Happiness. May the last week of 2025 be filled with much joy and fun plans for the future!

What have been some of the highlights of your year? Any special plans for 2026?

Getting ready for holiday fun!

Last year at this time, we were unpacking after our move and were still recovering from Hurricane Milton. I couldn’t think about winter fun or hosting Christmas without bursting into tears. This year, I’m looking forward to it! I’m also looking forward to experiencing more fun in general…at least until the next home renovation project starts. 

But before I get to winter fun, here’s a quick review of my fall fun list. I was able to check off most of the items:

Put together a fall themed jigsaw puzzle like this one. Finished.

Enjoy watching Lightning hockey and Buccaneers football on TV. I like sports and use them to bond with family members. I’m excited that I can finally watch Lightning games after being unable to for a couple of years since the team changed the company that airs their games locally.  Yes! Go Bolts and Bucs!

I forgot all about the Hillsborough County Fair, and I still haven’t managed persimmon cookies. However, I did bake pumpkin bread and pumpkin scones.

After watching planner videos, I abandoned the one I was planning to buy because I fell in love with the cover of this planner. One of my past favorites came from Archer & Olive, so I expect to love using this one.

Enjoy the annual The Girl Next Door fall extravaganza podcast. These two are so much fun to listen to, and I love their annual look at all things fall. Done.

Ease back into visits to the barn. No horse can ever replace Tank, but I still love horses and am lucky enough to have access to them through my friend who owns the barn where Tank lived. I want to start going there now and then to get my horse fix. Resuming regular visits to the barn has been hard, but I’m sticking with it.

I’ve ordered the photos for my album of special Tank photos, but haven’t yet put it together.

Continue and expand my art education and practice through regular sketching, art journaling, and using the art instruction books I have. I want to do artsy things most days of the week. I am doing some art, just not as much as I want to do. A work in progress.

Participate in Positively Present’s annual Gratitude Challenge (link is to last year’s challenge). I participated as many days as I could. Not as many as I would have liked, but oh, well. 

I didn’t read much from my fall reading list, just The Thirteenth Tale, by Diana Setterfield, and I’ve started The Small and the Mighty, by Sharon McMahon. I’m still waiting for my turn with the new Thursday Murder Club mystery, The Impossible Fortune.

I didn’t get around to reading  The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandan, Lauryn Harper Falls Apart, by Shauna Robinson, or September, by Rosamunde Pilcher. I also didn’t get around to Keys to Drawing, by Bert Dodson, or Carolly Erickson’s To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette. They’re all still on the TBR list for someday!

On to holiday/winter fun

Host Christmas for our local family.

I’ve got another puzzle lined up to start after Christmas.

Brunch at Oxford Exchange with M. A holiday tradition.

Bake molasses sugar cookies to eat and give as gifts.

I want to take some field trips, maybe to The Book Rescuers and/or The Paperback Exchange, and this citrus U-Pick farm.

Continue making friends with new horses at my old barn, taking advantage of our nice winter weather.

Visit Bok Tower Gardens again, hopefully before the “Dream Weaver: Tales from the Trees” event finishes. 

Hopefully, this is just the start of winter fun. The future also holds some travel planning, working around another major home renovation we want to do in 2026.

What winter fun do you have planned?

Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

I love giving gifts. It’s fun to think about what my friends and family enjoy doing, or would love to have but wouldn’t buy for themselves. Finding something the recipient will really love brings me great joy.

But giving gifts is not always about things, or even experiences. Instead of a list of stuff to buy, here are four gifts that cost nothing at all and take up no room (these gifts relate to how we treat others, but we can offer them to ourselves, too):

1. Time. We’re all so busy that it’s easy to get caught up in what we have to do. Make sure spending time with friends and family makes our to-do list. The next time a friend wants to get together for lunch or a parent asks us to come for a visit, make it happen. Zig Ziglar was right when he wrote, “Spend time with those you love. One of these days you will say either, ‘I wish I had’ or ‘I’m glad I did.’”

2. Attention. Somehow our world of constant online connection has made us more disconnected than ever. We can give the gift of attention by putting our phones away, looking others in the eye, and listening to what they’re saying without interrupting or trying to hurry them along.

3. Kindness. It’s really not that difficult to be kind. All it takes is a little self-control, a little putting-ourselves-in-others’-shoes. We can start by thinking before we speak (or type). (Click here to read “10 Ways to Spread Kindness.”) 

4. Patience. Yesterday in the grocery store parking lot, I saw a guy honk at the car in front of him because the driver didn’t immediately pull forward the second my foot left the crosswalk. Don’t be that guy. Take a breath, slow down, realize we’re all dealing with our own challenges and being impatient only makes us all more frustrated.

I know this is a frustrating, anxious, difficult time to be alive. Let’s try to make it better by giving these gifts to our loved ones—and everyone else—this holiday season.

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

In the whirlwind that was November, I failed to mention a milestone: Catching Happiness’ 16^th anniversary! Sixteen years is an odd milestone to highlight, but last year’s 15^th anniversary came and went unnoticed because I was so completely immersed in both hurricane cleanup and moving/selling our house. 

During the past 16 years and 3,000+ posts, I’ve experienced and shared many highs and lows, simple pleasures and everyday adventures, and I’ve learned a ton about happiness in general, as well as what makes me personally happy. In my very first post, I wrote: “What I hope to do is add a little to the world’s store of positive things: information, beauty, entertainment… I’ll try to balance posts that will help you get to know me, with posts that (hopefully) help you learn something new, make you smile or say, ‘I didn’t know that.’”

Through all these years, my purpose has never changed, and I’m proud of the body of work stored on the pages of Catching Happiness.

So in no particular order, here are 16 things I’ve learned from studying and writing about happiness (click links to see posts I’ve written related to these lessons):

1. It’s OK to be happy…even if others aren’t. 

2. Sometimes happiness doesn’t “feel” happy. Sometimes you have to endure discomfort or make sacrifices for happiness in the future or to do what you believe is right. (See next lesson.)

3. Single-mindedly pursuing feeling happy isn’t the goal. That can actually make you unhappy. 

4. Despite number 3, there are things you can do to make it more likely you’ll be happy. You can set yourself up for a better chance at happiness. 

5. You can get better at happiness by practicing. 

6. Happiness is individual—what makes you happy might not make me happy, and vice versa.

7. You can simultaneously experience happiness and [insert negative emotion, such as grief, anger, and so on]. Two things can be true. 

8. The goal isn’t to avoid negative emotions at all costs, but to provide a foundation of happiness that supports you through hard times. 

9. Making others happy makes you happy. Making yourself happy makes others happy. 

10. We don’t have enough fun. 

11. Experiencing deep sadness can expand your capacity for happiness. 

12. The most important factor for happiness is cultivating good relationships. 

13. The term “happiness” encompasses a number of definitions and nuances. 

14. You don’t have to pursue extraordinary experiences to feel happy—much happiness comes from the simple and ordinary.

15. Sometimes, happiness is a choice. 

16. Happiness sometimes involves forgetting and letting go.

A lot has changed in my life since I started Catching Happiness, but I still love thinking and learning about ways to live a happier, more satisfying life—and sharing what I find with you. Big thanks to all of you who spend your precious time with me—I appreciate your comments more than you know! 

Photo by Jovan Vasiljević on Unsplash

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

—G.K. Chesterton