It’s all over but the fireworks. The presents are opened. The menorah is put away. The Christmas carols are almost off the air.
There are just a few hours left of 2025. How did you do on your goals? Are you celebrating accomplishments or simply the survival of another year?
I’m doing both.
I finished and published the last book in my Oregon Chronicles series, A Life of Joy. The fictional McDougalls and Pershings will have to move on without me. And I think they will move on in my mind and heart. Occasionally, I think of one of the peripheral characters and wonder if I should write his or her story. Because all those brothers and sisters did have their own stories, even if I haven’t written them.
But I am happy to move on to another writing challenge—a new book that has captured my imagination. More about that in the months to come.
In addition to celebrating accomplishments, I am also celebrating survival. My daughter and her family had several health challenges in 2025. But now they have a second healthy daughter who is starting to scoot around, and I am blessed with two wonderful granddaughters. My sister had a serious medical scare. She recovered, but may face more treatment. My husband’s Parkinson’s Disease progressed through the year, and in mid-December he was hospitalized due to worsening symptoms and complications. I don’t know what will come next for him, and as a result, I don’t know what will come next for me.
2025 brought some of everything. Good and bad. Sickness and health. Birth and aging.
But wherever we are in life, at midnight a new year begins. A year of promise. A blank slate. And so, we celebrate.
What are you celebrating at the end of 2025 and the start of 2026?
