Another year is in the history books, or technically, is about to be. How has 2025 been for you? While there isn’t much we can do on this very last day of the year, it is good to do a review as we begin 2026.

I have had a lot of time on my hands these past two weeks. While I had planned to be traveling, not thinking that I would be home much, that did not turn out to be the case at all. You may recall that I did not put up a Christmas tree for this reason. Life changed on us, and Mike and I both had a bad case of Pneumonia. So, for the first time ever, I was not able to travel to see our GA grandchildren on Christmas. Nor did I see much of our grandchildren who live ten minutes from us, since they, as well as we, were sick. It has been quite an unusual Christmas. Thankfully, we seem to all be well for the moment, and will be with our local grandchildren and celebrate Christmas on New Year’s Day, and will fly to GA on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with our family there. So we ended up putting up a (tabletop) tree after all. But more about that later.

With excess time on my hands, I have been doing some cleaning out of files. I came upon some important things to think about. As we end this year, perhaps these will be meaningful to you.

From a book I read long ago, It’s Not About the Coffee, a few thoughts.

1. What keeps you/me from having passion, purpose, and persistence in my/our life and work?
2. What am I about to give up on that may need a little more commitment, time, or persistence?
3. Have I/you reached an impasse when we need to change our approach?
4. We should use our principles to lead us to our next action.

If we want to have an impact, if we aspire to make a difference, then we better start doing it. Nothing is worse than wasting our life in the false comfort of inaction. This is from a book by Robert Greenleaf, The Servant Leader.

Important thoughts to think about on this very last day of 2025. While it is too late to do much about this year that is about to be a wrap, we have an entire new year to be all that we want to be, and do all that we want to do. If we start, and work through our goals, that is.

What is my goal? What is my one overarching goal for 2026? Why do I want it? How will I, and others, benefit if I accomplish it? How can I reach my goal? What is my date of intended completion? What are the action steps necessary to accomplish this goal? To be successful with this I must write it all down. Trying to keep it in my head will not work. I must commit this to writing. More about that in future posts.

Now, about our 2025 Christmas tree. When my local family (specifically MoMo and Lolly) knew that Mike and I would be in town for Christmas after all, and we did not have a Christmas tree, they brought us one! Lolly said It was MoMo’s idea, but she was in Canada for the holiday. So she enlisted Lolly to get us a tree. Lolly showed up at our front door with a partially decorated tabletop tree! It was beautiful, and still is!! I am so thankful for their thoughtfulness. I thoroughly enjoyed completing decorating the tree, and have so enjoyed having it as a bright spot while Mike and I recovered.

We also had food sent to us by daughters Tara and Chatham, and Lolly. Lolly also went to the grocery store and brought us food to keep us nourished, and sent plates of her Christmas meal to us. These gifts of time, food, and our Christmas tree made an otherwise difficult situation manageable. While being sick at Christmas was not what we had planned, when others reached out and took care of us, we felt the spirit of Christmas in tangible ways.

Goodbye to 2025, and hello to 2026. May all of your dreams come true.