Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017

I can't believe Christmas 2016 is over for another year!
We had a great Christmas! We celebrated on Christmas day with my side of the family this year. We alternate celebrating Christmas day with our two families. My brothers and their wives and families drove to the Coast and we all congregated at mums. We did presents first and boy that was fun! Paper filled the lounge room, and the squeals of delight from all the kids was wonderful to hear. It was noisy, chaotic, and fun. Everyone then pulled together and got food to the table for lunch.

I think my favourite part of Christmas is watching the kids interact and open presents. They are so funny, I just love my nieces and nephews! We had a great time with hubby's side of the family on Wednesday. It was nice to have a few days between family Christmas events.

We are now a few days out from the 1st January 2017 and so it's important to look at our high's and lows of 2016 before we say hello to 2017. I can't say hi to a new year without a quick look at the year in the rearview mirror.

2016 was a big year politically here with our election, but also in America with Donald Trump becoming the new President elect, and of course Brexit. This year we have seen quite a few celebrities pass on and while this has been a surprise and shock to their huge fan base, life does keep on moving forward. Life doesn't stop. My only wish in all that was said and done this year is that the war in Syria and surrounding countries could have been stopped - I feel quite sad for all the people - men, women and children who were killed unnecessarily.

2016 for our family began before I was ready for it, and it sped by faster than I wanted it too. It as a good year overall, and I would like to share with you some of our highs and lows.

So here we go!

What is.....

1. The best thing that happened over the last 7 days?Well I think I love the lead up to Christmas. I love how excited the kids get about Christmas.
2. My most loved moment of 2016?This is a hard question to answer because we have had lots of great moments over the last twelve months. We celebrated the end of each term with a weekend down on the Gold Coast, and a mid year holiday on the Gold Coast. We feel that this last year was one of our best. I feel that our most recent holiday on the Gold Coast, staying at the Q1, would have to be my most loved moment for 2016. The girls had a great homeschooling year overall and Jaden completed prep.
3. The biggest lesson I've learned in 2016?To live and love big. To always choose the bigger life, be present and to not freak out over those things that you have absolutely no control over. If you are wondering what it means to always choose a bigger life, it simply means that we should make decisions based on life quality and life experience . We only live once. Our children are only children for a short time, and I want our life experience together to be fun and memorable. I believe in celebrating the small wins as well as the big wins in our family, and trying to learn something from the dud moments. Life is short - make lots of memories with our family while we can.
4. The favourite podcast I've listened to this year? I have two absolute favourite podcasts that I listen to. Happier with Gretchen Rubin, and Straight and Curly (Kelly Exeter and Carly Jacobs). I don't think I have a favourite episode because I always find something I needed to hear in their podcasts.
5. My favourite blog post for the year?

   How to make yourself a Priority and The Intentional Mother are probably my two favourite blog posts from mischieviousmum.com.

6. My favourite meal and restaurant of 2016? At the moment my favourite meal is a burrito bowl at a Tex Mex. Yummy pulled beef, seasoned with a chunky salsa, black beans, avocado, a dash of sour cream, a couple of corn chips on brown rice. Oh my goodness - YUM!
7. The hardest moment of 2016?Hardest moment this year was in March when a family member was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Motor Neurone Disease. Its quite a despicable disease.

   If you were to do a summary of your 2016, what would it look like? I'd particularly like to hear what you learned this year.