New Year’s is probably my least favorite holiday of the year. I find the hype surrounding the new year to be trite, trivial, and full of tired tropes (like the making and breaking of new year’s resolutions or the idea that the mere changing of the calendar year is a good enough reason to feel hopeful about the coming of a better world). I don’t think it works like that though I wish it did. So, while I’m not a big fan of New Year’s, I am very much a fan of those two and a half weeks each year – approximately the 21st of December through the 6th of January of each year – that offer a healthy respite from work, the kids’ schools, and the daily routines and obligations that make our modern lives what they are.

It’s good to take a break from the daily grind. To rest, if only for a week or two, in the cold of a Colorado winter (though no longer the winters I remember having as a child), spending quality time with family and friends while catching up on sleep, eating, reading, or even beginning the massive undertaking of re-watching Game of Thrones like my husband decided to do around Christmastime. He’s already halfway through season 3.

But all good things must come to an end. My respite officially ended today with the girls heading back to school. But unofficially, my respite is still going. As most Colorado photographers will tell you, January through March are slow months indeed. So, I’m going to continue to rest, recharge the battery, and get ready to start grad school in a couple of weeks.

Wishing you and yours the very best in 2025.