We had a lovely holiday season – the usual whirlwind tour of Southern Ontario visiting, which I both love and hate, combined with lots of fun gifts, delicious treats, and family Rock Band time.

A friend of mine did a decade-summary on Instagram and I thought it was such a nice way to wrap up this year (although technically 2020 is the last year of the decade, but let us not be pedantic, even though it is an essential part of my personality).

Here’s mine:

2010 – Took the kids to Disney for the first time; went to my sister’s wedding; first ever Summer of Awesome; turned 40 and had a Pie Party to celebrate.

2011 – The youngest started kindergarten, giving me 2 hours of free time every weekday, so of course I was bored and started my own web design business.

2012 – This was the year I got serious about writing, by joining my awesome writing group with two other ladies who are worth their weight in diamonds. I sold some writing, for cash, for the first time this year. Also: second family trip to Disney; the youngest started Grade 1 so I now had six hours of work time per day, which felt luxurious; got bifocals, which felt old.

2013 – Epic family journey to PEI and New Brunswick. This was also the first year I tried downhill skiing. I wouldn’t say I love it, but it did change my whole attitude towards winter and now weekends at the ski hill are a regular thing for all five of us.

2014 – Finished the basement, which was the first really big Thing We Did To Our House, making us feel all grown up.

2015 – Epic family journey to Alberta, featuring Calgary, Drumheller, Banff, and Jasper. Also took a week-long trip to tour around Toronto and see the stuff we never get to see while visiting family. Crashed a Taylor Swift concert. Tenth anniversary of my monthly (ish) Ladies’ Poker Game. Won my first writing contest.

2016 – Celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary. Won a couple more writing contests. The oldest turned 13 so he started sitting in the front seat, which was weird.

2017 – Third family trip to Florida, this one featuring Disney and Universal, and guest appearances by my sister and her husband. Published my book of short stories, Ten At The Wedding. Joined Girl Guides as unit leader for my youngest kid. Attended all the Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa. Started writing for MediaSmarts. Also: became the parent of a high schooler, astonishingly.

2018 – Great Wolf Lodge trip; more Girl Guiding; more skiing. Tenth anniversary of the annual Christmas Advent Calendar of Activities. Got a new roof on the house. Decided to embrace getting older and let my grey hair grow out.

2019 – A quiet year – quit Girl Guides, spent most of the restored free time working and figuring out if I still know how to write. Tenth anniversary of my annual World Trivia Night team. Got a new furnace despite our plans to not do that for a few more years yet.

This list could not have been compiled without the help of the thousands of photos I have taken throughout the years. Never let anyone tell you that you should be “living life, not watching it through a viewfinder” or any such nonsense. These are how my memories are preserved; this is how my life continues to live. I wish I had a few thousand more.

Resolved for 2020: more photos, more adventures, more living life – and recording it, too.