In The Tradition

There is a tradition that some people do each Christmas called The Christmas Letter.  It is a letter that is included in the Christmas cards sent out to friends and family.  It gives a brief update on the family and narrates some of the events of the past year.  While I do send the Christmas cards, I have never included a letter in it.  However, I used to have a blog on MySpace and as part of it, I wrote an annual Week After New Year’s Letter.  I would include a rundown of important issues and events for my past year, along with a list a goals for the upcoming year.  I wanted to start something similar in this new blog.  Instead of trying to cover everything, I picked five things from the past year that stand out in my mind and one thing for the upcoming year that I am excited to start.

Five 2015 Highlights

Graduation:  In May, I walked in the graduation ceremony for the MBA program at Longwood University.  I actually finished the program in the summer of 2014 and received my diploma that fall.  However, Longwood only does commencement once a year, so my class did not walk until May of 2015.  Six of the nine graduates in my cohort came back to participate in the ceremony.  I had the highest GPA in the program, so I was honored to carry the banner for the School of Business and Economics in the processional.  After the ceremony, there was a small reception on the university lawn where I was able visit with my friends and professors from the program one last time.  It was great to have one last get together before we all go our separate ways in life.  I have my doubts about whether I will see anyone again, but I enjoyed their company while I was in the program.

Blog:  Also in May, I started this blog.  I have already written blogs about my purpose for writing one (see Welcome to My Blog posted 5/6/2015) and a follow up on how it was coming along (see Six-Month Check-In posted 11/4/2015), so I do not want to spend too much focus on it here.  Writing is something that I want to make a bigger part of my life though, so I am really happy that I started the blog project and I have hopes that it will improve over the coming year.

Work:  This past year has been volatile when it comes to work.  We have reorganized the department, changing the overall structure of which director is over which tasks.  We have lost two managers and one senior accountant that have made the reorganization that much harder.  In addition, there has been a major software upgrade started and a year-end business acquisition that have been adding more confusion and work.  I have only been in my supervisor position for a little over a year, so I have had to take all the changes at the same time I have been trying to learn my new responsibilities.  Much of the year has been very uncomfortable for me.  It is a lot of new things to incorporate in my workday without much guidance from my boss who is also overwhelmed with new projects.  Despite the rather rocky year, I actually feel better about my job at the end of the year than I did at the beginning.  I have managed to delegate enough things to my staff that I do not feel quite so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks.  Also, I have received a confidence boost from a good performance review and some recent compliments I have received from the controller.

Trips:  This has not been my most exciting year for travel and entertainment, but I did manage to squeeze in a few things over the year.  The big vacation of the year was the trip to Seattle in August.  We were there a week, visiting with my husband’s cousins and seeing all the major tourist attractions.  I also took a couple smaller trips to see family and friends.  I went home to PA for my sister’s birthday in June and for Christmas.  I went to my friend’s house in late September for a picnic that I enjoy every year.  I visited with another friend in Maryland a couple of times, seeing her new house and exploring downtown Frederick.  The same friend and I also met once in Leesburg, VA where we enjoyed a small festival as well as sampled Pittsburgh Rick’s (an awesome restaurant that makes sandwiches like the Pittsburgh icon Primanti Brothers).  Finally, I made several trips into DC this year, almost all to see ballets at the Kennedy Center.

Kitties:  I finally adopted some kitty cats.  I have wanted to have cats for a while now, but kept putting it off.  I wanted to wait until we bought our own place, and then I wanted to wait until we were more settled into the new house.  Over the summer, we had a short visit from my in-laws’ cat while they were moving.  Drifter was not the friendliest cat, but it increased my desire to have one of my own.  In October, we took the plunge, and the cats have been with us now for almost three months.  They are perfect.  They mostly get along with each other, and everyone in the house.  They mostly stay out of trouble, only occasionally getting into food that they should not be eating.  They enjoy some cuddle time with me, but I do not find them too clingy.  And most importantly, they are perfectly litter-trained and rarely throw up.  I just hope they continue to be the perfect cats.

One Upcoming 2016 Event

Front Room:  This is part goal, part exciting project.  We have never put together the front room, despite moving here almost two years ago.  All our living room furniture went into the finished basement along with all the electronics.  The front room has just become a harbor for all the junk in the house.  There are boxes of stuff that need to be sorted and emptied.  My desk has been moved into a corner where I do use it, but it has never been properly organized and has also accumulated too much junk.  The front room just has never been my priority, as I wanted to get the kitchen organized (it mostly is) and the furnace replaced (it is) first.  Now, I am finally ready to focus on the front room.  It needs to be cleared, painted, furnished, and decorated.  Thus, my goal for this year is to make the front room a livable place in which I would be proud to entertain guests.

There you have it, my first Annual Letter.  I hope 2015 was a good year, and I hope 2016 is even better for all of you.

See you next week!