2024. What a year it’s been. I cannot claim it’s been my favorite year. There have been a lot of hardships in these almost 12 months. But goodness has there been so much growth and blessings in all of it.

The countdown to the end of 2024 is upon us, and as we’re rapidly reaching 2025, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the year. This year was one of stretching. Of finding contentment in the hardships, seeking peace in the storms, and being brave in each day. I cannot claim to have handled it all with grace and courage, but God is ever faithful and patient, and I have been so blessed with patient, loving friends and family. As we come to the end of this year, rough though it was, I am overcome with thankfulness and don’t want to forget any of it.

So join me, friends, as I settle in and take some time to reflect on all the highlights that were 2024.

2024 RECAP

FAVORITE ENTERTAINMENT

Truth be told, it was a woefully slow year as far as reading and watching new shows/movies. I spent a lot of my free time more creating and spending time talking with friends, which I am not sad about one bit. But I did still make some time for other stories, so here are my favorites from the year!

Favorite Reads

BREAK THE BEAST
by Allison Tebo

This story. Break the Beast is a retelling of Beowulf with a delightful twist of telling the story through the point-of-view of a female Grendel. I barely even know where to begin. It’s one of those stories you have to experience, and what an experience it is. It starts off with a bang and carries you through heartache and action and disaster and healing. The allegorical threads of our beastly nature being stripped away so we may be made a new creature by our Savior are impacting and flow so naturally throughout the story. Every page, every beautiful, sharp word, cuts straight to the heart, making the reader bleed, only for the story to pour salve into the wound and fuel the heart with a passionate fire. From exciting battles to heart-wrenching losses to great beams of hope shooting through the darkness, this story broke me and put me back together again, and it will stay with me for a long, long time.

THE WINDWARD KING
by K.T. Ivanrest

This book instantly went on my top favorites list. It’s about Shara, a timid shapeshifter who, in a series of many stumbling and unfortunate events, finds himself having to pose as the king after the real king is mysteriously abducted. Dear shy, awkward Shara with severe self-worth issues does not exactly feel equipped to take on such a position, to put it lightly. How do I even describe this story? It is cozy and whimsical and witty and fun. As someone who also struggles with self-worth, I related to dear, poor Shara to a deep level and was rooting for him every step of the way. Then we have Korith, the enthusiastic young man Shara ends up befriending who may push Shara a little too hard sometimes but whose faith in his friend is a beautiful thing. The true gem of this story was the friendship between these two. I love me a good bromance, and my goodness, this is one of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of finding in literature. The core of the story was the friendship between Shara and Korith, and it made me so happy. There was next to no romance, all family-friendly, and the whole style was just a delight from start to finish. It’s one of those books that became a happy place for me. I could go on and on and on about how much I adored every single page of this book, but basically: read it! It was funny and heartwarming and had beautiful messages that were never heavyhanded and the characters were utterly lovable. I just— I adored it so much!

Favorite TV Shows

ATTACK ON TITAN

It took exactly two years, but I finished my big watch-through of this anime with my friend Josiah back in March and— *collapses from feels* I truly believe this was one of the best-written stories I’ve ever experienced. From thoughtfully asking big moral questions and portraying both sides to every argument to the realistic and powerful character motivations and arcs to the absolutely insane plot twists, it was brilliant from start to finish. And also tore my heart out. But, like, in a good way. I really want to do a rewatch and take notes, because THIS is how good stories are told. There were no filler episodes and no “side” characters. Every single person and moment had purpose and made an impact and every action made sense due to the characters’ motivations. Shout-out to Josiah for introducing me to this one. This show is an experience and will stay with me forever.

Warning: This one gets violent and extremely dark and has some language. So it’s not one I’d recommend to everyone.

PUSHING DAISIES

Oh, this show. It’s about Ned, a piemaker who has a special ability—he can touch dead things and bring them back to life. Except there are some Rules to this ability. 1) If he touches them again, they die permanently. 2) If the dead person/creature/plant/etc. is alive for more than 1 minute, another person or creature or thing of about the same type nearby will die. A life for a life. When the love of Ned’s life, Charlotte Charles a.k.a. “Chuck”, dies he can’t stop himself from bringing her back to life, but that means another person dies and she and Ned can never touch or she will die permanently. For a show about death, this is the quirkiest, most whimsical series. It’s set in modern times but told like a fairy tale. Ned and Chuck are just the most adorable couple to exist and the story is not afraid to explore the moral questions it brings up, but all while keeping things cute and light. Also, it stars Lee Pace as the most adorkable piemaker. So. You know. What more do you need? 🙈 Alas, it was canceled after only 2 seasons, but despite some loose threads never being solved it did end on a fairly satisfying note.

Warning: Unfortunately, it’s not the cleanest show. There are some suggestive themes and dialogue all throughout and sexual situations and a touch of language.

RINGS OF POWER

After struggling to find a new show to binge, I caved and decided to give Rings of Power a fair chance. Well. WELL. I ended up adoring it. Maybe this show isn’t always perfectly canon to Tolkien’s world, but it really does respect the heart of Tolkien’s stories. Family and friendship and deep love and loyalty and fighting against the darkness to spread the light, no matter the obstacles, carry the heart and soul of every character and scene. Not to mention it’s visually stunning with a gorgeous soundtrack and some truly phenomenal acting. It’s been a while since a newly made show has utterly captured me and felt refreshing, but this one did it. Alas, Galadriel wasn’t my favorite, but ALL the other characters stole my heart. Dear Nori and her endless hope and optimism and wonder, Elrond’s faith and belief in friendship, Arondir doing what he must even in the midst of aching heartbreak, Durin’s fight and determination, Elendil’s unmatched loyalty, that arc of Celebrimbor. 😭 It was all beautiful. It’s also SO nice to have an epic fantasy show that’s not riddled with content. I’ve been craving something like this ever since BBC’s Merlin ended. We need more family-friendly fantasy shows! I am hooked and anxiously await S3.

Favorite Movies

WONKA

I would honestly not have expected this to be on my list of favorite movies seen this year. When it was announced, I was less than enthused. It looked kind of silly and I questioned Timothée Chalamet being able to pull off the fun quirkiness of Willy Wonka. WELL. All my misgivings were hurled out the window. This movie was a DELIGHT and Chalamet blew it out of the water. He played an adorable, utterly fun Wonka that felt true to Gene Wilder’s portrayal, and the overall feel of the movie was whimsical and visually pleasing and wonderfully quirky, everything you’d hope for with a Willy Wonka film. It had heart too. I genuinely got choked up a couple of times. It was an overall good family film and I’m so glad I gave it a chance.

DAMSEL

This one I did have hopes for. I mean, a dark fairy tale and a DRAGON?? Two of my favorite things. And it ended up even better than I anticipated. This is one of those stories I wish I could experience for the first time all over again. It drew me in from the beginning with its gorgeous fantasy visuals, seemingly a magical fairy tale only to get more and more eerie as the story goes on. It was such a me story. The cast was great (Millie Bobby Brown always nails it), the storyline focused and straightforward and engaging, the visuals stunning—just a good movie all around. It was fairly intense and violent, but otherwise refreshingly free of other types of content. I was so happy to have a pretty and epic fantasy film. We need more pleaseandthankyou.

WRITING LIFE

FIRST DRAFTED A REGENCY COLLAB STORY // I’ve talked a bit before about some giant collabs I’m working on with two of my besties/co-writers. These things are still entirely in the works, and for the first three months of the year, we poured ourselves into getting a rough first draft of one of our stories down. It was a magical time, and I’m so excited to return to this beloved sprawling Regency story we have. We have so many plans for it!

CREATED A HOMEBREW TTRPG STORY TO GM // After falling down the roleplaying rabbit hole these past couple of years, this year I braved up and tried my hand at gamemastering a game…and completely homebrewing the entire thing. And my goodness. Though it has been work, possibly the biggest storytelling project I’ve tackled, it is also one of the most fun, fulfilling creative things I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing. Watching my players bring my weird story and world to life is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and I am addicted. This dark fantasy about a sentient house and lots of stabby characters has turned into possibly one of my favorite stories I’ve ever been a part of. My players and I don’t just do sessions live via video chat, but we do a lot of actual writing as well with our RPGs, and I felt myself grow so much as a writer with this story. It was a much needed escape during a tough year, and I so look forward to seeing where this story takes us next.

HOSTED THREE FICFRENZY EVENTS // Another full year of Fiction Frenzy virtual writing events took place! This was the third year since this virtual writing challenge launched, and it’s continuing to grow. I feel so blessed to have this group and space to gather together to motivate one another to make progress on our WIPs. It is such a joy to host. Though I didn’t get to participate too heavily in the spring and summer events, I dove full-in on the big fall event and made so many memories writing with my FicFriends! I am already looking forward to the next event. (And pst, the Discord server is open year-round and the seasonal events will be returning for 2025. So if you want to jump in, you can find the details HERE!)

WROTE 100K WORDS OF UNWIND THE SHADOW // For the fall event of FicFrenzy, I dove into drafting a new story, my magical Regency Cinderella reimagining, Unwind the Shadows. This was pretty big as I had never written historical fantasy before, but after working on a big Regency story with my co-writers, I felt prepared to write a fantasy with a Regency twist. And it was SUCH fun combining my usual fantasy flare with a historical setting. This story has some Christine trademarks with a much different type of setting than I usually do, and I loved it. I cannot wait to dive back into it come January and see where this story takes me next.

A lot of writing happened this year. Somehow the year I felt called to take things slower ended up having possibly one of my biggest wordcounts I’ve ever done in a year, and yet so much of it barely felt like work. It’s been a lesson for me—often we create our best work when we’re not pushing or putting tons of pressure on ourselves and instead just going back to our roots of writing for fun. You never know what magic you will create when you just let loose and have fun with your writing again.

I have so many hopes and goals and dreams for my stories in the future. But right now I’m just having fun creating again and knowing God will use it all in due time.

LIFE & LESSONS OF 2024

Goodness, where do I begin?

I have a congenital heart defect, a malformed mitral valve, essentially, and though it’s been an issue my whole life, last year, my health declined quite a bit. Over time, the damage to my mitral valve had gone from moderate to severe. I was told it was as damaged as it could get. So…not great. *nervous laughter* There was really no choice in the matter: I was going to have to have surgery to get it fixed. Though it was so damaged it couldn’t really be repaired but would have to be replaced.

I had major heart surgery when I was not quite 2 years old, but, blessedly, had not had to have surgery since. And though I certainly wasn’t looking forward to facing surgery, my health got to the point where I was more than willing to go through with it to get better.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t an easy process. There were tests to be had and insurance to be dealt with (which was a whole thing) and schedules to work around, all the while I was on the struggle bus. Lots of fatigue and never feeling like I was getting enough oxygen. It severely slowed me down this year on just about everything, and I felt like the majority of the year was just surviving more than anything.

But come summer, the date was finally set. On July 19th, I had the tissue of my damaged mitral valve replaced with pig tissue. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were complications during surgery that caused some sort of blockage and resulted in me, just a couple of days after the surgery, having to have another minor surgery to have a pacemaker put in permanently. As I had no idea this was even something that would happen, it took…time to process and adjust to. The hope, of course, was that surgery would all go smoothly and in a few months I’d be feeling better than I ever have. That hasn’t exactly been the case, and getting accustomed to a pacemaker inside my body has been quite the adjustment. Healing, also, has been a very slow process and I haven’t been the most patient with myself.

For a while there, I felt so ashamed. God had gotten me through surgery, and yet I was acting ungrateful, depressed even, in the midst of it and the weeks afterward. But I realized I wasn’t letting myself process it all. Over time, it hit me that just because I need to process and grieve the hardships I went through, some I’m still enduring, does not take away from my gratefulness to be on the other side. It is a vulnerable thing to admit, but I’ve been learning that it is not a weakness to feel hard things. If we continuously push them back, they will build up over time and just get worse. But there can be joy in the midst of them.

Mourning and praising can coincide.

This year has been a year of learning patience with myself. I like to be doing and am very future-minded, and it’s hard when my body isn’t fit for doing All The Things my mind is all antsy to move forward on.

But there is purpose in every season. This year was not a year to do big things like grow my writing platform or publish books, it was a year to work toward healing for my body so I can work toward those goals. It was a year of being put through the fires so I will come out stronger and be more prepared for the difficulties life brings. It was not just a year of physical turmoil, but emotional as well, and though I’ve failed time and time again, God has been working in me through it all.

God wastes nothing.

As I sit here and look back on the year, it’s so easy to think I failed. My workaholic, goal-oriented self looks at everything I did and all the many things I didn’t do, and just wants to shake her head. But that’s putting my value and purpose in how much I’ve accomplished on a to-do list.

God has been trying to show me in these past few years that our worth doesn’t come from a checked-off to-do list at the end of the year.

Maybe I can’t check off a bunch of different things. But, instead, this year has shown me time and time again how gracious and good our Heavenly Father is, and that His hand is in everything, from big to small. It’s shown me how utterly blessed I am with friends and family. Like the day I sat on my floor, just a couple of weeks home from surgery, and cried as I sat surrounded by letters and care packages from friends and was just overcome by feeling so loved. This year has helped me learn that it’s okay to ask for help and let others care for me when I can’t, and how wonderful my family is for being here to support me. It’s taught me that it’s okay and good to take things slower and bit by bit instead of pushing through to do all or nothing (which I’m terribly prone to). And, most importantly, it’s shown me that no matter how hard life is, God is always good.

Maybe 2024 wasn’t everything I hoped it to be, but the lessons of this hard year are invaluably more important than accomplishing random checklists.

I’m still healing, I’m still learning. 2025 may be another slower year, as much as I’d love to do All The Things, but that brings me to my final point.

Every year I like to choose a word to live by for the year. For 2024, I felt called to live by a single word.

BOLD.

As I sit back and look at this insane year, I now see why. 2024 required a lot of boldness.

Bold can mean a lot of different things, but for me, it felt like a call to be courageous and not ashamed to go against the grain. I’ve had to live very boldly this year in facing hard things day to day. I’ve been trying to overcome my people-pleasing ways and speaking out when I need to, trying to learn to be more open, realizing it’s okay to live differently from the world’s set standards, to do hard things and take on big challenges and try new endeavors, and even be bold in myself by not being afraid to change my perspective of what my life “should” look like and letting go to make room for God’s plans. I’m not always the bravest person, but this year has pushed me out of my comfort zone in so many ways, and it’s taken a lot of boldness to face it all.

It really hit home when a good friend of mine said that it takes boldness to live a quiet life. Wow. That rang so deeply with me.

In this fast-paced world, it’s hard to just be still, shameful even. But God calls us often to stillness. There is meaning and fulfillment in rest and the quiet, little things. It’s in the pockets of rest that we often grow the most.

I am in a fallow season. There will be seasons of much fruit bearing. But right now, I need to let go and let my body heal, my mind grow, and be patient.

The best is yet to come.

IN CONCLUSION…

That was 2024.

It was A Year. But goodness, did God work so many things through me and I am on a path of healing and continued growth. I wish I could say there are big things coming in 2025, but as of right now, I don’t know what the year will look like. It may be another year of healing and background work. But as I said, I am in a fallow season, which means readying for a fruitful season once this time has passed. And I know good things are coming.

Before I end this, I have to give a giant THANK YOU to every single one of you. As I said before, this year showed me how loved I am. The outpouring of support and prayers and love blew me away and I just…I have no words. 😭💕 Thank you all for being here and following along on my journey. Thank you for your encouragement and messages and support and prayers. It all means more than I can ever express. I feel so grateful and so blessed.

I will be back come the new year, but I am going to take a little rest and recharge before we jump into 2025. I pray you all have a blessed December.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my friends!

I want to hear from YOU. What were your top highlights for 2024? Did we read/watch any of the same things? And as we end this year and step toward a new one, is there anything I can pray for you over? Thank you all again for being here. If there is anything you’d like to see from me come 2025, I’d love to hear about it!