The cool thing about hosting Blogmas (which is a wee bit overdue) is that I get to make all the decisions. Including how many awards to give out and to whom and when. But many of you know, I am NOT the queen of consistency.
I’m late this year but it’s not for lack of trying. And I did decide to change it up a bit.
Last year, I used the first day of Blogmas to celebrate the 10 favorite posts I wrote in 2011 because they’re not always the most popular. What I like is often different than what you like. But this year, once again, I decided to focus on something entirely different.
I decided to submit my top favorite posts from 2012.
Now, how in the world do you pick from everything that you have read? Simple. I went back to my Facebook timeline. If I read something profound enough (or funny enough) to make me specifically post a link on my personal Facebook page, then I know it’s worth promoting again for all of you to read. I can’t necessarily guarantee these are the best but these are definitely 10 posts that I enjoyed reading.
I present to you, in chronological order (and NOT by any sort of ranking), the best things I read this year.
Best Post to Make Me Feel Like My Life Is As Hard As Anybody Else’s Even Though I Only Have One Child
by Simcha Fisher at Simcha Fisher blog, National Catholic Register
How in the world did I come across this one? I have no idea. I’m not Catholic and I don’t frequent the National Catholic Register but reading this post just stuck with me, as well as with the 4.9k other people that liked it on Facebook. My favorite piece of the whole post: “‎Children are as light as air. They float past you, nudging against you like balloons as they ascend.”
To the Mother With Only One Child
The Post That Makes You Wonder Where the Strength Comes From
by Susan Niebur at Toddler Planet
Shortly before she passed away from Metastatic Breast Cancer, Susan was still blogging. She was sharing her end of life discussions that included introspection, exhaustion, love, and humor. This was the last post before her death was announced and through her words, we will never forget the spirit she embodied.
The Post That Makes Motherhood Look Like a Fairy Tale
by Kelle Hampton at Enjoying the Small Things
Anytime you mention Kelle Hampton, people always exclaim the same thing, “Oh, I love her!” I stumbled across her site a few years ago and happened upon her post about her daughter Nella, born with Down Syndrome. The words and photographs in that post were some of the most brutally honest I’ve ever read. Since then, I stop in every so often to see how Nella is doing and I’m never disappointed. This post shows the magic of a little girl’s fantasy tea party come to life.
The Political Post that Left Me Nodding in Agreement and Not Foaming at the Mouth
by Kim at GANEpossible
I found this post somehow through BlogHer (even though I’m not a regular reader of BlogHer). Perhaps it was because the post was written in March when tensions weren’t as high but I found Kim to be an awful lot like me and even supposed that perhaps she could be my BFF.
My Friends Think I’m the Only Liberal They Know. I Don’t Know What I Am.
Best Post to Give You the Guts to Fly with Three Small Children
by Jessica Shyba at Momma’s Gone City
If you’ve ever read Jessica’s blog, you know that she not only makes motherhood look easy but she also makes it look beautiful. I can’t remember why I was first attracted to this post but after re-reading it, it made me realize that we all need all the help we can get. And as an experienced bicoastal traveler, she’s got some practical advice.
Travel with Kids: Tips from a Semi-Expert
The Post You Might Only Appreciate If You’re Over 40
by Marcy Massura at The Glamorous Life
It helps if you’re over 40. It helps if you’ve worked professionally in social media. It helps if you’ve worked professionally. It also helps if you know the quick-witted, sarcastic, but utterly brilliant nature of Marcy Massura. Her rebuttal to a ridiculously offensive and naively written post about social media almost made it worth having said post published in the first place.
Why only people over 40 should do social media for a living.
The Post That Makes Me Love the Banality of Marriage
by Jen at The Martha Project
Not saying that marriage is banal, or that it should be. But when Jen and her husband hit the 20 year anniversary mark, she captured the essence of why it’s so fun to stick with the same person. I shared it with my husband on Facebook saying, “Hey honey – we have 8 more years to achieve greatness like this.”
The Post That Had Me Step Back and Say Whoa
by Harleena Singh at Aha! NOW
Harleena is actually a freelance writer who happened to be posting on this blog and I happened to catch her link on Twitter. This post sat with me all day. And the next. And the story she shared gave me so much parenting and personal food for thought that I had to share it.
The Most Cathartic Post of the Year
by Rachel Barenblat at Velveteen Rabbi
Sometimes, you want to run away from the pain in life. You want to pretend it doesn’t exist. And yet running away makes you cover up all the ugly feelings that you just want to rid yourself of. After the Sandy Hook shootings, so many people, myself included, were struggling to find a way to come to terms with our emotions. This poem/prayer brought me so much peace and these truly were the right words at the right time.
God, let me cry on your shoulder
***
Tomorrow, come back and read the next installment of the Blogmas Best of 2012 submitted by YOU.
13 comments
So many of these I have not read yet so thank you for including me, but also for giving me some amazing reads. I love you so much. xoxoxo
YOU are awesome. And I’m glad I had a chance to shout that!
What a great group of posts. I’ll be reading all day!
So many more to come this week…
Thanks and I can’t wait to read all of them!
I suppose your husband should really get half the credit though.
Thanks so much Fadra! It’s indeed a pleasure to be placed here with so many wonderful bloggers and their posts that have in some way or the other touched your life. Much appreciated indeed. 🙂
Thank YOU for sharing your stories! Keep writing!
What a great idea for a post. Well done.
Of course, after the fact, I thought of so many posts I COULD have included. Ah well.
Thanks for sharing these! Some I’d already read and loved and others I cant wait to read and discover new favorite people.
I loved giving myself a reason to go back and re-read.
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