2016? Tomorrow?

Can someone tell me where the year went?

Yeah, I thought not.

2015 is about 5 hours and 45 minutes away from being gone. LIKE THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER ONE. Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut????? 

So yeah. Happy New Year! Did you notice when you chat that to somebody on Gmail it does a weird animation thing? Crazy. 

2015 was kind of a crazy year for me. I feel like everything changed in one year. That's a little bit of an exaggeration, but not much. :-P I turned 18, graduated, my sister moved out and then got engaged... yeah. It's been rough, lots of days. Emotionally, I mean. Growing up is hard. And I don't say that in a whiny, "Where is my Neverland?" sort of way. I say it in the most realistic way possible. 

But at the end of the day (or the year, as the case may be), it's all just growing pains. We go through this pain, not in despair or fear, but in deep-seated hope that will never be destroyed. We grow, knowing that we are moving Further Up and Further In. Our God is shaping us, molding us, and we are growing closer and closer to being perfected in His image. This is good, guys. 

One thing that God has been impressing on my heart lately is, Make new memories. It's hard to explain the full significance of this, but I am the type of person that grips onto old memories with a death-hold, only letting them go if they are brutally wrestled from me. And that makes me start to believe that I will never again experience something that good again. But I need to let go. And no, letting go does not mean forgetting. But it does mean loosening my grip. It means turning my face toward the rising sun and taking a step, and then another. 

Make new memories. And there are tons to make. How do I know? Because my God is a good God. And He gives good gifts. And there is plenty to go around. Because there is enough of Him to go around, to reach to every single day of my life, however long or short it may be. And I have no good apart from Him. And if every day is filled with more and more of Him, then I know that I will be making loads of new memories. Good ones. The best ones. 

So farewell 2015. Hello 2016. It's going to be a good one.

Now...let's do a quick Best Of 2015. Because no End of Year Post is complete without it. Basically, it's just my favorite things that either came out or I discovered in 2015. Enjoy. :-)

~BOOKS~ 

Far and away, my favorite book that I read this year was Island of the World by Michael D. O'Brien. I wept. It was so beautifully told, so emotional and so impactful. And so beautiful. Did I mention it's beautiful? Go read it. It's worth every 800 or so pages. 

Honorable mentions, though:

Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. So simple, so relatable, and so convicting.

Sacred Singleness by Leslie Ludy. Wow. I needed this book so badly. It truly changed my perspective on a lot of things and shifted my focus--which needed shifting so badly. 

~MOVIES~

Star Wars: The Force Awakens takes the gold for movies this year. And funny enough, I wasn't even going to go see it (I guess I had a bad feeling about it). But I was persuaded (thank you, Addy and Dally!), and boy am I glad I was. This movie stayed so true to the heart of the Original Star Wars, while also creating some new, fresh, believable, and seriously relatable characters. I adored both Rey and Finn as characters and look forward to seeing them more! And while the plot wasn't terribly original (it is very similar to A New Hope), I didn't mind because of how cleverly the new (and old) characters were introduced. The characters really held up any problems of the plot. Anyway. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The Peanuts Movie was also really good. I laughed. So hard. It was just so fun and so well done and just felt like the comics. 

Also, Ninjago. I realize it's a TV show but it is the best TV show hands down. Like. What even. Why do I get so emotional over a Lego TV show????? So good. 

~MUSIC~

The Burning Edge of Dawn by Andrew Peterson. Like, no person should be able to write an album that good. Except they should because then I can listen to it. I could listen to this album on repeat. Seriously. I definitely think it's AP's best, which is saying something, because ALL of his albums have been incredible.

Home by Josh Garrels. There aren't really any words to describe Josh Garrels. And this album was much needed this year. I love the sound. It's the perfect driving album, for me. 

Atlas: Year One by Sleeping At Last. This is a band I discovered this year and totally fell in love with. The lyrics are simply INCREDIBLE. And the concept of doing an album the way that SAL does....yeah. Just listen to it. It's amazing. Definitely an amazing find. And I can't wait to hear what he comes up with for Year Two. 

Alright, that's all for 2015! See you next year! :-D 

The Non-Official Best Book Awards Tag

I got tagged with this amazingly awesome tag by Abbie, and I am soooo excited about it! It looks super fun. Can't wait to brag on my favorite books (and I can totally do that because I didn't write 'em). :-)

So, without further ado...

BEST MALE CHARACTER

Hoo baby. I'll try to keep this down to a minimum, but I like a lot of male characters, :-) But I shall keep it down so I have some saved for Best Protagonist. :-)

• COSTIS from The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. Because he's epic. And loyal. And such character development. And he punched Eugenides. 
• FFLEWDDUR FFLAM from The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Because he is amazing and fun and his name is awesome and he says things like, "A Fflam never surrenders!" And guys. He's a travelling bard because he was tired of being a king. And he has a harp that keeps him from...er...coloring the facts. 
• CHARLES LANDRETH from the Millie Keith series. I'm biased because I just finished rereading that series, but he's awesome. Honorable mentions from these books are Gordon Lightcap and Cyril Keith. 
• ZEKE JOHNSON from the 100 Cupboards series by N.D. Wilson. Because he hit a witch with a baseball bat and he's a catcher and nothing more needs to be said. 

BEST FEMALE CHARACTER

• MILLIE KEITH from the Millie Keith books, obviously. Because she is inspiring, hilarious, spunky, yet feminine. Honorable mentions from these books are Rhoda Jane Lightcap and Celestia Ann. 
• HENRIETTA WILLIS from the 100 Cupboards books. Because she's awesome.
• ANTIGONE SMITH from the Asthown Burials series by N.D. Wilson. Because she is one of the few characters that I just seriously relate to. 
• FIN BUTTON from the Fin's Revolution series by A.S. Peterson. THE GIRL'S NAME IS FIN BUTTON. She's also incredibly awesome and her redemption story is hugely amazing and agh. And she's a violinist. The book world needs more of those. :-)

BEST PROTAGONIST (GOOD GUY/MAIN CHARACTER)

• TARAN from the Chronicles of Prydain. All time favorite MC because character development is incredible and he's so relatable. 
• CYRUS SMITH from the Ashtown Burials series. Because he's just cool and funny and great.
• JOSIP LASTA from Island of the World by Michael D. O'Brien. Because...wow. Just go read the book.
• JANNER from the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. No words.

BEST ANTAGONIST (BAD GUY/OPPOSING PARTY TO MC)

• SAURON from The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien. Because I like bad guys I can boo and never have to feel sorry for.
• GNAG THE NAMELESS (WHOSE NAME IS GNAG) from the Wingfeather Saga. Because anybody who is nameless whose name is Gnag needs to be on this list. 
•  Character who I choose not to name (not because he's Gnag but because he's in a book by my sister and I do not reveal anything of her book to the general public). I can't explain why. Force her to publish her book.

BEST PLOT DEVELOPMENT

• THE QUEEN'S THIEF SERIES by Megan Whalen Turner. She's a whiz. 

BEST PLOT TWIST

You know, I am that really gullible reader that is pretty surprised a lot of the time at plot twists. I gasped in the theater when it was revealed that Hans from Frozen was evil. XD That said...

• THE PLOT TWIST in The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson left me reeling. No spoilers here.
• THE ONE IN Great Expectations by Charles Dickens had me deliciously gasping. 

BOOK YOU THREW ACROSS THE ROOM THE HARDEST (IN EITHER A BAD OR A GOOD WAY)

• DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth. I actually might get haters for that, but after two chapters I literally threw the book in disgust. 

BEST ROMANCE

I'm making this my favorite couples, rather than book, because I don't actually read much of the "Romance" genre.

• JOSIP AND ARIADNE from Island of the World. All the tears.
• MILLIE KEITH AND CHARLES LANDRETH from the Millie books. <3 <3 <3

BEST ACTION

• THE ASHTOWN BURIALS SERIES because....N.D. Wilson is a genius. 

BEST OTHER BOOK

What defines "other"? One I haven't mentioned yet? Okay.

• HIND'S FEET ON HIGH PLACES by Hannah Hurnard. Because it's gorgeously beautiful.

BEST BOOK THAT MADE YOU CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK

• THE BIBLE, dude. That might be cheating, but it's also the truest thing in this whole list.

BEST INSPIRING BOOK

Trying not to repeat too many books here....

• DEATH BY LIVING by N.D. Wilson.
• THE HIDING PLACE by Corrie ten Boom. 
• THE LORD OF THE RINGS SERIES because they were part of my inspiration to write, and also my inspiration to find really good stories. 

BEST BOOK THAT MADE YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW

• SACRED SINGLENESS by Leslie Ludy. Not like.... ALL NEW THINGS I NEVER KNEW, but some stuff that was definitely enlightening and a revelation to me. 

BEST SAD BOOK

• ISLAND OF THE WORLD because...ouch and ow and yeah. 
• THE WARDEN AND THE WOLF KING by Andrew Peterson. Another punch in all the feels, and an incredible redemption story.

BEST FUNNY BOOK

• ALL N.D. WILSON BOOKS are pretty much hilarious. I adore his sense of humor.
• THE QUEEN'S THIEF SERIES because Eugenides is a pain and also hysterical. 
• THE WINGFEATHER SAGA because any book that has me in stitches in the Introduction is just...hilarious. 

SO BOOM. I think I just broke like, all the rules, but hey, that's me. I also got this done before my vacation so heyyyy I think I'm doing pretty good. :-) 

REAL QUICK I TAG:

Becca, Lady Emily, Cassie, Lauren, and Treskie. AND ANYONE ELSE WHO READS THIS AND IS LIKE, WOAH I STEAL THIS. Have fun! :-D 

Thanks for tagging me, Abbie! Loved it.