The annual Westra calendar ... it's for 2025, but all the pictures are from 2024, so this post will be more of a 2024 recap. The calendar was handed out at the annual Christmas Eve party (which will get its own blog post). Here are the pages that will be hanging in the Westra Sibling homes, and that of Grandma and Grandpa Westra. What events will be recorded on these calendars in the upcoming year?
Many of the December pictures are actually from 2023 ...
As the 2024 calendar was created before Christmas and missed out on these pictures.
... and finally, a little "cheat sheet" with all the names and family groupings!
... the "cheat sheet" featured here on the blog is a little redacted. The one on the calendar has birthdays and anniversaries, which are also included within the calendar itself. 2024 was a busy year, with several NEW additions, through marriage (there were FIVE weddings) and babies (FOUR babies ... and two more close to coming!) Lots of graduations. Halloween was the most photographed holiday. Many of these same pictures/themes were featured in the annual Westra Slide Show as well, a double feature this year (Westra 2024 and Westra Animals!)
Every year, there is a call for photos ... these pictures are organized and added to the annual Westra calendar and slideshow. Both items are presented at the Christmas Eve party, and they are both showcased here. In previous years, the production of the calendar has changed hands a few times. Alicia has been creating it for a few years now (Grayson handled several years, and Sandy is the one who started it, with a single calendar for the folks and physical pictures adhered to a paper calendar). With the house/move, Jen took over (which makes sense, as the calendar and slideshow often have similar organization into holidays, topics, etc).
(all the slideshows are also saved in the family Dropbox)
Just over 13 minutes, This year's soundtrack features "Gonna Be Good" by Bloom and the Bliss, "Moments to Memories" by Adeline Hill, "Stars in the Sky" by Kid Cudi (Sonic Sountrack) and "These Are The Best Days" by PinkZebra. Beyond the birthdays, holidays, school stuff, this was a big HOUSE year, with major moves and other renovations and remodels.
While these calendar pages are for the 2023 calendar, they reflect 2022.
For January - photos featuring SNOW and COLD were the primary focus. Also events that happened (family gatherings, Jen's bonk) and January is the main basketball season ...
For February ... anything love, pink or Valentines made the cut. While Callahan isn't the only February birthday, his was the only one with a picture of the event.
March ... while some of these did actually happen in March, most were just random additions for the month. There's an attempt to get things chronological, but what's the point (point pictures)?
April means Easter! Add some dress-up, spring blossoms and other activities to fill out the month.
May means Mother's Day ... and Graduations (some were early June, but ...). Derek is one of the May birthdays, and April Showers bring May Flowers. Wordle just filled in.
June ... all pictures from the annual Father's Day.
Last one on Old English Road.
July ... some seasonal stuff with the parade floats and fireworks. New baby, Anniversary ... photo fill ins and house progress.
August means back to school ... lots of school photos.
Photo fill in ... try to make sure every family is represented on every page.
September ... lovely leaves and other fall photos. A couple new additions to the work force. Family photo fill in for the rest, hopefully somewhat in season.
October ... Happy Halloween. Lots of fun dress up and pumpkin patch pictures.
Blessings, Baptisms, Birthdays, Engagement and new early addition
... and moving day!
December ... the calendar and slideshow were already created, so most of these are 2021 pictures ... (although there are two that are 2022). This was the last Christmas Eve in the Havenmoor House. Most of the pictures from the party made it into the ChristmasEve2021 post, but check it out for additional details about that day.
The slideshow and calendar pages ... it's a quick look back at the year!
It's tradition ... so once again, here's a peek at the past year ala Westra.
Soundtrack "To Begin Again" by Ingrid Michaelson, "There's a Place" by Roo Panes, "Missing Piece" by Vance Joy and "Back Where You Belong" by Lindsey Ray ... basically, a portion of the Grey's Anatomy Season 17 soundtrack. Jen was a little under the weather as December started up, and ended up watching the entire season and Shazamming songs she liked. This year, Wondershare was used to create the slideshow instead of Muvee (if some things look just a little different).
It's always a little interesting how the topics come together ... there's almost always "Snow" and "Water" (NO Blackham water pics, as with the drought, the waverrunners never made it up to the reservoir). School and sports, dating/dances. This year we had "home" features, as well as "travel" and lots of red rock pictures! Animals, Jumping, Eating (sourdough) ... and of course all the families featured. So enjoy the recap, and here's to making more memories next year!
It started back in 2006 ... it was Grayson who made the first family slide show, featuring photos from the past year set to music. Then it became a tradition. Gray continued making them for a few years, then Jen took over in 2010. So here's 2020, which for the first time is not making its premiere at the Westra Family Christmas Eve party (Covid Cancellations!) But thanks to youtube (and a backup in Dropbox/GoogleDrive) the family can still watch and relive the year ... masks and all!
