It’s been a few days since the giveaway was announced. The winners have been declared and handed over their loot. While in the process of putting together bags for the giveaway winners, I decided to send out a few to friends who’ve been a rock for me in the past year; and some to people who’ve inspired me time and again.

So amid the planning, backing, packing and delivery, I’m a little run down and just about ready for the weekend; or to await the beginning of the New Year.

But no complaints because this is the good kind of tired – the kind where your back hurts because you’ve been bent over dozens of bags tying balloons and ribbons. The kitchen is a disaster with the constant baking. So much so that my mother is still looking for a few of her pots and pans because they are hidden in the jumble of bake ware and vessels I’ve been using. But the house always smells of cake and warmth which kind of mellows down her mood and protects me from a (deserved) scolding.

And above all, I now know what Santa Claus feels like! That love and appreciation for these little gifts has been better than a late winter morning snuggle in the blanket with a mug of hot cocoa!

This love and appreciation is what has kept me motivated to write the blog posts each month. And that those words have been appreciated has been evident in the numbers that pop up each time I log into WordPress. So pulling up these numbers, I’ve put to use the ‘memory string’ to bring together the most popular posts of each month in 2018.

Here’s the first list of my ‘best of 2018’. Each photograph is linked to the related post so feel free to click away!