December News: Gratitude, Recognition, and End of Year Reflections

As 2025 comes to a close, the last couple of months have been full of gratitude, celebration, and moments that remind me why I love this work. This season, I reflected on milestones big and small — my birthday, Brave-ish turning two, Chanukah and the joy of sharing stories with friends, family, and readers across the world. The light of Chanukah has been a perfect reminder of hope, resilience, and the joy that comes from celebrating together.

Fall brought adventures both near and far. I celebrated a birthday cruise with Norwegian Escape out of New Orleans, returning to the city with a sense of homecoming, laughter, and the thrill of Caribbean scuba diving in Cozumel, Roatan, and Costa Maya. A special thank you to Briann from Hadassah Book Clubs for showing me around her city!

Norwegian Cruise Line Escape Cruise Videos

I returned to the enchanting islands of French Polynesia with Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze, visiting Papeete, Raiatea, Taha’a, Bora Bora and Huahine. Enjoy my videos and more about this incredible adventure with scuba diving, an overwater bungalow at InterContinental Tahiti and flying on Air Tahiti Nui soon….

French Polynesia Adventures

I’m thrilled that Brave-ish is now in the libraries on both NCL Escape and Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze ships, and earlier this year I added it to Quark Ultramarine in Antarctica — after hula-hooping on the fast ice south of the Antarctic Circle! My article about that adventure to my final continent was recently featured on Bored Panda — moments that remind me how travel, books, and storytelling are intertwined.

Bored Panda: Nothing Prepares You For The Scale And Beauty Of Antarctica: My Adventure Of A Lifetime

This fall, in Florida, I signed BRAVE-ish in Author’s Corner at the DEMA dive show and experienced the thrill of my very 1st ever airboat ride in Kissimmee at Wild Florida. I stayed at the exceptional Four Seasons Orlando, where luxury met comfort, and scuba-dived at Epcot where I was in the water for the first time with a Hammerhead shark–on my bucket list! These moments reminded me that travel isn’t just about destinations — it’s about curiosity, connection, and embracing every adventure, big or small.

Orlando & Kissimmee, Unexpectedly Luxe Videos

This season has also been full of recognition. Brave-ish has now been honored twelve times, including American Book Awards for travel and women’s issues — such an incredible milestone for a memoir that continues to resonate after two years. I was thrilled to sign Brave-ish at AdWeek in NYC with The Female Quotient for the second time and look forward to speaking in 2026 in Tucson, Austin, and maybe even near you!

In addition, this season brought incredible professional recognition. I received a Platinum Dot Com Award, joining my Telly Award and 1st Place at the SoCal Journalism Awards for my travel segment on Ireland for The Jet Set TV. Each honor is a reminder of the mentors, friends, collaborators, and audiences who make it possible to share stories that matter.

Reflecting on these months, Seth Godin’s words from A Modern Thanksgiving feel especially true:

“A modern Thanksgiving would celebrate two things: the people in our lives who give us the support and love we need to make a difference, and… the opportunity to build something bigger than ourselves, something worth contributing. The ability to make connections, to lend a hand, to invent and create.”

For me, November and December have been exactly that: filled with connection, gratitude, recognition, the Chanukah lights and adventure. As we move into 2026, I carry these lessons forward — ready for new stories, new travels, and new ways to live brave-ishly.

I also wanted to share questions to consider from Rabbi Yoshi:

As 2025 draws to a close, we are surrounded by invitations to look back. From “best-of” lists to music streaming services telling us our top songs and “listening age,” secular culture nudges us to ask: How has this year shaped us?

As Jews, we’re lucky; we get to do this twice. We have Rosh Hashanah for our cheshbon ha-nefesh — our “soul-accounting” — and then the secular New Year offers a second look. It’s a gift, really. We need these frequent check-ins to ensure we’re staying on course, to enable us to grow.

Maimonides teaches us that Teshuvah is complete when we find ourselves in the same situation as before, but we choose differently. To be a Yehudi, a Jew, is to follow this model: to be a person capable of change. It means grappling honestly with an imperfect world — and our own imperfect selves — without surrendering our compassion.

As the year turns, I invite you to join me in reflecting on these questions:

• Looking back at the choices we’ve made, how can this moment of transition help us grow into the person we wish to become in 2026?
• In what ways can we be more accepting of others’ flaws without sacrificing our own core values?
• In a world that so often feels fractured, how can our words and actions become more intentional sources of healing and support?

May we be open to the kind of growth that allows us to face our past, choose a better future, and become the people we are meant to be.