Twenty-fifteen had its share of memorable news and milestone moments: a boy’s first loose tooth, a mom’s parasurgical corneal procedure, a family’s collective despair following two separate major elections. But strangest of all, and most exhilarating, was the mayhem that unfolded when we vacated our apartment in early November and the renovations began. Wilder still than the noise and expense is of course the way these remarkable circumstances have come to be the new normal.

Anker and I are thrilled and baffled to welcome the new year from our temporary quarters just two floors down from the construction site that is set to re-emerge as our much-improved home in just a few months (which will either manifest as many long weeks or a downright blur of constant decision-making intensity). It’s fair to say we’re about halfway home—and we look forward to loads of well-deserved nesting in 2016.

Happy new year, everyone. We hope you enjoy this season’s deconstructivist family album.