Friday flashback: This is what we were talking about this time last year.

How time flies.

Technically 2015 was longer than usual. Remember that whole leap-second thing? But it certainly doesn’t feel that way. In fact, a quick look back at the things that had us talking this time last year reminds us how quickly time seems to pass.

So what had us talking at this time in 2014?

Sydney Siege: December 15th 2014.

Australians were stopped in their tracks on the morning of December 15.

It was a busy cafe, on a busy street, during a busy weekday morning. Self-described cleric, Man Haron Monis, 50, walked into the busy Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, in Sydney’s CBD and took 18 customers and staff hostage.

Over the course of the 17 hour siege in which Monis hung flag in the window of the cafe to show his support for ISIS , a number of hostages managed to escape. Police eventually stormed the cafe in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to free the remaining hostages and after hearing gunfire from inside.

Tragically, two hostages were killed during the siege.  Cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, and Sydney lawyer and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson, 38, were killed along with the gunman himself.  Three other hostages were injured.

Sydney was broken but not defeated. A memorial sea of flowers built up in Martin Place outside the cafe as people from all walks of life came to pay tribute to those who had died.

Stella Young passes away: December 6th 2014

Stella Young was an incredible comedian and a fierce advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. But don’t you dare call her an inspiration. She hated that.

The world lost Stella on the 6th of December last year. “With great sadness we acknowledge the passing of Stella Young, our much-loved and irreplaceable daughter and sister,” Stella’s family said in a statement.

A few weeks before she died Stella Young wrote for Fairfax Media: “I tend not to think about living to some grand old age. Then again, I don’t think about dying either.”

A year on, Stella’s absence is felt deeply .

You can watch Stella’s Ted Talk “I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much” here:

Yumi Stynes red-carpet drama: December 9th 2014.

It’s got to be one of the most insane cases of mummy-shaming.

TV presenter and radio host Yumi Stynes appeared on the red-carpet for the Sydney premiere of the live-action/animation remake of Paddington. Accompanying her was her six-month-old daughter Mercy, wearing SHOCK HORROR- a nappy.

Some media organisations and the Twitterverse were quick to label this a HUGE error. According to News Limited, “The only real excuse Stynes could have would be the eventuation of a catastrophic No. 3 [poo explosion] in the car en route to the event…”

But as is always the case, mummy-shaming was quickly followed with some good old-fashioned mummy-support.

Kitty Flanagan made a lot of parents angry: December 11th 2014.

Comedian Kitty Flanagan appeared on The Project and made kids around the country cry and pissed off her fair share of parents by jokingly admitting THE TRUTH about the man with the long, white beard.

If there is a little person reading over your shoulder, discretely shift position now…

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Yes, on prime-time television, Flanagan said Santa Claus wasn’t real. And Jesus Christ was… a vegetarian.

You can watch that moment, and hear the collective groans, below (Courtesy of Channel 10’s The Project):

What do you think we’ll be looking back and talking about this time next year?