Jenna Bush Hager Rings in 2020 at the Beach After a Big Year Focused on Family: 'How Wonderful Life Is'
Former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager had a big 2019, highlighted by the birth of her new son Henry in August.
After celebrating her first Christmas as a mom of three last week, posting a joyful album of photos to Instagram celebrating her newborn son Hal’s first holiday season, Jenna, 38, rang in the new year with a waterside sunrise and sunset.
Jenna’s first post came on Tuesday night, just as the sun was setting. The Today co-host posed on the sand with her husband Henry Hager and their two daughters — 4-year-old Poppy Louise and 6-year-old Margaret “Mila” Laura — all with big smiles on their faces.
“Last sunset of the decade that brought us these two beautiful girls and their baby brother,” Jenna captioned the first shot. “How wonderful life is! Hoping 2020 brings you all the joy we get from watching the world through our babes’ eyes. 💫💫⭐️”
On Wednesday, Jenna gathered her family together again to pose for photos in front of the first sunrise of 2020.
This time, the full Bush/Hager clan was pictured, including baby Hal, Jenna’s twin sister Barbara Bush Pierce Coyne and her husband Craig Coyne, and the sister’s parents George W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
The second picture featured Jenna’s family, while the third showed Henry cuddling his baby boy.
“New year’s first sun. Everything is beautiful in its time Ecclesiastes 3:11,” she wrote beside the photos. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
A post shared by Jenna Bush Hager (@jennabhager) on Jan 1, 2020 at 8:08am PST
The new photos come shortly after Jenna posted an adorable collection of Christmas cards with her three children during the holidays last week. The Today co-host and her husband welcomed Hal on August 2 this year.
Jenna told PEOPLE back in November that she and her husband Henry, 41, are basking in their growing family.
“Whenever anybody walks in, we go, ‘Welcome to the nut house.’ Who says that? I do,” she joked.
Jenna’s busy 2019 picked up in November after returning full time to the Today show alongside co-host Hoda Kotb and then embarking on a nine-stop book tour soon after with her twin sister to promote their children’s book Sisters First, released in early December.
A post shared by Jenna Bush Hager (@jennabhager) on Dec 20, 2019 at 6:27am PST
In true twin fashion, Barbara’s 2019 was just as busy, with the other former first daughter hosting a second wedding ceremony with her new husband Craig and later moved with her husband from New York to Boston for grad school.
The couple had initially rushed their wedding ceremony last year in order to make sure late President George H. W. Bush was there to witness his granddaughter’s wedding. President George H. W. Bush passed a few weeks later.
“Doing as much as we can, while we have the time with people we love right now, is what’s most important,” Barbara told PEOPLE ahead of the first ceremony in 2018.
Merry Christmas from the family! Wishing you love and light this day and always! 💫💫
A post shared by Jenna Bush Hager (@jennabhager) on Dec 25, 2019 at 6:15am PST
Barbara, 38, told PEOPLE in November that she treasured the book tour with her twin sister, Jenna, saying they got to act like kids again, watching movies and enjoying on-tour slumber parties while they traveled from city-to-city.
“I was born with a partner to go through everything with,” Barbara recently told PEOPLE. “She’s my reference for the world.”
Jenna continued her travels late into 2019 with trip to Vietnam alongside former first lady Michelle Obama and actress Julia Roberts in early December to promote young women’s education. On the emotional and empowering trip, the women met with young educators and young women in schools there to hear their stories and share them around the world.
But despite her humanitarian trips, book tours with her sister and her big return to the Today show, Jenna told PEOPLE in November that her biggest priority is spending time with her three children.
“You hear these clichés in parenting and they’re all true. ‘Time goes so fast.’ ‘The days are long, but the years are short.’ All of that is a cliché because it’s real, but nobody tells you about these little moments in parenting that will mean the most to you,” Jenna said, adding, “Since Henry and I both have big jobs, I’m hoping that our kids realize the biggest job and the biggest priority is them.”
