After their home in Emma Parade, Winmalee was destroyed by bushfire, the Magennis family made the difficult decision to move into a house in Silverdale, near Warragamba.
But with a decades long connection to the Blue Mountains community, the family of four felt compelled to return to the area on October 17 to observe the anniversary ceremony.
They also had lunch at Springwood Sports Club - used as an evacuation centre during the disaster - and caught up with friends.
"We took the day off as a family to come here and reflect," Mrs Magennis said after the ceremony.
"We just felt we needed to be up here.
"The speeches were very good - Mark Greenhill [the mayor] spoke with so much emotion."
Her husband, Michael, said his birthday falls on October 18.
"It is a bit more of a cheery birthday for me this time around," he said.
"Last birthday I was at Springwood Sports Club filling out lots of forms. I can remember we went into a Big W store and that's when I thought gee, we really don't have anything."
Lucas, 18, was finishing Year 12 at Winmalee High School when the bushfires struck and is hoping to travel overseas soon, while his elder brother Jayden has started a Bachelor of Policing course.
"We both still come to the Mountains to play futsal and I still play touch footy up here."
Mrs Magennis said she misses the Blue Mountains community, "which has been so supportive - where nothing is a problem [when it comes to offering a hand].
"Maybe, in a few years, we'll rebuild a home in the Blue Mountains," she said.
