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In the final days of the 113th Congress, Nancy Pelosi was seen shredding the Capitol Hill steps with BMX-style tricks and lashing out at the White House over the contentious bill to keep the government open.

Okay, the former might have been a stunt double (part of a Stephen Colbert skit). But the point is, Pelosi isn't heading into 2015 -- when Democrats will be in the minority in both chambers for the first time in almost a decade -- quietly.

After losing a significant number of seats last month, Democrats have a lot to figure out. Divisions over strategy and policy, particularly pertaining to the economy, have been made plain in the weeks since the election. At the same time, the party is coming to terms with its new minority status and the possibility that Democratic lawmakers will be left on the sidelines as a president thinking about his legacy cuts deals with Republican leaders thinking about theirs.

And thus the party's challenge in 2015: trying to stay relevant and maintain what leverage is left for its diminished -- and arguably more liberal -- ranks while avoiding being seen as the new "party of no."

"I'm being sincere when I say I want to work with this new Congress to get things done,'' President Obama said at his end-of-the-year press conference Friday. "We're going to disagree on some things, but there are going to be areas of agreement. We've got to be able to make that happen, and that's going to involve compromise once in a while."

House Democrats are used to being in the minority, and they have been mostly united on big-ticket issues since Republicans took over in 2011. But they also had a backstop in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Bills they didn't like that passed the House weren't likely to be picked up or passed by the upper chamber. That dynamic changes when Congress comes back in the New Year.

Now, House Democrats see themselves as the president's backup.

"We strengthened our position to achieve common-sense solutions for the American people in the 114th Congress. We hope to do so in a bipartisan way, but stand ready to sustain the President's veto when necessary," Pelosi wrote in a memo to colleagues after the spending bill vote.

That budget measure cast a spotlight on Democrats in Congress, as it put the White House at odds with many in the party, including Pelosi. Democrats were riled up over two provisions in the bipartisan legislation, one tweaking the financial reform law and another changing campaign finance rules, but they were out of options and faced being blamed as the cause of a government shutdown. Some wondered whether the minority leader might be over playing her hand. In the end, the bill passed, though numerous Democrats and Republicans voted against it. A government shutdown was averted, but not without some drama, this time generated by Democrats.

Pelosi never whipped against the bill -- a signal she didn't necessarily want it to fail and understood the implications if it did -- but staked a claim for her caucus next year.

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Will Pelosi, Democrats Become "Party of No' in 2015?