“Christmas is a time to say I love you,” he said.

This year, I’ve been making the conscious effort to get into the holiday spirit.  Donating money, donating gifts, and generally trying to be a halfway decent human being over the last month of the year.

2015 was not easy.  In the last week alone, we had to buy a new heat pump, I turned my phone screen into a Spiderman comic, and my Mom spent a few days in the hospital with a bowel obstruction.  Don’t Google that term-you really are better off not knowing.

This year, I felt like I failed at every turn.  I tried so hard to improve my situation on a couple different fronts.  Good fortune seemed to smile on everyone around me.

But, I am thankful.  I have a job that pays my bills and allows me to pursue my interests outside of the office (contact sports and shopping, which can sometimes be a contact sport-“bitch, get your hands off those half-priced Doc Martens”).  I freelance write for a couple publications.  I have a loving husband, two dogs, and a host of family that aren’t biological, but as close to me as siblings.

I hope 2016 will be a year of change and growth for me.  I have to hold on to the idea of hope because there are days when it’s the only survival mechanism I have left.  You should too!