Here we find ourselves at the tail end of 2016. I’m ending it much the same as I have every other Saturday night of this year: in my pajamas with a book and a glass of wine nearby. Although I have recently debated the merits of hot chocolate over fermented grapes…

I am fully dreading taking down the tree tomorrow. Not because it’s enormous and laden with decorations, unlike the trees of years past. I’m dreading it because I’m lazy. That’s really all there is to it. I don’t WANT to.

I got around to packing everything else up today: all the candles and knick-knacks…I broke my Pottery Barn reindeer but I have high hopes for the miracle that is superglue…once I eventually find it. That can wait till next November, at least. Until then, I have plenty of things to keep me busy, such as this blog post I’m rushing to finish before midnight (or, more realistically, until I fall asleep, which would have been by ten o’clock if I hadn’t been going back and forth with the good techies at Bluehost).

I almost lost my mind there for a minute. You see. Turns out I’ve been logging into the wrong WordPress account. Who knew? When I log into Facebook, I log into Facebook, whether I want to post something on my page or the one for work. When I login to anything, it’s always the same flipping domain no matter what my purpose is. And I KNOW I told dude at least three times that it was Wordpress.com *Big huff*  Anyway…

I also need to update my Goodreads, as I finally finished the Signature of All Things after three weeks. I am three books short of goal for the year. But I have justified it in my mind, as I read two tomes this year, The Witching Hour and 11.22.63.

So we made it to exactly 12:01. I didn’t finish my glass of wine, my blog, or even start my book review. Sounds about par for the course for my life. It’s fine.

I’m seeing a lot of negativity towards 2016. I don’t have any strong feelings one way or the other. Life comes at you sideways sometimes…maybe even upside down and backwards. Grab on and roll.

Peyton won the Superbowl and I got to say “told ya so” repeatedly.

I left my comfortable fun sales job of 13 years to go be a secretary at a local small business. It was almost like leaving home and I was definitely leaving family to forge my way with virtual strangers. It was far from easy. I cried a LOT. And I cry regularly, anyway, so it’s a wonder I wasn’t perpetually dehydrated.

We visited the tiny, Stepford-esque town of Seaside Florida, where a hurricane visited us.

I wrote for a magazine.

I rode a great big walking horse for the first time in several years.

I ate a lot of tomatoes and bought a lot of leggings.

I read a whole bunch of books, some ridiculously obscure that I loved dearly (here’s looking at you, That Quail, Robert).

I cried when Prince died.

I served (and drank) wine at the library.

I laughed, albeit victoriously, when Trump won the Presidency.

I was shocked and horrified with the rest of east Tennessee when we saw the scar that was left on Gatlinburg.

No resolutions. No regrets. But I do believe you sometimes need to look back to look the next obstacle in the eye. Remind yourself of what you’ve accomplished. You’re not invincible, nor are you easily broken.

Say what you want to about 2016, but at least we beat Florida!