It has started. It has begun. One celebratory occasion after another. Usually, that is how I think of the last four months of the year. Just four more months. There’s Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New year’s eve. There’s Halloween. Yah! Mischief. Mayhem. Monsters. Food. Family. Fun. Nostalgia.

There’s a time when we supposedly look back at the past year and remember its grand occurrences. There’s a time when we eagerly await what the new year will bring.

We plan. We play. We pray.

This year’s celebrations that are to come will be bittersweet. There will be sadness, for it has been a rough year. I can only truly hope that it gets better. I’m not too sure I will have any resolutions for the new year. I don’t know whether I will select, as I typically of, a word for the coming year. This year, I went from adventurer to survivor, in some respects.

Regardless, I will bring mirth. I will carry hope forward this season. May it be a kind, joyful one for us all.