Guys, we made it to the end of the year. I mean, almost. We’re very nearly there, and by now I am tired pretty much all the time, both from the many events and exertions of the past twelve months, and also probably from the fact that there’s less sunlight now. I wake up, and instead of a heat creeping in past the blinds, there is a soft, dim sense of morning that makes it hard to get up from beneath the warm blankets. I feel bad about the dog, sleeping alone on his bed on the floor; I worry he’ll be cold. But as soon as I get out of bed he is straining with eagerness to go outside, where it’s colder still. So I guess he’s fine.

I am looking forward to next year. My new book comes out next year! I’m really excited about the team working with me on launching it, and that’s a great feeling. Really, really.

Also, Friday is my last day of work until 2018! And THAT TOO is a great feeling. (Even if some of the days I have off, coming up, are due to surgery. Can’t win ’em all, can sit on the couch and watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.) Soon, Dave and Paul and I will be in Utah with Dave’s family (who I love), and we will probably have a fireplace and we will sit around it with cocoa and that is all as it should be.

I hope we can all collectively exhale in the next few weeks. I know things aren’t perfect. I know nothing’s fixed. But it’s the darkest time of year, and that means the dawn is yet to come.