I want to wish all my readers a very happy holiday season, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, too. Whatever it is that you and your family celebrate, do it with smiles and safe gusto!

For me, this time of year is for renewal. It’s time to wipe away the old year and start fresh — just as Mother Nature does with her cleansing snow. I tend to clean house, in every sense of the word, and to make big plans. This year has been no different.

For the tiny townhouse, we’ve gotten new drapes, new bedding and cleared out closets of (more) unused stuff. Good grief, where does it all come from? One of my big plans should be to stop buying crap, hmmmm?

Organizing my mind and my life gets big priority, too, this time of year. I give myself permission to let go of projects in which I lost interest and map out what I want to accomplish in the next year. How liberating it is crumpling up that old to-do list and starting a new one.

Most of all, I look forward to the solstice and getting more sunshine each day. I mean that literally. My agrarian body wants to go down when the sun does which means I get very little done on those dark, dark days. I so appreciate and rejoice in my physical reaction to the increased solar energy.

It’s a happy time of year. Enjoy your family and friends, food, presents and good cheer!