Opinion

As we start our new year of 2025, I hope everyone has nothing but fair seas and following winds. Hopefully, here is some news that you can use.

Certain chores in life aren’t fun, but they are necessary. Such as preparing your last will. People often put it off as long as possible, dreading the day when the Man In the Bright Nightshirt (as W.C. Fields called death; more on him in a minute) comes calling.

My sister took me to task. “You know I was not being mean about your dress, don’t you?” She meant the dress that she had said made me look like a car wash—the part of the car wash where the flappy things slap the car dry.

Many leaders elected this November won by saying that families will be better off in the years ahead than the years behind. Voters voiced their rejection of more of the same. In 2024 exit polling, 80% of voters agreed that if we want policies that work better for families, we need different kinds of leaders than we have now making these decisions. Families expect to see real progress: voters want a government working with and for them - not one stirring more polarization. Our collective call is to find common ground and deliver solutions that respond to the concrete needs of families.

This year had a lot of ups and downs for me. This past spring, I felt about as low as I have felt about my writing since I started.

“It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s that counts, it’s what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas.” I’ve had this mantra in my head because my husband, Peter, and I have been trying to keep our weight in check. Peter is doing it for sensible reasons.

Americans celebrating New Year’s on January 1, 1925, were just as excited about their futures as we are today, 100 years later. What was in store a century ago for the year ahead? Find out with this short, fun quiz.