Best Wishes for a peaceful end to 2018 and a great start to the New Year, as 2019 looms just around the corner.

Hopefully you had a wonderful celebration with family and friends for Christmas and got to spend some time with those who mean the most to you. In a lot of cases, the holidays extend for several days, as there are many people to see and places to go.

That isn’t a bad thing; as hectic as it is, it seems to be the one time a year we make time for those that we think of often but don’t necessarily get to see on a regular basis.

It has been a holiday season for the record books, though, with the banning by some networks of ‘A Christmas Story’ and concern over ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ and the subliminal (or not so subliminal) messages they’re supposed to be sending.

Best not to get into the dissection of that too much, I feel everyone should make their own assessment, especially with plenty of other songs popular in more recent days much more blatant in their treatment of previously taboo topics.

Also, just for the record, ‘A Christmas Story’ happens to be one of my favorite holiday movies, and I never went out and stuck my tongue on a flagpole in the freezing weather just to see what would happen. The bully also gets his due in the end and there are life lessons as well, when Ralphie finally gets the decoder ring in the mail and discovers when he uses it that it just is a tool for trying to sell a product. You never get anything for free, isn’t that the idea? Even the decoder ring is a sales gimmick. And parents are frequently right; he almost shot his eye out, good thing he had glasses to block the ricochet from the BB gun. Another lesson learned; dogs will eat the turkey if it is left out. That happened one year when we were out and about for a bit during the day and inadvertently left the foil covered (leftover) turkey on the counter. The power went out because of high winds so the house was dark when we returned but there were plenty of bones strewn about the living room and one very full dog, which we discovered when the power was restored.

Rudolph also had his troubles this year, some suggesting that song be banned because of his treatment by the other reindeer. Excuse me, but didn’t Rudolph save the day in the end? Perhaps we should focus more on the outcome of the situation and the way some can make lemonade out of lemons instead of the wrongs being done. Perseverance and resilience can go a long way, whether it’s on a foggy Christmas Eve or just a normal middle of the week day.

While we’re at it, I’m surprised that Charlie Brown emerged unscathed, what with Lucy bullying him by pulling that football away every time he tried to kick it and then charged him 5 cents for talking about his troubles when she switched hats to sit in her psychiatrist booth.

Enough of that, let’s head into 2019 with a clean slate and make it the best year we can. Everyone will have challenges, everyone will record some victories. Guaranteed there will be some joy, some pain, some laughter and some tears. That’s just life. We can resolve to do the best we can with what we have and, hopefully, that will be enough.

Here at our weekly papers, we would be remiss as we prepare for another year, not to let you know how much we appreciate you, our readers and advertisers, for the continued support you provide that allows us to continue doing what we do. With the digital age seemingly taking over everywhere, we do not take for granted that you still purchase and read our work and often times get in touch with us with comments, whether you liked something or were dissatisfied. We like to get that feedback. We look forward to new stories and some returning favorite events to cover in 2019 and again, we thank you for letting us share those stories with you.

Marg Jackson is editor of The Escalon Times, The Oakdale Leader and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 847-3021.