Working towards SMART goals for the new year

   This week is a great time to reflect on the past year and all we’ve accomplished or wished to accomplish.    That’s one reason why we’re highlighting stories and photos from the past year in this edition.    It also helps us all create better resolutions, or goals, for the new year ahead.

Georgia has changed in a quarter of century

   With 2024’s close, a quarter of the years beginning with “20” are now complete. For those of us who remember the flip from the 1900s to the 2000s, it’s hard to believe so much time has passed.

Is that all there is?

   We’ve made it to the end of 2024, almost. But is that all there is?    This line of thinking comes from my grandmother.

Touch lives

   This year was filled with ups and downs.    Some of our losses were bigger than others, as were some of our gains.    It was the people who influenced our joy and pain and the decisions that were made throughout the year.

Keeping, sharing Christmas cheer

   Christmas is a season brimming with tradition. And oh, what fun it is to make a new tradition every now and then — or to adopt one from someone, or somewhere, else.    For the past several years, Atlanta has hosted a traditional, German-style Christmas market.

What ‘grand’ memories will our eight have?

“Grandpa!” “Oh, look, Grandpa!” “Grandpa, Christmas lights!”    With a 4-year-old buckled in the backseat, we didn’t need a GPS to find the festive Yule lights scattered around town.

Reducing precinct numbers smart

   It used to make sense to have multiple polling precincts scattered around the community — it helped make sure voters all over the county had as equal as possible access to voting on Election Day.

Letters to the Editor

Mystery graffiti needs musical To the editor: They should do Tim Loves Tink: The Musical. David Solesbee Jacksonville, Fla.

Kindness is still here; just look in your own neighborhood

   If you, like me, sometimes think that members of the human race have been vaccinated against kindness, we’re both wrong. It’s still here. We just need to turn away from all the hate and discord around us—and in our nation’s capital—and look for the goodness in people.

Yes, Virginia

(Editor’s note: Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897.