I love how I always have those little moments of enlightenment, lol. (And, sometimes, they're pretty big moments!) Just the other day, I was thinking about Christmas and its real meaning. Then, my mind wandered into next week, and I could feel the anticipation of the approaching new year. What wonders the words 'new year' do for my mental state, lol. Even though this past year's mistakes, failures, and other tests and trials are still there, the beginning of the approaching year helps me feel like I can just tuck the current year into a drawer, somewhere, and not worry about what happened. And, that's actually kinda true. I mean, the past is certainly in the past and can't be helped, so why keep dwelling on it? Unless of course, there was something that brought about some major consequences 
Anyway, back to my original point...The Christmas season represents the hope that God sent to Earth that night. When Jesus was born, so many things changed! The future absolutely changed in that stable. Today, we celebrate the new year one week later than Jesus's birthday. If we can find our hope renewed every year as we think about that significant event, we can take that same hope and apply it to New Year's Day and the 364 days that follow!
Anyway, back to my original point...The Christmas season represents the hope that God sent to Earth that night. When Jesus was born, so many things changed! The future absolutely changed in that stable. Today, we celebrate the new year one week later than Jesus's birthday. If we can find our hope renewed every year as we think about that significant event, we can take that same hope and apply it to New Year's Day and the 364 days that follow!