From the Editors: December 20, 2017

There is much to celebrate in Erie, whether we realize it or not. Our annual Year in Review issue proves that, as we neatly put a bow on 2017, and take time to honor the winners of this year's Best Of Erie contest.

With over 100 categories, and hundreds of thousands of votes cast, these are the people, businesses, and organizations that are defining our overall landscape as a city. We extend a big congratulations to all the finalists, and especially the winners. The hard work and dedication on display here, the overall commitment to making Erie a better place, is the reason we're able to move into 2018 feeling more optimistic than ever. 

But this time of the year generates a lot of feelings. Sometimes, it's too much. As we start to "feel the Christmas noose beginning to tighten," it's easy to lose our cool. While the snow piles up, and gifts zap any spending money we were lucky enough to squirrel away, it can feel like the walls are closing in, like a carnivorous mistletoe-fly-trap. 

The arc of the holiday season is a strange one. It's a roller coaster with two hills, and a lot of tense, lingering plains connecting these two thrilling plunges. For Christmas-celebrators at least, there's this rhythmic clicking, a stopwatch counting down to the 25th. You're picking out gifts, trying to be creative and thoughtful, all the while hoping to have enough left over to pay the bills. Things ramp up to a fever pitch all the way until Christmas morning. The gifts manage to be wrapped and put under the tree, as they (hopefully) magically multiply overnight.

And then … the big day. 

There's the crinkle and rips of paper as the white morning light pours through the windows. Disheveled, you lurch to the tree. We're never ready for our closeup on Christmas morning, are we? You watch with anxiety as gifts are unwrapped and approved of. You're hoping for shrieks of delight, but in the end you'll be happy with an accepting smile. Why are we so concerned? In the end, they're gifts, and they're going to at least be good, for goodness' sake. 

And then … nothing. 

The drop off is almost immediate. Amongst the red and green carnage of colored paper, you start to put your life back together, and maybe enjoy some of your well-earned treasures. It's that "high school" holiday vacation. That week-long, eerily calm eye of the hurricane between the 25th and the 31st. No one seems to want to do too much during this refractory period. Chances are you'll watch no less than one season of a TV show while trying to think of something productive to do during this odd annual purgatory.

And then … New Years Eve. 

This, like Christmas, can mean different things for different people. There's another ticking clock, and this time the countdown is much more literal. If you're looking for something fun to do, check out our New Years Eve rundown of events for a few choice locations to spend the last evening of 2017. As you rush to be with your family and friends before the ball drops and the clock strikes midnight, it's easy to be contemplative, to look back on the past year in retrospect. Read Ben Speggen's year in review to help jog your memory and provide a little perspective, and don't forget to check out our year-end best of lists. 

And then … rest. 

All is quiet on New Years Day. But before we know it, it's time to start again. As this new millennium is ushered into adulthood, let's look forward to all the possibilities in store, all the resolutions we will keep, and all the better things ahead as the clock resets and we begin our new timeline.