Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

2016 was...interesting, to say the least. Many people hated 2016; granted, a lot of negative things did happen this year. A large number of influencers and artists passed away, an election divided our country, and violence and hate continued to tear our world apart. I'm not going to try to sugarcoat it: it was a tough year for a lot of people. But I've never been one to focus on the negative. I always try to see the positive, especially in difficult situations, so I'm looking back at the positive highlights of my own 2016.

—To start 2016, I started this blog! It's been so much fun to do, and I have some great projects in the works for the new year.

—My nephew and godson turned one, and I got to spend another incredible year watching him grow and learn. He also said my name for the first time this year (both as "Rah-Rah" and as "Sarah")!

—I got to go on two amazing trips to New York City. The first was in April with Ed on Campus during which we visited a number of magazines and got to visit with editors. The second was in July for Her Conference, which featured great speakers and workshops. During this trip I also bonded with three Her Campus Iowa girls, and they are now some of my best friends.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!

Christmastime is probably my favorite time of the year. I love everything about the holiday season: time with family, giving gifts, the music, the mood, the food. People are so joyful and kind during the holidays, and while I wish everyone could be this way year-round, it makes me so happy to see others so happy and excited during this time. I also think there's something just so magical about this time of year. As children, we believe in the magic of Santa and winter break and just the whole season. It can be difficult to hold onto that magic as we grow older, but there are ways to recognize that magic and spread it around as we grow up.

While it's fun and exciting to receive presents during the holidays, there's something almost more magical about giving. Taking the time to pick out a gift for someone special that you just know they will love creates so much love and happiness in our hearts. Volunteering to give others a better holiday than they might have had spreads the joy of the season. Spending time with family reminds us of the love we've always known. Traditions show us where we come from and remind us what's important to us during this most wonderful time of the year.

I've put together a list of some of my favorite parts of the holiday season. These are things that help me rediscover the magic I felt as a child during Christmas year after year, even though I'm grown up now. We don't have to lose that magic that we felt as children. Sometimes we just have to be reminded how to find it again.

She was blindly following whatever impulse moved her, as if she had placed herself in alien hands for direction, and freed her soul of responsibility.

It is a time to refresh! There are many reasons to let go and relax a little bit right now, which always helps me to feel refreshed. While I'm not the biggest fan of change, as you know, endings and beginnings can be good and exciting. I've got three exciting and refreshing changes happening right now, so I wanted to share a little bit about them with you.

The semester is over

Another semester at the University of Iowa has come to an end. It's hard to believe that I've finished five semesters at Iowa and only have two left. Having only two semesters left technically makes me a senior, and I've got many mixed emotions about that.

This semester went by so fast, and it may have been my busiest semester yet. While I took fewer semester hours, I also had an internship this semester. Logging on and working during those set hours during the week meant there was less time during the day to do homework, which meant I was doing more of it at night. Overall, my internship was an amazing experience, and I'm so happy that I did it. It's hard to find internships to do during school, so being able to do it remotely worked out perfectly. I didn't post much of my work throughout the semester, so if you want to check out everything I wrote for Her Campus (nationals) during the semester, you can check out my author page.

Maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Of course it's because of the food. Who can resist a Thanksgiving feast?! But as I've grown older, I've come to appreciate the bigger meaning behind Thanksgiving: giving thanks.

Gratitude is so important for so many reasons. Not only is it important to be grateful; it's also very important to give thanks to those around you who you're thankful for. Make your thanks known!

There are so many amazing things to be thankful for, and there are just as many ways to give thanks for those things and people and experiences you are thankful for. This year I am thankful for...

The past beats inside me like a second heart.

Grandma's front door.

This past weekend was filled with violence and loss and overwhelming sadness. I don't understand how people can be so cruel and hateful. It just doesn't make sense to me.

In a world where such tragedies happen far too often, I sometimes wonder if I would be better off hearing about them as a child. As children, we didn't truly understand what all of these things meant. We didn't understand hate or violence or cruelty or even death. We understood kindness and friends and acceptance. I wish I still lived in a world where I thought everyone believed in those things, practiced those things, lived those things.