A list of five:

1. Teresita. She is so good for what ails me. I’m not sure you could extract my cork with a tractor if it wasn’t for her, and after all these years, I think we still make each other laugh. I’m just so grateful that she’s my wife and my best friend.

2. New music. Most people my age long ago stopped listening to new music, settling on/for the groups/songs they remember from their 20s and perhaps their 30s. But I still discover new music all the time, and although it increasingly drifts toward the acoustic/folky/Americana/old-fart zone, it’s still new.

My favorite album of the year is James McMurtry’s “Complicated Game,” which, in the best McMurtry tradition, is really a series of short stories wrapped around melodies. McMurtry is such a good writer that people don’t always realize he’s a one-percenter guitarist as well, and this acoustic album doesn’t let him show off those chops, but the stories he tells are spellbinding. And there was so much other good music from Jason Isbell and The Black Lillies and Watkins Family Hour and Alabama Shakes and The Decemberists and JD McPherson and The Lone Bellow and Steve Earle on and on and on. And I went to Cayamo again, which is so off-the-charts special that it’s impossible to adequately explain.

3. A job that consistently brings me joy. You have to understand: I’ve had amazing jobs for the last two decades-plus, but many (not all) of them have been poisoned by a collapsing business model or entrenched bureaucracy or ridiculous bosses or some combination thereof. But I’m still one of those freaks who believes journalism is a calling, not a job. It’s not a calling if it doesn’t bring you joy at some level; it’s just a paycheck. I like money as much as the next person, but paychecks aren’t really what motivate me any more. And now I’m surrounded by people who aren’t bitter, who aren’t cynical, who aren’t lazily living off of some accomplishment in their past. That is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.

4. The fact that *I’m* still playing music. Heck, if anything, I’m more active musically than I’ve been at any time in my life. I’m going to turn 56 in a few weeks, and if you had told me Once Upon A Time that I’d be playing gigs when I was *36,* I would have laughed at you. But I probably played 40 or so shows this year, and I’ll probably have a similar number in 2016.

5. Adventures. I’ve had a few. There are more ahead. In February, I’m going to spend a week on a small island that has a handful of semi-permanent dwellings, a whole bunch of shack bars that cater to sailors anchored out in various harbors, and some of the very best beaches on the planet. My wife is concerned that I can’t hang in that atmosphere without reflexively reaching for my smartphone. She is so very wrong.

So, Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope you have some developments for which you are thankful this year, and if not, remember: 2016 is only a week away.