You may have noticed something different about Vintage this month. That is, these two months. I've combined December and January into a single issue - first time ever we've been a bimonthly. I guess the mag is no different than most every other business nowadays: We're in belt-tightening mode. Winter months are notoriously slow in terms of advertising, so this consolidation will help with expenses. We'll see what February and March bring, but we'll certainly be back to monthly production by April. Just the other day - the mag's future unbeknownst to her - a reader said to me, "The only complaint I have about Vintage is that it doesn't come out often enough!" Oops. Sorry!
This issue contains another first for Vintage : The cover photo is unrelated to any of the articles herein. I just liked it. (It sure is great being boss!) That is Mack, a friend's Tennessee Walking Horse, at our farm in February 2010. Remember that record-making snowfall? It was record-making for me because I had lived here in Southwest Georgia at that time for 16 years, and that was the very first flake of the white stuff I witnessed here in all that time. Fortunately, I can go "home" to Virginia and see it occasionally.
Of course, it snowed again this past winter of 2011, which makes me wonder if we're onto a pattern in this so-called climate change phenomenon. As I write this, it is mid-November and we just broke the record for daytime highs at 86 degrees. Ug.
For many people, the holidays are the happiest time of the year. They feel festive, they savor their traditions and they look forward to celebrating with loved ones. But others dread the holidays, each for their own reasons. For some, there is just too much to do, too many expectations and demands, whether self-imposed or insinuated by others. For others, the holidays mean events and get-togethers that are stressful, often with people they would rather avoid. And still others find that the holidays reawaken grief for loved ones lost and for better times past.
Because people can have such different reactions to the same events, many researchers have asked, “What makes some people happy, and others not?” A number of different strands of research shed light on the question. The first is that of optimism versus pessimism.
