It’s hard to believe but, once this issue hits newsstands, I will have been serving as editor for The Fountain Hills Times for one year. Without getting to sentimental here, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers, advertisers and staff for coming on this journey with me.

If I’m being honest, I was equal parts excited and terrified when I first stepped into the new role. I’ve been with the paper for 11 years, but there’s a big difference between running a couple of beats and pulling this whole thing together on a weekly basis. The point is, I couldn’t have done it without the support and help of a lot of people, and I’m extremely grateful for all of it.

I hope you like what you’ve seen these past 12 months. It took me some time to get my feet under me and we here at the paper had a lot of surprises thrown in our way, but I’m proud of what we do from top to bottom.

Again, thanks for your time, attention and desire to stay informed about what’s going on around Fountain Hills. You keep reading it and we’ll keep printing it.

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Believe it or not, I’m still not moved into my new place yet. It turns out the holidays are a super busy time of year and not well suited to picking up your whole life and shifting it into a new location. Who knew?!

Either way, things are just about wrapped up and, by the time 2017 rolls around; I’ll have everything sorted out.

I’m high-strung over the whole thing but my cat, Aria, is making me look as cool as a cucumber.

She’s one of those cats that get freaked out over the slightest thing. When living in Flagstaff, I chose to move a couple pieces of furniture in the living room. Her response was to stare at me wide-eyed, trot into the kitchen and then empty her lunch onto the floor.

I had to put her on kitty sedatives just to move to Fountain Hills in 2005 and, even then, she was a yowling wreck all the way down the mountain.

The problem with this move is that it has been a prolonged experience, so she’s watching her entire life slowly disappear in boxes over the course of weeks. She keeps looking at me as if she’s terrified I’ll one day grab the last box and never return.

Here’s hoping she likes the new place!

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Speaking of all of that, shopping and wrapping for the holidays has been something of a unique juggling act this year.

I’ve had so many boxes delivered lately and then added to the pile that I’m starting to get worried one of my family members is going to open their gift and discover my old baseball card collection or, heaven forbid, a box of underwear.

To be fair, those cards are likely worth 100 times as much as their actual gift, but I don’t think that fact will soften the disappointment. That goes double for a box of underwear.

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Finally, it’s time to ring in the New Year Saturday night and we want everyone to have a great time. Just remember to be smart and safe out there and we’ll see you back here in 2017.