There’s a strange shift that happens around this point in the year: time seems to accelerate. Summer moves at an easy, unhurried pace. Then autumn drifts in - crisp, deliberate - and you catch yourself thinking, “Hey buddy, maybe grab a jacket… or maybe not.” But once November arrives, it’s as if the whole season tips forward. Suddenly the days rush by, one after another, and you’re just trying to keep up.School runs, holiday prep, getting a Christmas tree, replacing the ornament that didn’t survive last year, “advising” Santa on presents, booking the ski holiday (always too late), work deadlines - everything comes flying at you as you white-knuckle your way through the calendar.

And then, almost without warning…

Boom!
It’s January.
Happy New Year, dad. Congrats - you survived another one.

The Dad Journal will help you navigate the Christmas hustle.
Expect a gift guide for kids, plus a special holiday edition of the Dad’s Cookbook. If you’re hosting a New Year’s Eve gathering, you’ll have plenty of recipes to choose from - including my very own New Year specialty, the dish I make only for NY dinners. Guests who’ve tried it lovingly refer to it as “potato with potato with potato”.
For very good reasons.

There’s also an update coming to the app. Quite a few of you asked for an “Export to Markdown” feature, so I’ll make sure it - along with a few secret extras - lands before the final clock chime of the year.

It’s not just deadlines piling up for me this time. Like many other dads on this side of the planet, I’m getting lucky: next week I’m off to Berlin for one of the Radiohead shows announced earlier this year. A very rare occasion to see them live - a proper gift if you care even slightly about what’s been happening in music over the last 30 years.
(I mean, Pablo Honey came out in 1993. Let that sink in. Jesus.)

And if you’re not in the mood for Thom Yorke’s beautifully melancholic existential spiral, there’s the final season of Stranger Things - with the last episode dropping exactly on December 31. A perfect excuse to round off the year with a little nostalgia, a little suspense, and maybe a bowl of snacks you don’t intend to share.

So take your pick, dads.
Whether you end the year with soaring guitars or supernatural mayhem, at least finish it with gusto.

Y.