Well, the consensus appears to be in: New Year's Eve is the worst. If you're not drunk, crying, or fighting with a significant other around 1 a.m. while trying to find a cab in bare feet because you wore stupid shoes, you're taking care of a friend who's doing all three with gusto. It's enough to make a person want to stay home.
Actually, that's suggestion No. 1. While it is possible to go out and not spend your life savings and have a great time -- for options that cost $20 or under, step right this way -- it's also true that staying home, whether with a bottle of your favorite Scotch and your Netflix queue or with a carefully curated handful of your favorite humans, is a really good way to point your 2016 in the direction of positivity.
So is making donations to a good local organization, of course -- like, say, San Francisco's Women's Building. But we'll let you make your charitable donation choices on your own. You also know when and how you want to do yoga, call your mother, or any of the other high-minded activities that are sure to cleanse your soul in time for the new year.
Got that taken care of? Good. Here are 10 more things to see/read/hear/do that will kick your year off on the right note.
Let Aretha Franklin bring you to happy tears with this rendition of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors.