A Merry Christmas, to all our fans!

Ah, Christmas… I hope you will excuse the rushed nature of this little holiday message, as I am currently at a bus station, waiting for a bus to visit my relatives. I could have just wrote “Merry Christmas, everyone!” and left it at that, but I had some more sincere thoughts on the mind that I wanted to share.

It would be easy to just wish everyone a merry Christmas, and to say that we hope your holidays are filled with nothing but joy and love, but we know it doesn’t always work out that way. While some are finding it easy to cozy up with loved ones, with a big merry feast, others are alone and dealing with hardships. Christmas itself doesn’t magically make everything better for everyone, everywhere. A lot of us still end up having to deal with unfortunate circumstances. Maybe you find yourself alone this year. Maybe you are forced to work, or otherwise spend the evening away from your loved ones. Maybe some recent tragedy has left a painful scar. We know all too well how rough life can treat you, when you're supposed to be given some reprieve, at least once a year.

But ultimately we cannot expect circumstances to carve our happiness for us, can we? Happiness is not something that just happens; it is hard-fought and earned through striving for it, in spite all the gut-punches that life and circumstance may throw our way. It is self-made, through a stubborn desire to not allow things beyond our control to dictate how we should feel and how we should spend our days. We are the masters of our own fate, and we make our own joy when there is none to be found. That is the resilience of the human spirit.

So from the bottom of our hearts, to all our fans, friends, family and loved ones, to all the freaks, NEETs, creeps, loners and weirdos out there, we wish a very Merry Christmas and we sincerely hope that all of you manage to find the will and stubbornness to find some joy and happiness tonight!