Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for sharing your stories this past year. I'm truly blessed to have the opportunity to shine a light on our very special communities. Looking back at this column for the past year, it's always bittersweet ... with so many happy, exciting and heartwarming tales told and also the sad goodbyes to people who enriched our lives.

In 2012 this column included over 2,000 Main Street birthday wishes. This was the year I celebrated my milestone 60th along with many of my Coeur d'Alene High '70 classmates. The most senior member of the birthday club, the beautiful and feisty Betty Owens, marked her 105th year on 11/11. State Rep. Frank Henderson is still going strong after celebrating his 90th birthday earlier this month. Then there were my two new friends, Sialas Tripp and Alexis Davis, celebrating their 12th birthdays on 12/12/12. The Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce turned 100 this year, too.

As it is with the seasons of life, 2012 was marked by losses as well. Dear friends American Legion Commander John Dunlap, Col. (retired) Ray Zuleski and Marilyn Deutsch left us too soon as did high school classmate Jimmy Boyer, former State Rep. Clyde Boatright, longtime Lions Club member Bill Sutton, Highway District Commissioner Marv Lekstrum, Father George Rassley, Herb Cheeley - USMC Korea combat veteran, Eleanor Priano - North Idaho native daughter of a Bunker Hill hard rock miner, Dr. Duane Daugharty, another veteran of the Greatest Generation, Mike Darcy - recreation specialist and outdoorsman, and Jovi Preston - a precious baby girl, are but a few of those leaving us this past year.

2012 brought one of the most contentious and polarizing local and national election cycles in my memory and nationally the "fiscal cliff" looms, but here in our little corner of paradise we should remember that incredible acts of generosity and good deeds are what define our community. How fitting that the year ends with the opening of the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County, made possible by determined people with vision and those who reached deep into their pockets to provide the capital investment in our children.

Wishing Main Street readers the best in the new year, making memories to last.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

For the 18th year the giant wreath on the side of The Coeur d'Alene Resort was created by Connie O'Neal and her husband, Danny. The boughs are hand-cut in Hauser Lake for the four sections totaling 25 feet in width. The sections are brought to The Resort on a flatbed truck and then lifted up to the roof of the parking garage for assembling. Enjoy your last look at 2012, literally and figuratively!

If ringing in the new year at midnight is long past your bedtime, the 2nd Annual East Coast Toast at the Jacklin Arts & Culture Center is just for you. We attended this event last year and it was great fun to celebrate the arrival of 2013 in the Eastern Time Zone, which is 9 p.m. in these parts. Call the Post Falls Chamber for info and tickets, 773-5016.

Hangovers are optional to join in the fun on New Year's Day in the Hangover Handicap Fun Run to benefit Tesh. Then you can join hundreds of other brave or foolhardy people by jumping in the lake for the Polar Bear Plunge at Sanders Beach. I'll be there bundled up in front of the bonfire at Robert and Susan Cliff's, camera in hand.

Happy Birthday today to Stephanie Peugh, Tom Coit (60!), Lisa Hoffeld (40!), Roxanne Gunther and Lisa Herzog. On Thursday Marc Stewart, Doreen Irving, Ron Branson, Sandra Spenser, Larry Ruff, Freeman Duncan, John Davis, Anne Burg and Butch Peacock will blow out the candles. Friday birthdays belong to Chris Holloway, Annie McCloskey and Linda Thurman. The effervescent Jaime Johnson along with John Martin, Kathy Baker-Carothers, Toni Capaul, Molly Shaw, Jamie Helm, Tammy Engen, Connie Haggerty, Sheila Wayman and Debbie Trimble share Saturday birthdays. On Sunday Tamara Poelstra, Marsha Dornquist, Diane Ahlers, Bryce Raynor and Dave Dutro will celebrate. New Year's Eve birthdays belong to Cheryl Freeman, Gloria Stuart, Sarah Hood Chase, Phyllis Koepsell, Shaun Leary, Sandy Hansberry-Thompson and Crystal Dean. On Jan. 1, aka New Year's Day, Ron Jacobson, Jan Leaf, Kathy Edinger Dingman, Linda Jordan, Jessica Froehlich Hammond, David Attridge, Dianna Owens, Linda Cook, Holly Childers, Katrina Boyer, Johanna Johnson, Declan Jones, Cheryl Shepherd, sisters Shaun Williams and Shana Crimp, along with 86-years-young Edie Miller celebrate the first Main Street birthdays of 2013. Rick and Vicki Currie and John and Kay McGruder celebrate their wedding anniversaries on New Year's Eve while Frank and Jeannie Peugh mark 50 years of marriage on New Years Day!

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri is on the air Mondays and Wednesdays on 1080 ESPN AM (KVNI). Find her on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com.