It’s that time of year again, the moment when I revisit all the things that happened in 2016 — the  good, the bad, and the ugly, all before clinking our champagne flutes on New Year’s Eve.

A few undeniably good things came to pass and are notable in this reverie of 12 months.

For the first time in 100 years, the global number or tigers rose and conservation experts credit this with better coordinated efforts among nations that serve as natural habitats for tigers.

Harriet Tubman, a former slave and African-American abolitionist who helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad, will replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of $20 bills.

The teen birth rate reached an all-time low.

Team USA brought home the gold from the Rio Olympics.

The National Park Service turned 100.

The Americas became measles-free. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series. And Humpback whales were removed from the endangered species list, having recovered their numbers over the past five decades.

While these facts are unrelated, they are all auspicious in their own way and should be recognized.

We bid farewell to some legends this year that will forever live on in our hearts: Muhammad Ali, Nancy Reagan, David Bowie, Florence Henderson, forever etched in our memories as Mrs. Brady; comic geniuses Garry Shandling and Gene Wilder; Patty Duke, Harper Lee, Prince, Zsa Zsa Gabor and all her glamour, George Michael, who gave us such hits as “Careless Whisper” and “Father Figure,” and the icon who will always be remembered as Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher.

On a personal note, my year was full of change as I became bi-residential, moving out west to Colorado where the snow piles up for weeks and heading back to my townhouse on the brick streets of Vicksburg every chance I get. I have yet to make snow angels or a snowman. It’s just too cold, but it’s on my list before I sing “Auld Lang Syne” this NYE.

Just for fun, here are a few more inspiring good acts which caught my attention in 2016: 500 elephants were relocated to a better, safer, and bigger home; we made massive strides in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease; two brothers saw color for the first time thanks to specially-designed glasses; 200 strangers attended the funeral of a homeless World War II veteran with no family; Toys R Us offered quiet shopping hours for kids with autism this holiday season; and a 4-year-old befriended an elderly man who lost his wife, helping him heal his broken heart.

I bought a bicycle and rode it for the first time in 30-plus years, which made me smile and others laugh. So, as we usher in a New Year, I leave you with the words of heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali: “Live every day as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.”

Pretty good advice.

David Creel is a Mississippi native and syndicated columnist. You may reach him at beautifulwithdavid@gmail.com.