For one year — just one year! — What if we all tried to be Mass. boosters, rather than Mass. criticizers, Mass. fault-finders or plain old Massholes?

What if we made that a New Year’s Resolution that we actually stick with until December?

If you’re a resident of Massachusetts, you can undoubtedly add to this list of problems that our state has: high taxes, pricey housing, unreliable public transit, bad traffic, cold weather, elected officials emitting hot air and residents voting with their feet by moving.

But if there was ever a year to look at the Dunkin’ cup as half full, I’d argue that 2026 is it.

A partial list of good stuff we could be bragging about would include:

• An NFL team that won its first playoff game with a quarterback who could be the season’s MVP, and an NBA team that surprisingly has a solid chance of making it to the playoffs.

• Boston is continuing to get better at enjoying winter, with Frostival and Winteractive. A Ferris wheel on the Greenway? A “street snowboarding” contest on City Hall Plaza? I’ll be there!

• The inaugural season of Boston Legacy FC, our new National Women’s Soccer League team, opens in March.

• Seven FIFA World Cup games will be held in Foxborough in June.

• Marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July and other Revolutionary happenings throughout the year.

• Later in July, a fleet of tall ships from around the world arrives in Boston Harbor for Sail Boston.

• Worcester and Auburn are getting ready to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the birth of modern rocketry, with Robert Goddard’s early tests in 1926. In other nerdy news, the MIT Museum has plans to mark the 50^th birthday of the biotech industry in Cambridge. Just two of many major industries born in Massachusetts.

Most residents of other states would view two or three of those things as opportunities to boast or back-pat.

They’d invite friends and relatives from all over to come for a visit, and see it as an opportunity to show off their state’s positives — or at least to appreciate the work it took to bring these things together in a single year.

Maybe we should, too.

Traffic will be bad at times. Hotel and Airbnb prices will skyrocket.

And you could live up to the stereotype by bemoaning that. Or you could see 2026 as a pretty great year to live in Massachusetts.

The East Rochester Library has been added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, according to a community announcement.

John McLain, president of the East Rochester Library Association, reacted to the designation: “This is exciting news! The process of obtaining this status has been a long and difficult one, with hours upon hours of research and documentation by our volunteers.”

In an official letter, the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources congratulated the library association on the listing and recognized their efforts and the property’s significance.

The division also expressed appreciation for the association’s stewardship and commitment to preserving an important part of New Hampshire’s heritage.

This story was created by Kimberly Green, KGreen@usatodayco.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more.