Merry Christmas!  Hopefully Santa brought you some great stuff this year, and we are wishing you all love, family, joy and peace this holiday season.  Here are some pretty cool things that we can thank Santa for bringing Missouri this year (or maybe we are just counting our blessings!).

1. Both the Cardinals and the Royals were good this year!
www.gamblerspalace.com
In fact, Kansas City went ahead and won the World Series!!! Congrats KC!
2. We are not the poorest state in the country!
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In fact, in a study by mercatus.org which ranked the states by fiscal condition, Missouri was ranked #14. You can check it out here.
3. We got a great new memorial at College of the Ozarks.
http://vfwmo.org
The Missouri Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was dedicated this past April. During the unveiling ceremony, Oliver North said, "The naysayers are gone, but we will remember courage and perseverance and heroism."
4. We really do have pretty awesome Main Streets.
Flickr/ Paul Sableman
The Kauffman Foundation ranked Missouri #8 in Main Street Entrepreneurship focusing on local, established small business activity and their business owners. Visit here to find out more.
5. We are not the LEAST healthy state.
"Unhealthy snacks in cart" by Unknown photographer - This image was released by the National Cancer Institute, an agency part of the National Institutes of Health, with the ID 2395 (image) (next).This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. The Web site of the National Cancer Institute (http://www.cancer.gov).. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons -
Health.com ranked all 50 states, and while a ranking of 36th isn’t exactly great, at least we weren't the least healthy. That honor went to the state of Louisiana. Find out more at health.com.
6. This guy caught a record breaking fish!
Foxnews.com
Lawrence Dillman pulled in the largest striped bass ever recorded on a "pole and line" in the state when he caught the 65.2 pound fish at Bulls Shoals Lake. He said he fought the nearly 50-inch striped bass for over 45 minutes. Read the whole story here.

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7. We are not the MOST dangerous state.
"Quilmes Escudo" by Matuute - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
Lawstreetmedia.com ranked all the states, and named Missouri the #13 most dangerous state. Not exactly good news, of course, but at least we weren’t #1, believe it or not that would be the state of Alaska. Read all about it here.
8. Deer hunters in Missouri had a pretty good year.
http://www.drtobler.com
According to ky3.com, "The Missouri Department of Conservation reports the November firearms season brought in 189,839 deer this year. That’s an increase of more than 23,000 deer, or 14 percent." Read the whole story here.
9. We have nationally ranked high schools.
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In the 2015 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, three Missouri schools received gold medals, 22 were awarded silver medals and 157 got bronze medals.
"Lincoln High School, Kansas City, Missouri. Entrance" by Mwkruse - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons -
Missouri's top-ranked school is Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, which is part of the Kansas City 33 School District. See all the details and results here.
10. We are not the FATTEST state.
Deviantart.com
Calorielab.com named Mississippi the fattest state in the country in 2015, while Missouri is still perhaps needing to go on a diet with a ranking of 18th fattest. You can read more here.
11. It's a pretty "brown Christmas" state-wide.
Steven Kent
While some may be disappointed about no snow on Christmas, it does make things a little easier for traveling and visiting family. And in Missouri...
12. Winter is still coming, and so will the snow.
Flickr/ eyecmore
We still have snow to look forward to, because even though it's getting a late start this year, winter is coming.

What did Santa bring you this year?  What is your favorite thing about Christmas?  Share in the comments below.

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