By Jim Johnson
SouthernPigskin.com

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Christmas is a time for hope. A new year means a new beginning, a clean slate. For Georgia, its a chance at bowl season redemption.

Georgia fans have had a tough go of it this season. Even the holidays, whilst a respite from the grind of daily life, offered nothing in the way of enjoyment via football.

The typical good spirits of both Halloween and Thanksgiving were dampened by losses, at the hands of the Bulldogs two greatest rivals, no less.

Kody Trowbridge, a current student at the University of Georgia, described the Halloween weekend loss to Florida saying, cIt left me cold and empty. I was somewhere between inconsolable heartbreak and unmitigated rage. I only cried a little.d

(Kody Trowbridge via Facebook)

Another Georgia student, Ridge Harrison, who dates a Georgia Tech student was deeply, and quite personally affected by the barnburner Thanksgiving weekend loss to the Yellow Jackets.

cNot only did it basically ruin Thanksgiving,d Harrison stated, cbut it just about ended my relationship.d

Christmas, however, is a time for hope. A new year means a new beginning, a clean slate. For Georgia, its a chance at bowl season redemption.

cTis the season to beat TCU,d said Mark Johnson, a graduate of the University of Georgia class of 1986, betwixt verses of Glory, Glory sung to the tune of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.

Santa Claus already left about 932 pounds worth of gifts under Kirby Smarts tree in the form of Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Davin Bellamy, and Lorenzo Carter.

A bowl win to finish a respectable, albeit underwhelming, 8-5 would be the icing on the cake, the star upon the highest branch.

It wont be a gimme by any stretch. TCU has one of the top 25 passing offenses in the country, and a better rush offense than Georgia, as well. Georgias top 20 secondary will be tested by the Horned Frogs, no doubt.

TCU speed rusher Josh Carraway is exactly the type of defensive end/outside linebacker that has given the 8Dawgs offensive line fits since Tyler Catalina first stepped foot in Athens.

There is one thing, above all else, to keep an eye on, though.

The last time Nick Chubb played in a bowl game, he went for 266 against Louisvilles top ten rushing defense. Chubbs 2016 opponent is ranked closer to the bottom than it is to the top ten.

Perhaps it will be Chubb, almost certainly Smarts favorite early present, that leads Georgia, on New Years Eve eve, into 2017 on a winning note.

Maybe hell redefine the very idea of 8Saint Nick.