The Superior Express -

Not knowing if any or all of our family are coming to stay part of the Christmas season at our home, left me trying to figure out just how much decorating I should do this year of the COVID virus. This time of the year most all of our children and grandchildren make their way to our house to eat a holiday meal or two. Then we gather around the brightly decorated Christmas tree and amongst the laughter, and chattering, the gifts are unwrapped.

My husband suggested we just skip the usual holiday decorating this year, but with it being my favorite time of the year, I knew I had to do some decorating. I headed to the basement storage shelves and begin pulling out the plastic storage bins marked “Christmas.” As I pulled down numerous bins, I hadn’t realized how many decorations we had. Lining them up on the basement floor, the lids removed one by one. I asked myself, just what do I use this year? Of course, we needed a Christmas tree. Soon a tree with all the fixings was stationed between the living room and kitchen areas. The fireplace mantel had to be decorated so some decorations were taken upstairs. The wooden figurines that make up the nativity scene were placed on a corner of the counter top. Soon the Christmas centerpiece was in place on the dining room table. The lights were placed on the outside porch railing. There were other additions made throughout the house here and there.

When my husband walked into the house that evening for supper, he quickly looked around and calmly said, “I thought you weren’t going to put up a lot of decorations this Christmas?” I assured him that not all the decorations were out. And as he helped me lift and put the remaining bins back onto the storage shelves, he knew there was still a lot of unused decorations left in those bins.

As I looked around the house and saw the decorations, the flashing lights and the decorated tree, I was glad I had decided to do what I’d done. Even if the young ones decide not to come home this year, the Christmas decorations will be for my husband and my holiday spirits to be uplifted during this one of a kind Christmas. No matter what, COVID distancing or not, we need to have our Christmas and remember the REAL reason is in observing and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior.