By Dennis Richardson, Magic Valley Publishing
Smiles on faces, cheerful discussions, general happy tones. Even masks aren’t keeping people from being a little merrier and happier.
It is Christmas.
The merriest time of the year. Brotherly love. That is the way it should be. Occasional grouch encounters are somewhat acceptable.
All over social media cheerful and thoughtful posts pop up like “If you are not afraid to say Merry Christmas please do so and share.” “Jesus is the reason for the season,” another post says. These are just two of hundreds streaming on my feeds.
It is the Christmas Season. Some refer to it simply as Holiday Season or Winter Vacation to appear politically correct and not offend anyone. I will always call it the Christmas Season.
While Jesus Christ may or may not have been born on December 25, the fact is that he was born. He is a real figure verified through thousands of accounts. We read in Matthew 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
Christmas was magical as a child. It still brings very special and warm meanings to us old folks who remember Christmas during a much simpler time when families did not spend small fortunes on the latest arsenal of toys and gadgets.
It was fun to salivate over the pages of the “Christmas Wish Book” annually published and distributed by Sears, Roebuck and Co.
While we didn’t have a quarter between us, my brother and I would pretend we had a thousand bucks to spend and make a list as to what we would buy. Those were good times.
On Christmas Eve us kids would search out the longest socks we could and hang them by the fireplace. By morning they would be bulging with lumps indicating they contained such goodies as walnuts, apples, oranges, some candy and a small toy or two. Those socks would double as mittens to roll up snow into snowmen and snow forts and make snowballs for ammunition and stuff like that. Yes, I remember one really good snow at Christmas. It has been a decade since our last white Christmas in our parts.
Families will have tough times getting together in person this Christmas as COVID-19 rapidly spreads and our Governor just issued another executive order to limit gatherings. We have Facetime, ZOOM and the old-fashioned phone calls. Christmas cards with family pictures seem to arrive daily.
With Christmas falling on Friday in 2020 many will enjoy three-day and four-day weekends.
However each of our readers celebrates Christmas we hope it is a very happy one and that all will stay safe from the virus.
This Christmas Season is like none other.
Our community newspaper continues to bring a little rays of sunshine into each home. Have news to report (large or small and hopefully good news? Let us know so that we may share the old-fashioned way.
Dennis Richardson is the CEO of Magic Valley Publishing, Inc., which owns the Chester County Independent.
