City Notebook: Have yourself a merry little Christmas

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on December 12, 2020.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

As the song says, “have yourself a merry little Christmas,” and I guess that’s what we’ll have to do this year.

“Little” due to new health orders to keep the one-in-six Albertans, totalling 700,000 who have “comorbidities,” from suffering grave illness or death from the coronavirus.

“Merry” because, well, it’s Christmas.

In a year where everything went off track or at least off script, there’s no reason that small joys of the Holiday Season can’t fill the void of large ones.

True, “alone at Christmas” are among the saddest words in the western world, and there’s no shame in admitting that.

Typically, we hope that we’d be kind enough to welcome the lonely into our homes, to spread comfort and joy, to lend a hand, to give more than we receive, to make peace and be with the one’s we love.

That’s obscured by COVID, but it’s hoped the Christmas traditions that really matter can shine through the most difficult of circumstances.

Nothing beats a traditional Christmas, and we all know that “Christmas just isn’t Christmas without” your mother-in-law’s rolls or stopping in with uncles, or insert your tradition here.

But, let’s not forget the fact that’s beyond cliche to say the holidays are made more stressful by the unprecedented expectations that people place on themselves and others.

We all have an inner grumble about Christmas – stringing lights, driving across a snow-swept prairie to sleep on someone’s couch, that one insufferable party guest, eating leftover turkey until Labour Day, or whatever.

But those typically melt away in memories, and so will this year’s frustrations eventually.

There are bigger worries, of course. Job losses. Struggling businesses. Health concerns. The future.

We’ve all spent Christmases too far from someone we love, and we all will again.

But it’s more important to not let distance become the focus of Christmas.

While it’s the law as well as good advice to remain distanced this year, no government order can change how you feel in your heart. It is important to note that no government is trying.

Any religious authority will tell you, the church is the not the building but the people of it, and the individual, the most important part.

Having Christmas in your heart is better than any hippopotamus under the tree.

Sharing that feeling is better yet.

This is why the best Christmas stories are essentially tales of redemption, in which the Ebeneezer Scrooges and even the generally overstressed can experience miracles large and small.

Cynics and sinners are saved by either, in the original sense, the arrival of the Son of God, or by mysterious clues of Santa, or the general goodwill of mankind.

That last one is us, everyone.

And a happy new year

Don’t forget however that we’re also preparing to dispatch the 2020 calendar to the blue recycling bin of history.

Sunday may mark 12 days until Christmas (partridges, take your positions), but also less than three weeks until the first day of 2021.

That’s no blank slate, but it is a clear demarcation point from a year that was never supposed to end.

From a challenging year with no end of woe in sight will come a year with obvious challenges, but also promise.

It’s almost a guarantee that you’ll be able to shake hands with someone outside your household in 2021. Or, hug a grandparent, a grandchild, split a donut, or whatever else floats your boat.

A look ahead

The Alberta legislature has risen from the fall sitting, and after a budget approval and 2021 utility rate setting where accomplished on Dec. 7, there’s some question about what will be discussed at council’s final meeting of 2021 on Dec. 21. A review of how city business units calculate and allocate dividends that was promised in last week’s city budget amendments lands in the hands of council’s corporate services committee on Tuesday.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

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