Christmas is comin’! Do you feel the Christmas spirit?

Quite possibly the answer is no… or not quite… or not yet. You may be struggling to find it, and feeling that it just doesn’t seem to come this year.

Have you thought about MAKING it come? We often feel that things like this ought to happen spontaneously, but in fact hardly ANYTHING happens that way. People DECIDE to stir up a mob, and other people DECIDE to join in. There’s nothing spontaneous about it.

On a cheerier note, you can DECIDE to bring the Christmas spirit into your life. We try each year to do something different for Christmas. Last year we took a chilly December Saturday to wander along Owego’s Riverrow. The street, the bridge, and surrounding neighborhoods are decked out enthusiastically. We wandered into a few stores (with masks!), ordered and ate lunch (at an outside table!). We just enjoyed sharing Owego’s Christmas.

This year we went in the opposite direction from Bath, to the snowy Rochester Public Market, where we rambled around the stalls, enjoying the music and the decorations.

We also have traditional things we do just about every year. Yesterday we visited Rockwell Museum to see this year’s entries in the Gingerbread Invitational – with such creations as “Gourdlandia”… a 3-D Corning montage… Watkins Glen… Taughannock Falls… a bears’ picnic. Tuscarora School children envisioned themselves having class in a railroad car.

Afterward you can see the rest of the museum! You can also stroll Corning’s Market Street, noting that silver seems to be a theme color this year, just as giant Christmas bulbs are common. Only one place has three life-size reindeer, though. See how long it takes you to spot them!

Besides Corning and Owego, Canandaigua (LONG Main Street) and Penn Yan (short Main Street) are places that can give you their own infusion of Christmas. So can gaslight-lit Wellsboro, in nearby Pennsylvania.

Sometime this week we expect to drive around Bath after sunset, enjoying the many illuminations, and the lovely star that shines down on the village from Mossy Bank. Another “regular” event, which we’ll probably do this weekend, is visit the holiday miniatures show at the National Soaring Museum. (Old-timers will recall that this exhibit of dollhouses, toys, and models used to be at CURTISS Museum.)

Be prepared to pivot, and capitalize on the unexpected! One year Joyce was in Sayre Hospital for several December days, with unexpected heart trouble, but we all appreciated the carol singers.

You’re reasonably in charge of what you read, and what you watch, and what you listen to. Maybe you have a favorite Christmas movie: The Bishop’s Wife; The Preacher’s Wife; It Happened on Fifth Avenue; Love Actually; A Christmas Carol; Santa Claus Conquers the Martians! You’re not out to impress anybody. Put in a disc, call up a screening service, catch a broadcast – sit down and give yourself permission to ENJOY yourself.

You can also give yourself permission to skip something. Honest. “But it wouldn’t be Christmas without…!” Well, actually it would. If doing it’s going to burden you, instead of letting you enjoy the season – skip it. If you want to bake cookies, great. You can also buy them. And you should, rather than beat yourself down, or make life miserable for those around you. Forgive yourself. However you feel about Christmas or religion, the holiday clearly has SOME connection to Jesus. He talked a lot about forgiveness. Go ahead and forgive yourself. And enjoy the days.