Well, it’s October now.  The start of the holiday season.  We’re into Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas and Hanukah, then New Year’s, then, etc.  Some say the holiday season begins after Labor Day, and Macy’s has Christmas trees up in August, but I like to wait until October.

The holidays will be different this year.  That’s an understatement.  Kids will still wear masks, but will their masks have masks?  Trick-or-Treating will be different, with social distancing interfering with candy distribution.   Thanksgiving and Christmas have yet to been seen how different they’ll have to be, or will there be an October or November miracle and we’ll be able to approach a more normal holiday season?

But then, what is normal?  It changes over the years.  The Halloweens that I had as a kid were before you were supposed to X-ray your candy to check for razor blades, and I’m sure those put-your-arms-through-and-tie-in-the-back costumes with matching hard plastic masks were more flammable than a Christmas tree in February. 

It’s natural for traditions to change.  To adapt new norms that work for your family and friends.  Life moves forward.  The CDD has some great guidelines on how to get through the holidays safely. 

You can still do great activities with the kids and make good memories for them.  That’s what the holidays are about, the kids.  When I think of holidays with family, I think about how different the holidays are for each progressive generation.  My dad was raised on a farm and he never went trick-or-treating, the nearest neighbor was five miles away!  So, my Halloween was different from his, and my sister’s kids are making it different for their kids, but the common thread is the warm memories we’re all creating.