Let’s keep the Christmas lights up longer this winter

When the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, not many will be sorry to bid adieu to 2020.

It has been a dark year for Canadians and people around the world, rife with death, unemployment and all the anxieties that accompany a constant lack of human connection.

The pandemic and its associated restrictions have kept families and loved ones apart for most of 2020. So when the weather showed the slightest signs of cooling down, our collective conscience quickly made the association: Winter means holidays are coming!

In the before-times, many have scoffed at signs of holiday decorations displayed before Remembrance Day. Not this year.

This year, the Christmas tree farms reported shortages in midNovember and twinkling, festive lights made their comeback in neighbourhoods across Canada long before the first week of December.

In a year when gatherings were banned at every step, putting up holiday decorations was one of the few remaining traditions over which we had any control.

Kick-starting the season early was a way of prolonging the celebratory period, and offering an outward display of friendliness and warmth to our neighbours.

But what happens when the holidays are over?

When Christmas has come and gone and we’ve celebrated the end of an objectively horrendous year, 2021 still lies ahead in all its challenging glory.

Before we get to a point where mass immunization saves the day, there still lies a cold, dark, winter ahead.

One might argue that if we did what we do every year and take down the lights as soon as the new year begins, that act of saying goodbye to the holidays is, in itself, a tradition. But that is one tradition we should postpone in 2021.

This time, the new year won’t bring with it a fresh slate. We have several more months of working or studying from home and seeing loved ones only through our screens.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, up to five per cent of Canadians already suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Another 10 to 15 per cent of Canadians have milder symptoms of the disorder, while a third of the population reported feeling “seasonal blues.”

Combine these regular seasonal mood changes with the fact that many peoples’ mental health has gone through the wringer in 2020, and you have a compelling reason to keep some festive spirit around in the new year.

So when 2021 comes around, let’s not be in a rush to take down our own holiday lights or pass judgment against those who choose to keep theirs up for a few more weeks (or even months).

Let’s keep these warm symbols that have made the pandemic winter more palatable so far up for a little longer than usual.

Just this once.