Taking down the Christmas decorations makes me sad. When we decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, it is a family affair. Everyone is excited for the upcoming holiday season, and they want to put “their” ornaments on the tree. We have a lot of ballerina and basketball ornaments, in addition to ones commemorating vacations and special events. But putting the decorations away is a solitary endeavor. I end up organizing them into boxes by myself. I become more nostalgic and a bit melancholy remembering the first Christmases and the trips when my children were little. The house is less festive. We must readjust to the ordinary. 

And while we might have high hopes for the new year in many respects, the return to our normal routines of school and work can be disheartening. The weather turns colder and grayer as the sun is less prominent. In Texas, we’ve experienced some ice storms in the past few years that have produced electricity outages, rolling blackouts, and the inability to leave home. We can suffer more loneliness because we have fewer opportunities to gather. Our busy schedules during the holidays may slow so that time feels like it is creeping along. We may find ourselves physically sick from illnesses that make the rounds in the winter or from stress and exhaustion after the holidays. We may find ourselves struggling with depression or seasonal affect disorder. 

Becoming aware that some of us suffer through the early months of the year is important. First, this awareness can help us if we start to slip into these situations. We don’t need to assume we are overreacting. We can’t dismiss our issues or keep powering through without dealing with our mental, emotional, or physical health. Many people don’t take their own health seriously enough, and this can lead to more dire problems later. Second, we must be cognizant of what is happening in other people’s lives. Isolation is a real problem that crops up when we feel disconnected or down. We need to check on our friends and reach out to those who might not have others on whom they can depend. Simply knowing someone else cares may prompt them to ask for help. Just a text telling another that you’re thinking of them can be the bright spot that gets them through the day. 

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “In the Bleak Midwinter,” which imagines harsh winds, frozen water, and “snow on snow on snow” long ago during Jesus’ birth. I only learned about this song as an adult, so I think I better understood those feelings of longing and scarceness the author Christina Georgina Rossetti expressed. At the end of the song, she asks what she could give Jesus compared to the shepherds and wise men and determines that poor as she is, she can give Jesus her heart. When we take care of ourselves and others, we express the love of God and serve with our hearts. Let us look out for one another because we may offer the only warmth that another person feels in the bleak midwinter.