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Editorial

As the Helena Christmas parade turned 50 this year, it got us thinking about traditions that make the holiday season so special.

This year, many communities celebrated the holiday with their annual parades, tree lighting ceremonies and gatherings, while Santa Claus is still set to visit them on Christmas Eve thanks to the efforts of our local fire departments.

Helena’s parade was a prime example, celebrating 50 years of Christmas joy. That is truly magical and a tradition that has impacted many families for multiple generations.

Parents take their kids, they create memories, and it creates a lifelong moment that they’ll be able to reflect on down the road.

In addition to that, Pelham decided to start its own tradition by creating a parade this holiday season, having thousands attend the parade.

The common theme of those events is bringing people together.

Those are the moments that the holiday season is about. As we turn the page from this year into a new year, we have a chance to come together and be about more than ourselves.

We celebrate something bigger than us, and take a moment to enjoy the little things we are blessed with on a daily basis.

Some of our traditions include having family over to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” with dinner and hot chocolate, riding around town to look at Christmas lights, getting in Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve and spending time together among others.

All of those also revolve around the common theme of being together and appreciating moments.

In those moments, stresses seem to escape us, and we tend to live in the moment more than we do on a daily basis.

There is most likely a statistic that shows how much happier people are on days like that than a normal Monday start to the work week, but the only stat you need is to look around the room this holiday season and see the smiles.

As Christmas passes us by, don’t forget the joyful moments as we shift into 2022. Take advantage of every moment, and always remember the small things in life.