Pennsylvania spent $35M on plastic face shields in early '20

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Liz Weston: Got life insurance? You may not have enough

No matter what anybody says, I am moving full speed ahead with celebrating the Christmas season.
				But I realize it won&rsquo;t be easy.
				The COVID-19 pandemic has caused so much disruption to our daily lives that we want to just scream or be defiant, yet deep in our hearts, we know we must behave.
				So as we approach Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year&rsquo;s Eve and beyond, we will act like adults and do what we can to help mitigate this nasty coronavirus that has killed more than 300,000 American and sickened millions.
				We must do this in the spirit of the season that is now upon us. To give (in to the mitigation), so we don&rsquo;t receive/spread (the virus).
				The holidays have always been the time when human beings seem to act more humane to each other than they do the rest of the year. We do this, I guess, because we want to prove that we can be nice to one another &mdash; that we can smile at each other and say Merry Christmas &mdash; and mean it.
				That&rsquo;s how we should act every day. But, sadly, in this pandemic year of 2020, we seem to have forgotten how to be nice to each other, how to respect each other, and how to show sincere compassion to each other.
				We should all pause for a few moments and remember what it was like before the pandemic and travel back to those days when we anticipated the holidays with the best of intentions.
				To do this, I took another trip in the Way Back Machine to a time long, long ago to return to the days of my youth when the Christmas season was filled with happy times and blessed observations as we ended one year and welcomed a new one.
				So I set the timer to December 1960 and headed to 210 Reynolds St. in Plymouth. As the Way Back Machine hovered over my neighborhood, I could see a blanket of snow covering all the roof tops and the streets. Each corner was lit up with a bright street lamp and the homes were all decorated with lights, wreaths and figurines.
				The residents of the neighborhood were busy baking and cooking in preparation of the holiday season. After all, each home would welcome a large group of family and friends for dinner and visiting. Decorated Christmas trees could be seen through the windows of the houses and the smells &mdash; oh those smells &mdash; came a-wafting into the street to the aromatic delight of everyone&rsquo;s noses.
				Kids would gather at the top of each hill and wait their turn to get a running start before jumping on their sleds to head down three blocks as friends would stand watch at each intersection to assure no cars were coming.
				After a few hours, we would disappear into our homes for a waiting cup of hot cocoa and a couple of cookies before drying off a bit as we returned for more sleigh riding or, even better, a snowball fight.
				This would go on day after day, night after night. A bunch of kids taking advantage of the snow and Christmas vacation from school. All this outdoor activity served another purpose. It kept us out of our parents&rsquo; hair and made bearable the overwhelming angst that came every year as we waited for Santa Claus to come to town.
				We all knew Santa was watching. We were reminded constantly that Santa sees us when we&rsquo;re sleeping and knows when we&rsquo;re awake. And we were sure to be good, for goodness sake.
				We all had lists &mdash; long lists of asked for, but not expected, presents we wanted to see under the tree on Christmas morning. Our angle was to ask for everything and be happy with anything. It was a formula that never failed.
				In the days immediately before Christmas Eve, we were sure to be much more helpful around the house. We would be sure to make ourselves available for whatever our parents needed us to do. I can remember volunteering to grate the horseradish root on out back porch. This would always bring tears flowing down my cheeks. But I did it because I knew my parents didn&rsquo;t want to do it. Besides, they were busy in the warm kitchen making the kielbasa and pierogi.
				And the big days would arrive and the festivities would begin. Never a dull moment. Memory after memory made and preserved with the help of a Polaroid camera. Memories we still talk about decades later.
				And then it was time to program the Way Back Machine for the return trip to December 2020 &mdash; from back to the future to back to reality.
				It won&rsquo;t be easy, but let&rsquo;s all make memories &mdash; good memories &mdash; of Christmas 2020.
				And to all, a good night.

Beyond the Byline: Even in 2020, let’s make great holiday memories