The halls are decked, snow is on the ground and twinkling lights line the frames of many homes in neighborhoods across the city.

It’s really beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Problem is, it’s the end of January, people.

I understand snow and ice have all but buried many of us alive inside our houses over the past month. Taking Christmas lights down outside would have been next to impossible. In fact, the lights are still up on my house.

However, how hard is it to unplug the extension cord or flip the light switch?

According to 107 “The Bee”:

Over half of us in East Lancashire are having to make major cut backs after going into debt over Christmas.

That is according to research which says we’re scaling back on essentials such as food and heating our homes.

It also shows a quarter of us are considering canceling our summer holidays as a result.

Source: 107 The Bee

After 67 years of marriage, celebrating with friends and family, we found ourselves facing Christmas alone for the first time.

Children have their own families grown and now spend Christmas at home, as we did. Our daughter had us over Christmas Eve before she left for her son’s home near Topeka, Kan.

Because it’s such a special holiday, we often try to spend Christmas with friends and family. After spending a few enjoyable holiday seasons with our loved ones, the memories of such good times build up, both in number and in stature, in our minds.

That, in turn, causes us to try to either re-create such memories or create more of them with those special people in our lives. In doing so, we sometimes go a little crazy.

Both spiritually and secularly, Christmas sometimes brings out the worst in us — or at least the saddest feelings.

Felicia Lettieri, 72, took a trip in 28-year-old Mukul Asaduzzaman’s taxi on Christmas Eve, accidentally leaving her wallet behind. It contained travelling money for her and six relatives.

Mukul Asaduzzaman drove 200 miles to return more than $21,000 (£13,000) in cash left behind in his taxi Photo: ALAMY

Police told Mrs Lettieri and her family not to get their hopes up about recovering the money.
But Mr Asaduzzaman, a native of Bangladesh and a medical student in Queens, went the extra mile.