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?

Money was almost nonexistent in our home during the Depression.

Dad was a great provider, always the hard-working optimist, but little was left over for extras, much less presents.

He was a building contractor, not that anyone was building anything, and had acquired a large metal holding tank that he stored behind our home.

A few days before Christmas, a man passing by saw the tank, had a need for it, and offered Dad $15.

Christmas for the five Anderson children that year was magical.

Toys, dolls and games galore under our sappy dripping Florida pine tree.

Every year, we have stories about Christmas decorations being stolen or damaged, but Mark Brown’s holiday vandalism story had a different — and humorous — twist.

Brown, who lives in a Smithton subdivision, said he puts up a nice light display each year.

“You know how it goes. Since my wife was enthused, I had them up before Thanksgiving,” Brown said. “We had a lot of stuff and on one side was a set of star lights on the blind side of the house.”

One night, when the lights wouldn’t light up, he discovered that the wires had been cut in two.

My sister, Gladys Jones Dempsey, passed away Oct. 15, 2009 and she had dictated the following before she died. I hope you can use it:

It must have been about 1919 and it was Christmas Day in Vero Beach.

Uncle Gary Roberts had a big garden of beans that were ready to pick. You know, if you don’t pick them when ready, they get too old and are not worth picking.

Since it was Christmas Day, there was no one who wanted to go out to the farm to help, so Uncle Gary and Aunt Lizzie and their daughter Cora packed up their Christmas dinner and headed out to the field because it looked like they might lose the crop.

I made a very obvious discovery this Christmas season; that no matter how much we try, say and attempt to create a stress free season, it seems to never simplify but gets worse with every passing year. I hear so many people say “this year I am going to do things different”, but to no avail. The stores fill more and more with potential gifts, cards and stocking stuffers. How did we lose our way, the true meaning of the birth of our lord and savior? I want to see if I can crack the code to making a Christmas different. It is too late this year to start seeing what good can be done this season, but we have a whole year to figure out what we can do differently. I can’t change how other people deal with this time of year, but I really want to examine how I can make a difference. I challenge you, the reader, to do the same.