My latest choice was “The Lure” by S.W. Hubbard. It is one of a three-book set in his Frank Bennet Adirondack Mountain Mysteries. A few years ago, Frank Bennett thought his life was over. His beloved wife was dead. He was estranged from his only child, Ca

To say it’s been a long year is certainly the biggest understatement of the year. Last year about this time, I hit a little bump in the road but truly thought it would all get better by Christmas. Well, well, well, Christmas came and went last year and things didn’t get better, and I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year.” In fact, the only Christmas decorations I managed were putting Christmas cards and pictures on a wire photo stand and putting up a table top tree.

I don’t know if I should be happy or sad sharing this, but the wire photo stand with last year’s cards and photos is still on my buffet.

No one could comprehend the breadth of the pandemic and the fatigue we are all facing right now at this time last year. So rather than dwell on the little hiccups I’ve faced recently — the need for four new tires and a new hot water heater — I’m going to take a positive approach and snap myself out of the “life kind of sucks right now” blues.

I definitely “need a little Christmas, right this very minute” so I’m declaring the beginning of the Christmas season here at Nelson Manor starting this week.

The Christmas decorations will be appropriately adorning every smooth surface, the large tree will go up in the front room, the little tree will go up in the living room, and every tree decoration will be brought down from the inner reaches of the attic. My goal is to treasure each decoration as I find the perfect spot for it and then enjoy the feeling of the season for the next two months.

I have a large stack of CDs of Christmas music and will play at least one per day as I make my way to the day that should be, as Scrooge eventually realized, “celebrated in our hearts all year long.” Full confession, I have more than enough CDs to get me through from now until probably Valentine’s Day. Hmm, I just remembered some wooden red heart decorations that haven’t seen the light of day in many years. Perhaps this will be the year I will actually find them in the attic.

I’m also going to go through Mom’s recipe boxes and will pull out anything that makes me think of Christmas. Mind you, I’m not making any promises to bake any of the items on said recipe cards, but I’m going to gather them for inspiration. The last thing I need during a pandemic is a freezer full of Christmas cookies tantalizing me.

Last year, I used up the last of my smells-like-Christmas candles so I may need to go buy a new one on one of my limited trips to the stores. Fortunately, my sister gave me one of those sticks in the oil air fresheners that smells like balsam fir a couple of years ago and buys me oil to refill it, so I still have that going for me until I get some cinnamony candles to help switch up the scent sensations.

I was actually going to put up Christmas in July this year after it was clear my brother and his family were not going to be able to make their annual trip home. Fortunately, my natural propensity for procrastination won out and I can now look forward to just two months of celebrating rather than six. Oh, who am I kidding, these decorations will probably be up until Easter.