Chalk it up to more things we lost in 2020.  The kids are going to be super disappointed, but the Thanksgiving Holiday parade in Dover has been canceled this year, according to fosters.com.  The tree lighting ceremony will go online so we can watch from our computer or television screens.

Sure, the tree lighting was fun, but there were so many hands-on events for the kids at the tree lighting event in Dover in years past.

City Manager Michael Joyal tells fosters.com: “We are making arrangements for a Christmas tree to be lighted downtown; we are not going to have the family-friendly lighting festivities.  We’ll try to do something virtually for folks who want to gather around their TV set or their Internet computer screen and watch the lights come on.”

Maybe I will open all the windows in my apartment to watch on the screen. It’s just not a tree lighting ceremony without the cold air.  Kind of like the fireplace screen saver on my computer.  Sure, it’s nice to look at, but it provides no heat and it’s just not the same as a real fire.

This doesn’t mean Christmas is canceled.  We just need to get more creative about our holiday traditions.

Let’s stay home and bake Christmas cookies while the tree lighting goes on the screen.  Or, create a new tradition like the reading of a favorite holiday story aloud.

My wife used to read my kids Dicken’s Christmas Carol to settle them down and they claimed to hate it until she stopped one year.  Now they want her to read it even though they are adults.  Like everything else with 2020, welcome to the new normal, and hope we can all gather together around the tree next year.

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