Steve Schulwitz

ALPENA — Well, Christmas is finally here and it arrived in what seems like a blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday that the stores started putting out their holiday decorations in the middle of September and now the shopping, baking, parties, and gift wrapping are all but complete.

Christmas has arrived, but some of its luster is missing for me.

This has been an odd Christmas season for me this year. We didn’t put up a Christmas tree at home for the first time in my life. I didn’t decorate the outside of our home as I usually do, and for some reason, and I can not say why, it seems like the spirit of Christmas is absent from my heart this year.

I didn’t even walk over to Culligan Plaza to say hello to Santa, which I do each year.

Now, when I say Christmas, I mean the commercial side of Christmas, which includes Santa, high-tech gifts, and all of the hoopla that comes with the modern celebration.

Instead, and maybe it is because I’m getting older, Christmas has morphed into something a little different.

The holiday season to me this year is more mindful of Christ’s birth, the importance of friends and family, helping others, and thinking less about myself and more for others, which some would say is a huge accomplishment.

I have been blessed in so many ways. I have an amazing family, devoted friends, a career that I love, a community that means the world to me, and a God that loves me.

What more does a guy need right?

Our family will celebrate Christmas tonight at my mom’s house in Rogers City. It will be the typical family Christmas celebration with the immediate family, but there is one thing about it that I am looking forward to more than anything else: the kids.

We will help celebrate a baby’s first Christmas and I will still be able to watch in amazement as my niece Oaklynn’s eyes light up at the lights, food, Christmas music, gifts, and from the ribbing Uncle Steve gives her.

It will also be much different this year, as my niece Ava will miss her first family Christmas. She is currently working in a post-college graduation program at Walt Disney World and won’t be home for the holidays. That sucks, but I know that she is having a blast in Florida and I am proud of her for taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Still, it will be hard for her mother, grandmother, her brother Quinton, and the rest of our family to not have her confident attitude and big personality with us.

I really didn’t intend for this column to be sappy or a downer and my love for Christmas is as strong as ever, just in a different way.

Would I love to go back in time to the large holiday celebrations I grew up with that included a live band in my grandparent’s kitchen, card games, and maybe a few cocktails? Of course.

But, beginning tonight, Christmas is going to have a little different meaning for me and my holiday focus will be different.

It will be more about the nativity and Jesus’ birth, focusing on those that I love and who love me, and those who are less fortunate and struggle with things that many of us take for granted daily.

Maybe I’m maturing. Is that even possible? Maybe. I think I just have a better understanding of what is really important in my life and have set my priorities to what they should have always been.

Northeast Michigan, Andrea, Caitlynn and Jade, mom, Pennie, Brad, Quinton, Ava, and all the rest of the clan, you are what is important in my life.

To my crew at work, Kayla, Reagan, Angie, Christie, Jenny, Olivia, and Starvin Marvin, and everyone else, you also mean the world to me and impact me in a positive way each day. Thank you all.

Last but not least, Northeast Michigan.

I am proud to be a native son and to have the connection with you that I do. I strive to make you better. To help you through challenging times, and to celebrate successes with you. There is nowhere else I would rather call home and thank you for the support you have shown my family and I. Go Wildcats!

I will close this column with two words. They are words that are said often this time of year and sometimes it seems they are said out of obligation or habit.

That isn’t the case here.

From the bottom of my heart, have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Be safe, be happy, and be mindful of what really matters.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.