By Elisabeth Strillacci

This is the time of year for celebrations, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the winter solstice, Three Kings Day or another holiday I am apologetically unaware of.

It’s the time families come together, either in person or through the grace of technology, when friends and neighbors join in fellowship, and when church attendance still goes up.

For some, we should remain aware, it is a challenge, either because finances are tight and there is little or no room for celebrating, or because a loss has left some alone and grieving.

But for me, this time of year is so much more than the Christmas tree, decorations and presents. It’s more than the parties and the shopping.

This time of year is my reminder that as humans, we still have an innate desire to connect with one another.

Whatever our differences are or have been, we still crave the fellowship of others, and more than that, the hope that this season brings.

Whether it is the belief that oil that should have lasted a day instead lasted eight, or that the birth of a child meant redemption for mankind, or that the earth is being reborn again, it all symbolizes hope.

We have been through so much as a country in recent years. We have torn ourselves and each other apart over petty matters. We have let disagreements divide our families and end friendships.

We have not been our best selves.

And yet the universe continues to give us another chance.

Another moment to make amends, to reconnect, to remember what is truly important.

Love. Kindness. Compassion. Patience. Tolerance. Understanding.

Grace.

I see animals understand this day in and day out. These are all such basic principles, and yet we as humans sometimes overcomplicate things with our need to be smarter, better, more right than others, and we forget to stick to the basics. We forget how to simply care for one another. We don’t all have to agree in order to be kind. It is not losing to respect differences. And it is never winning to hurt others.

Every person has value, and every person has the right to be treated as if they do.

Whatever you are celebrating, I hope and pray that the joy that infuses this time of year will stay with you through the months ahead. When you feel the stress coming at you from the daily grind of this world, reach back for the feeling of this season, and let your holiday self be present.

I have faith that the goodness that is front and center in each and every one of us over the holidays is always there. And I have faith that we are all strong enough to take a breath and bring that part of us forward.

All the holidays seem to have some light associated with them — star of Bethlehem, the Menorah, the night sky — and I hope that light can guide us forward, together.

May your season be what you need it to be, and may you know that you are loved.

Elisabeth Strillacci is former editor of the Salisbury Post.