This is a strange time of year. The wrapping paper and ribbons have been bagged for the garbage. The holiday meals have been reduced to leftovers in plastic containers in the refrigerator.

Television toy ads are being replaced with ads for tax services, diet products and gym memberships.

Almost everyone is going back to a shortened work week with another holiday — New Year’s Eve — looming at the end of the week.

Finding whether a bank or a government office is open can be an uncertain proposition, which has been exacerbated by the last weekend’s flash freeze weather that shut down many offices and businesses.

It’s a period of transition, a time when the cold, hard fact of a cold, hard winter — which had previously been hidden by tinsel and sparkly lights — is coming into focus.

But perhaps it’s possible to keep the spirit of the season — however one perceives it to be — alive just a little longer in the face of W2 forms and credit card bills.

Take the time to thank the road crews and utility workers who braved subzero temperatures to restore power and clear roads under terrible conditions.

Check on an ill or elderly neighbor or acquaintance who has been stuck in their home without delivered meals, or worse, without light or heat.

Those who are in need in the county have not suddenly had all their needs met. There are people who are cold, hungry and homeless in January, too.

Warming shelters and food banks need donations and volunteers all through the year. The spirit of giving shouldn’t be confined to a five-week period between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31.

Perhaps most important of all, the sentiment of “good will toward men” could be put into practice for just a little longer in 2023.

If people continue to practice the kindness preached during the holiday season, it could become a habit. That would be the most needed gift of all.

— EKF