Christmas kind of snuck up on me this year. I’ve been so busy making plans for Christmas I forgot how near it was.

Well this year my children and I and the dog will be on the road again. Because I’m giving my mother the last and best Christmas gift in my power, the presence of her only grandchildren one last time.

I’m going to pick up my daughter from school a day earlier than they let her out because the weather forecast has snow and bad road conditions. Her school’s administration is understanding about that sort of thing since they have boarders from all over the state.

The trip is going to be a long slow drive I’m afraid since there’s winter weather all over the country. We’re going south and east to the coast so maybe we’ll catch a break — and maybe we’ll just have to take our time.

It seems odd to some people, but I’ve spent more than a few Christmases on the road here and abroad, and some of them have been wonderfully memorable. I’ve frequently experienced the kindness of strangers, sometimes strangers I had no common language with other than the spirit of Christmas cheer.

Perhaps it will be like that for us this Christmas. We’ll be staying in motels, and eating out of restaurants and convenience stores staffed by people working over the holiday.

I wonder what we might do to express our appreciation to them?

There’s something I did once when I was a reporter at a small newspaper in North Dakota. I proposed it to my editor who said, “Great idea, go for it and I’ll cover the holiday pay.”

So I took a couple hours on Christmas and went to the police station, the hospital, a motel, and some C-stores and got pics of lots of people working over the holiday: cops, dispatchers, med techs, clerks, etc.

Day after Christmas my editor covered the front page with the photos, each identified by name and job title, all under a banner headline that just said, “THANK YOU.”

I thought that might be a great start for a holiday tradition, but next year the editor was a sorry sod who’d been laid off from a big city paper and couldn’t stand the idea of anything that cool that wasn’t his idea.

He couldn’t kill the idea, but he could bury it inside the paper. I must confess the memory puts a bit of a damper on my Christmas good will towards men.

So how do we express our appreciation for all those folks who have to work over the holiday?

Assuming you have to go out on Christmas Day for an errand.

A heartfelt “Merry Christmas” goes a long way for a store clerk. And perhaps a bit of chit-chat since they’re probably not very busy. Let them know you know they’re a person too.

How about waving to that cop car you see passing by?

Maybe he’ll think you’re calling for help and stop, and you can wish him a Merry Christmas.

If you’re the kind of person who drops off tasty treats for your doctor, mechanic, whatever, could you think of making some for the ER staff at the hospital?

And you might remember that for every divorced parent celebrating with their children, there’s another parent at home alone trying to get through the day.

So we’re off on a Christmas adventure. Who knows what awaits us, maybe something wonderful or maybe a tough time we’ll chuckle over in years to come.

And whatever awaits you all, Merry Christmas.

— Steve Browne is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent