Looking back on 2013, I have to say there is one objective I did not meet: I did not win a lottery. That would really have fulfilled a Christmas wish.

But that’s OK! I still have today, Christmas Day.

It’s Christmas all around us, in Covington, Mansfield, Newborn, Oxford, Porterdale, Social Circle. We’ll enjoy the day and then think about the new year.

Christmas is one of those holidays that comes with loads of memories and traditions. Some change; some get modified a bit.

I can remember going shopping with my mother to buy Christmas cards for the coming year. In 2013, it is the "e-card." I have received a few of these myself. Call me old-fashioned, but there is something not quite right about them. I remember "when."

This Christmas season, I have received five cards through the U.S. mail. I was delighted to place them, as always, on my mantel.

I always purchase at least one box on Christmas cards myself, to send out to people I have seen over the past year, including my doctors and their staff members.

Yes! Times have changed, but I still give my "post person" and my neighbors cards and gifts. It’s a small gesture that means a lot to me.

I also love to drive through different communities to see the creative ways that people decorate for Christmas, and the ways that Mother Nature contributes, year after year.

A holly bush needs no embellishment to be lovely at this time of year.

The first year my husband and I purchased our home, our holly didn’t produce red berries. The second year, they appeared, much to my delight.

I wouldn’t have imagined last Christmas that this Christmas, I would be writing my Christmas Day newspaper column, but here I am. Life has a way of surprising us, year after year after year.

I hope your Christmas Day will be filled with activities with loved ones and lots of people around you.

If you happen to be alone, I hope you take time to recall those Christmases when you had people around you.

Watch some of those classic Christmas movies. You’ll know the endings; you may know every scene and every line of dialogue. Listen to some favorite Christmas carols. They are familiar and comforting.

Just like Christmas Day.

Dorothy Frazier Piedrahita welcomes reader comments. She can be reached at ufrazier2001@yahoo.com.