Make time for family as 2024 coasts into holiday season
EDITORIAL -- FEATURE SPOT, Editorials, Opinion, Z - TOP HOME
 By  Staff Reports Published 
2:16 pm Thursday, September 12, 2024

Make time for family as 2024 coasts into holiday season

Blink and you’ll miss it.

What is “it,” in this context?

Why, the entire remainder of the year.

September through December might be the busiest season. Every time you turn around – bam! – something else is happening, another weekend has passed, and we’re that much closer to the end of a year that feels like it just started.

Bam! School starts back.

Bam! Labor Day.

Bam! The first day of fall.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve. Bam, bam, bam, bam.

There’s always something to do, and the calendar always seems fuller than it should. But in this busiest of busy times, we want to encourage you to keep the important things at the forefront of life – one of the most important being your family.

Time is one of the only things we can’t get back, and as more and more time passes, it means less time to spend with the ones we love.

There are so many occasions and moments we can enjoy together in this season. There are football games and pumpkin patches, bonfires and baking, hayrides and chili suppers. There are several big community festivals on the horizon, including Pumpkin Palooza, Spruce Pine Day, Founders Day and the Spirit of Hodges Festival. There’s trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving and, not long after that, turkeys and thankfulness and parades and tree lightings and Santa and presents …

It can be easy to get caught up in the minutia of all these events. From planning the food to figuring out scheduling to organizing the travel and keeping track of all the equipment and supplies required – it’s a lot.

We need to take time in the midst of all that, though, to treasure the people we are spending these days with. It’s cliché-but-true that time is moving too fast. If we don’t make an intentional effort to slow down and savor the memories we’re making and the precious people who are part of those memories, it will all pass right by.

Don’t blink. Make time for family and friends and the people you care about, and make firm memories you can carry with you always.

Also on Franklin County Times
Williams defeats Marbutt in Phil Campbell mayor’s race
News, Phil Campbell, Z - News Main
María Camp maria.camp@franklicountytimes.com 
August 27, 2025
PHIL CAMPBELL — Voters in Phil Campbell elected Greg Williams as mayor in Tuesday night’s municipal election.   Williams defeated Mayor Eddie Marbutt,...
Russellville PD spends $18.5K for computer upgrades
Main, News, Russellville
Russ Corey For the FCT 
August 27, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — Police Chief Chris Hargett wasn’t necessarily ready to purchase more than a dozen new computers for his department, but a decision by t...
Red Bay freshman to compete in FFA national talent program
Main, News, Red Bay, ...
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
August 27, 2025
RED BAY — Freshman Kayeden Palmer will take her baton to Indianapolis, Indiana, this fall after being selected for the National Future Farmers of Amer...
Record $172K in grants awarded
Main, News, Russellville
Russ Corey For the FCT 
August 27, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — Six Franklin County schools, the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, five volunteer fire departments, and other organizations ...
Deck is completed for Highway 247 bridge
Main, News, Red Bay
Russ Corey For the FCT 
August 27, 2025
RED BAY — A new $3.3 million bridge being built over Little Bear Creek northeast of Red Bay on Alabama 247 continues to take shape. The bridge was clo...
Terry-Warner joins Extension Service
News, Russellville
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
August 27, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE - Katherine Terry-Warner still remembers her first field class in the Adirondack Mountains. It was part of her undergraduate studies at t...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *