One of the big trends in decorating is minimalism.

Less is better, they proclaim.

Get rid of all the knick-knacks, clear off all kitchen and bathroom counters, and donate or throw away everything extra in your house.

I bought into it for a while, especially around the Christmas holidays. My husband would get down all the boxes of decorations, and I’d only use about half of them. After a couple of years, he only brought down a few boxes.

There were reasons I didn’t get into the holiday spirit. Replacing the regular towels with green and red ones was ridiculous, I told myself. My husband didn’t care if the soap dispenser had reindeer on the front. Frankly, neither did I.

The boys were grown and gone, so the primary reason for decorating was no longer valid. Our grandchildren enjoyed seeing the lights and decorations, but the gifts under the tree were the main event.

Plus, decorating is a lot of work. We had to haul all that stuff out of storage, unwrap dozens of ornaments and gee-gaws out and then rewrap everything in a few weeks.

People didn’t come to visit our house, and the months-long Covid quarantine made the feelings of isolation worse. It’s much easier to just leave things as they are.

Why bother, I told myself. One day, our sons will have to deal with all that “stuff” when we’re no longer around. It’ll all end up in a garage sale or in the trash.

Bah, humbug, I know.

But this year is different. People are celebrating together. In stores, people are talking to each other and smiling at strangers. The Christmas songs are playing, and I can hear people humming along, myself included.

We’re back with our families, sharing meals and holidays. There’s not a hesitation when thinking about attending a concert or football game. The libraries and restaurants are open, and we’re back at meetings and parties.

It’s time to celebrate and pull out all the stops.

This year, I’m asking my husband to haul down all the boxes of Christmas decorations, and I’m putting everything out.

There’ll be red and green candy-cane towels in the bathrooms. For the next month, a Christmas rug will replace the brown one in front of the sink.

Every strand of twinkling lights is going on the tree. In fact, I’ll probably buy a few more so our tree will look like downtown Houston on a Saturday night.

I’m going to put every single ornament we own on our Christmas tree, not just a few for that minimalistic view. I ordered two boxes of silver tinsel, and I’m going to drape every branch so the whole tree will sparkle.

I’m going to haul out the rolling pin and cookie cutters and the grandkids and I will make some Christmas cookies. There won’t be any limits on how much sugar and sprinkles they can put on each cookie either.

There’s so much sadness and fear in the world – wars, poverty, climate change.

The sentiment “good will towards all” is especially true for those struggling with sorrow. Many of our friends and families have lost loved ones, jobs, friendships and connections.

As we’ve learned, tragedy can strike without warning, so when we can celebrate, pull out all the stops.

Drag out all your Christmas decorations.

Drape garland and tinsel everywhere.

Play Christmas music loudly and hug as many people as you can.

Embrace the holiday with every bit of twinkling lights and garland you can find.

Don’t hold back. Drape that tinsel and layer on the ribbons and garland.

Christmas comes but once a year.

Make this one count.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.