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We at The Atmore Advance hope all had a happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Recently, the city of Atmore began its annual ritual of putting up the downtown ice-cycles, Santa Clauses and Christmas Tree lights along with the overhead streamers. To us here at the newspaper, this is the official start of the holiday season.

While this season will be quite different because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is one thing that’ll remain the same here – the city’s charm.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, a friend said to me that downtown Atmore looks like a Hallmark town.

She’s right because if you remember, Hallmark had and still has the best holiday-themed Christmas cards.

In just over a week, the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Twilight Christmas Parade, a staple for area residents alike.

To us, this is the culmination of the Christmas holiday. From Dec. 12 onward, the holiday events start to dwindle down, but the busy-ness of the holiday doesn’t slow down.

People will be buying last-minute gifts and preparing for Christmas Day.

But as you hustle about during shopping days downtown Atmore, stop a minute and look around at the splendor that is the downtown lighting display.

This is something all should see, take in and enjoy.