We don’t need this snap of cold weather to remind us that it’s the holiday season. Your neighbors have been putting up festive light displays twinkling bright in the night to signify the familiar time.

The holiday is busy, for those who partake in the holiday. The outdoor displays mentioned go up, as well as the family Christmas tree, which can present a monumental task just getting it in — or on — the car for the ride home.

There’s shopping to be done, then the gifts must be wrapped when the receiver isn’t around. Cards to send out. Pictures to take. Some have out-of-town family and friends arriving soon, some will go in reverse and coordinate the rest of their holiday around a trip involving crowded highways or a meeting with TSA.

Problems of busy-ness are nothing compared to real-life problems that nobody wants to deal with ever, let alone during the holidays.

A family is trying to meter out a settlement with Lynx after one of its bus drivers accidentally struck and killed their 10-year-old son a month ago.

Another family is grieving the loss of a loved one when he was found dead in his home over Thanksgiving weekend in Celebration, marking that town’s first-ever homicide in its 16-year existence.

And just Monday, County Attorney Jo Thacker and Commission Auditor Kathy Wall were abruptly relieved of their jobs. It came without warning, and the only bright spot was that the decision was based on budget cuts and not performance.

You may know others who have had a troubling winter, or 2010, for that matter, thus far. In your own home, the mortgage may be paid and dinner is hot and on the table every night, but you lament the effort it takes to keep the household and life going.

Clarence the Angel, in the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” characterized that a loving and healthy family and good friends can make a person wealthy even when one’s bank account and spirit may tell them otherwise. “No man is a failure, who has friends,” he says.

And in the classic “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby’s character, Army Captain Bob Wallace, with life crashing down around him, shares this line:

“When I’m worried and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep counting my blessings ... When my bankroll is getting small, I remember when I had none at all, and I fall asleep counting my blessings ...”

Take a moment over the next couple of weeks, step back and take stock of what’s really important.