Poem: How we can conquer the Grinch (2020) this Christmas

This year has been so difficult for so many, but the arrival of the holiday season continues to give us reason to look for hope. How can we achieve it? Menifee 24/7 correspondent Tommie Brown shares her thoughts in her poem titled "With a Lot of Love," which she describes as a "retelling of the Grinch as 2020":

Every one of us looked forward to 2020 a lot. It was going to be the best decade ever, or so we thought.

But my, how it didn’t take long, for us to realize we were very, very wrong.

Now please don’t ask why, no one quite knows the reason that this year turned out to be one awfully terrible season.

It could be, perhaps, the winds started changing. It could be, that the stars began rearranging.

But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that this year’s heart shrunk two sizes too small.

But whatever the reason, our hearts or the weather, we ended up in one giant mess all together.

2020 growled and kept its new decade fingers drumming,
“I must find some way to keep any joy from coming!”

“What could I do to shake them to their core?” Stop number one? Take their number 24.

Then 2020 slithered and slunk with a smile most dire, And with a flick of the wrist set the whole world on fire.

There was canned goods and toilet paper flying off the shelf, We were stunned with the presence of the Tiger King himself!

There were votes being cast, and masks being worn. From the world to our own homes, families were torn.

The fight for our freedoms grew and they grew. We lost so many, and we saw so few.

We stayed inside and we puzzled and puzzled, we even got used to grocery shopping feeling muzzled.

There were times here and there when we tried to have spirit, but that 2020 just wouldn't let happiness get near it.

Now we’ve dragged ourselves to the holiday time, and 2020 has made even celebrating a crime.

Oh, no one knows quite why this year was so tragic, but if it has its way it’s going to steal Christmas magic.

So we tap our feet and try to get thinking. How, oh how, do we stop this holiday from sinking?

We can’t go to parties, there’s no money to shop. The stores are all closed, the foods all been bought.

But right when 2020 thought we gave up the fight, out from the valley came a thin beam of light.

What happened, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you as favor. What happened, you see, is we remembered our neighbor.

2020 had us mistaken for people of panic. It bet 366 times we would sink like Titanic.

2020 was shocked, “How could it be?” It rubbed its eyes open, “I can’t be seeing what I see!”

With the parades all canceled, so few ugly sweaters bought. With no holiday markets, no coffee shop thoughts.

No Santa’s lap wishing, no work office fun.
“They should’ve been angry!” 2020 spun.

But this terrible year counted out the strength of our heart. What 2020 forgot, is we can still love from 6 feet apart.

2020 hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming, it came! From near or from far, we had joy all the same.

Then, 2020 thought, maybe parties and dancing and buying isn’t their care. Maybe Christmas, for them, is about what they share.

And what happened then? 2020’s heart grew. And in a blink of an eye, the year became new.

And perhaps we all wasted a year on our baking, but 2020 has taught us nothing good comes from taking.

So, we’ll do what we do this holiday season.
We’ll look at the losses and find us a reason.

And that reason may be what 2020 forgot. What it tried to hide while it cheered as we fought.

That come Christmas time no matter the year lived, we still all decided to give and to give.