Submitted photos

While some Maricopans are putting up Christmas lights, others are painting windows  in a sign of solidarity to spread love and hope as families try to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In a time of bleakness and uncertainty, my wife decided to do something to try and lift up people’s spirits as they drive past our house,” Ryan Fix said. “Now, she already does this as a pediatric nurse here in town at Banner but all she does is comfort the sick and the parents of the sick ones. She came home today and tried to offer a little more to the ones that may be in despair during a huge crisis.”

Maggie Witt, a kindergarten teacher for Legacy Traditional School in Chandler who lives in Alterra North, is working from home now and turned her dining room into her classroom. “I put these hearts in my windows to show my students how much I love and miss them,” she said. Through her distance-learning classes, the students can see the hearts “and it makes them happy.”