“Holidays 2020: What Can We Do?”

Everyone is excited for the most wonderful time of the year, but what should we do differently this year?  Should we fly out to see our relatives or should we celebrate virtually? Should we order presents via Amazon and ship them, or shop in person and then carefully wrap them on our own? Is Christmas caroling even legal this year? I think it’s safe to say that many people will go about the holidays differently this year.  I know that I for one will be home for the holidays.  Traveling costs money and planning, which takes time. And in a year like 2020, you have to factor in all of the Covid-19 precautions into that planning, as well as the risk of spreading or catching the virus. This leads us to a big question: Are the holidays worth that much that you can’t stay home to stop the spread?  Instead of possibly risking the health of yourself and your loved ones, here are some ideas as to how to celebrate from the comfort of your own home:

• People have secret Santas, and there’s no reason that you can’t continue to have a secret Santa this year. You can order your presents online and have them shipped to your family member’s house with mysterious notes leading the recipient to guess the sender!
• My family was never into decorating gingerbread houses or finding a hill to sled down (although these are safe, fun ideas!), we usually watch holiday movies and bake Christmas cookies.  This time of year is the perfect time to try something new.  If you never baked Christmas cookies, this year you should.  Make sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and gingerbread men. Have a decorating contest and set a prize for the winner. You can even take pictures of the houses and send out a poll to family and friends to determine the winner.
• This year my family is doing a new holiday activity each weekend.  For example, next week we will bake Christmas cookies and watch all The Santa Claus movies.  The week after that we will make gingerbread houses.  The week after that will probably be shopping or ice skating.  The point of the example is to show you to explore different holiday activities while still staying safe.

Many people have been waiting for the holidays since spooky Halloween came and went.  I remember seeing Christmas trees and lights on people’s private stories the day after Halloween and feeling myself get excited for the holiday spirit.  Hopefully, this holiday season will be everything we wanted.  Stay safe and happy holidays!