This is the weirdest round of holidays we will probably ever experience. Especially for parents with young children, the idea of not maintaining holiday traditions seems impossible. For some, Black Friday shopping is a day for families. For others, not sitting on Santa’s lap seems implausible.
Holidays: the COVID-edition
Cincinnati weather is not predictable. One Thanksgiving, we may not need coats, and the next… a snowstorm. Being indoors is a concern; hosting Thanksgiving requires creativity.
Most advice says if you are eating, bring your own food versus. This takes a lot of pressure off the host to cook a large meal and figure out how to serve it safely. If you take the BYOF (food) route, remember your own plates, utensils, and cups. TV trays are useful if you are planning an outside affair, as well as chairs.
Or… skip it. According to Britannica, “Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.” If you must bring food into the occasion, perhaps do a Zoom call or change up the menu to something simple versus the crazy-cooking fest.
Or… seriously… skip it. What if instead of gathering around a table, families created socially-distanced games like Pin the Feathers on the Turkey or mini-pumpkin races. You could create a pumpkin painting contest or even a pumpkin drop-off-the-roof. Have family members bring their own coolers of hot cider. Design a Thanksgiving Tree with paper handprints dangling from branches waiting for a word of thanks to be inscribed upon them.
Warm clothes, perhaps a fire outside, and a feeling of Thanksgiving… it has never really been about the food; that is just where we have focused. Perhaps it is time to redirect that focus.
Christmas in 2020
Right after this change-up, here comes Christmas! This one is a bit harder than Thanksgiving. With annual cookie-baking sessions, trips to see Santa, holiday train exhibitions, large family gatherings, friend present exchanges, co-worker Christmas parties and so much more… there is a lot to set aside in the effort of keeping safe.
Imagine replacing your friend present exchange with a Secret Santa year, randomly assigning names just like we did in high school. Perhaps instead of cooking-baking sessions, you got on Zoom and attempted to construct Gingerbread Houses or watched Elf together on Google Hangouts. Maybe you trade seeing the trains with navigating a sled on a snowy day, relieving the joy of sledding in the quiet of the winter.
Those large family gatherings, break them up or pass on them this year. There is something incredibly magical about darkened houses lit only by the lights on the tree, quiet holiday music playing in the background with kids giggling, and no place to go. A serenity lingers into the day and through the night. There is a slowness that settles in the season of hibernation, ushering in tranquility.
In this lack of hustle and bustle, decorate the house with homemade paper chains instead of store-bought tinsel. Whip up some popcorn and string it for garland. Zoom with Santa instead of sitting on his lap. Make homemade bows for wrapping, and watch every Christmas movie Netflix and Disney+ can offer.
Perhaps with the commercial side dampened, the meaning of the holidays will be a bit brighter, less commercial, and more Hallmark-movie-esque.
It’s about people, not things.
What 2020 has taken away from us isn’t the movies or the vacations or the milestone birthday parties. What it really stole was our year of memories; our family; our friends. It took the togetherness right from under us.
Instead of trying to recreate what has been, take this moment to have something new and intangible. Within this pandemic and the upcoming holidays, you may stumble upon a tradition worth continuing.
