With the Christmas season already on its way and COVID cases still raising, many are wondering what they are going to do for Christmas Day. Christmas is one of the biggest holidays of the year, with almost 115.6 million people traveling for the holiday, but with COVID not seeming to go away anytime soon, some people may have to be changing what their Christmas Day looks like this year. 

The CDC has put out a suggestion for how to help people to still celebrate the holidays while staying safe. For the most part, the best way to celebrate would be with just people in your household and getting other family members and friend virtually because you’re already around the people in your house a lot so no new risk is added, and with seeing people virtually, you not putting yourself or them at risk. But of course, some people have traditions of seeing family or family members coming to their house, which can still happen but with limitations. 

One of the biggest things to do before seeing family or having family over is informing yourself of what their infection rate is like where they live. This will give you an understanding if they are putting people at risk. If they live where their rates are high, they should probably not come visit. This goes the same if you were to go out as well.

Of course, wearing masks and trying to be 6 feet apart are things we have heard a million times, but there are some other conditions to think about, like having good ventilation, having people only bring food or drinks for themselves and having areas where you can wash your hands often. All of these factors can add up to help families have gatherings while staying safe at the same time. 

For example, many people have had to change their Christmas traditions in order to stay safe this year. 

“We normally go to my grandparents after we’re done opening presents, but this year we don’t plan on going over to my grandparent’s house because of COVID,”  Serena Landry (‘24) said.   

Others are doing their normal plans, but a bit more altered.

“We won’t be getting together with my stepmom’s parents because they are able to easily get COVID,” Alexa Steiert (‘21) said. “We are doing social distancing get-togethers and my uncle won’t be coming back to town because he lives in New Mexico and doesn’t want to bring anything to any of us.” 

 Even the people that are traveling are taking precautions as well. 

“Whenever me and my brother fly down we are going to be wearing masks with N95 filters and surgical masks on top of the masks with filters to stay safe.”  Cora Moutray (‘24) said.

So as you can see, no one is really going to have the Christmas wonderland that is usually around during this year, but people are trying their best to have an enjoyable Christmas. Even though COVID may be a big strike on the holiday seasons, there is always some way to get around it so we can spend time with the people around us while staying safe.  Even though this year has not been the best, we can still make the most of it with this Christmas. So go spread some joy, happiness, and love while stopping the spread of COVID.