Holiday and Winter Alternatives for Social Distancing Gatherings

[Rose in SC]

JerseyGirl - thank you so much for posting those coronavirus holiday get-together guidelines! Going to share that with my daughter.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Fauci says small gatherings driving new Covid outbreaks, warns about Thanksgiving

"We're going into a precarious situation."

Small indoor gatherings of families and friends are driving coronavirus outbreaks across the country — and that has worrying implications for Thanksgiving, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Wednesday.

"You don't want to be the Grinch that stole the holidays," Fauci, who is director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a livestreamed interview with Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But as families plan for the coming festivities, they need to consider the risks of a gathering...

 

[mickey2942]

No to gatherings. Not safe at all. Sorry. The smaller you keep your "bubble" the safer you will be.

I am wondering though about people who already had Covid, and are off of Isolation. They could test again, and stay in quarantine until they get the test results, then come visit.

 

[Wild Rose]

For sure. Cancelling the cookie swap. Cancelling my little Christmas Bingo with prizes for friends. Cancelling dinner parties. But I am going to decorate for anyone even driving past the house. I am going to tip every worker more than usual. The mailman, the gas pump guys, the crossing guard. I am putting free little potted Christmas trees on my Dad's grave and my front porch marked free please take, just to bring smiles. It will be scaled down holidays for sure but maybe the little miracles will all remain. Just a smile to the store workers will go a long way.

 

[gitana1]

These are the Halloween guidelines recommended for our subdivision. DH and I are going to make dinner reservations so we are not at home during Trick-or-Treat.

https://www.oakgov.com/covid/best-practices/prepare/Documents/halloween-recommendations.pdf

That’s what I did with my family and a friend/neighbor. Luckily it’s warm where I live so it was possible.

I don’t know what I’m going to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have close relations with small kids who are anti-vaxxer and believe this is part of a ploy to force vaccines on people. We usually spend the holidays together. But I know they’re socializing with others indoors without masks.

If the weather is good we can do something outside. But I will admit- in various outdoor get togethers or dinners I’ve been involved in, it’s been super easy to get lax and I have. In fact, I’m freaking out right now that I got infected last Thursday. Every time I break the “rules” around people I know don’t take it seriously, I freak out for a week or so.

 

[gitana1]

For sure. Cancelling the cookie swap. Cancelling my little Christmas Bingo with prizes for friends. Cancelling dinner parties. But I am going to decorate for anyone even driving past the house. I am going to tip every worker more than usual. The mailman, the gas pump guys, the crossing guard. I am putting free little potted Christmas trees on my Dad's grave and my front porch marked free please take, just to bring smiles. It will be scaled down holidays for sure but maybe the little miracles will all remain. Just a smile to the store workers will go a long way.

Hmm. Ya’ know, foregoing all those parties means more money for tipping and things like that. Good idea!

 

[MimosaMornings]

I’d like to take a nap and wake up mid-January.

 

[PayrollNerd]

For those who have elderly family members, and this is likely their last holiday season, it is going to be very hard to not visit. My former mother in law passed away in late July. I know it was really hard on my 2 kids to not be able to visit her in the last 4-5 months of her life. They saw her over Father's Day weekend and that was it.

Will Thanksgiving be a superspreading event? Look to Canada for answers - CNN

Three weeks after Canadians celebrated their Thanksgiving holiday, the country is seeing a national spike in cases.
Several cities and provinces have shattered single day records for coronavirus infections, and Canada's top doctors say the holiday -- held on October 12 -- is partly to blame.

"Prior to Thanksgiving I made a lot of appeals to people about the need to keep the family gatherings small," Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's provincial health officer, said last week, as she announced a ban on inviting more than six people into your home. "And unfortunately, there were a number of events that have happened that have led to quite dramatic increases over the past week."

 

[MimosaMornings]

For those who have elderly family members, and this is likely their last holiday season, it is going to be very hard to not visit. My former mother in law passed away in late July. I know it was really hard on my 2 kids to not be able to visit her in the last 4-5 months of her life. They saw her over Father's Day weekend and that was it.

Will Thanksgiving be a superspreading event? Look to Canada for answers - CNN

Three weeks after Canadians celebrated their Thanksgiving holiday, the country is seeing a national spike in cases.
Several cities and provinces have shattered single day records for coronavirus infections, and Canada's top doctors say the holiday -- held on October 12 -- is partly to blame.

"Prior to Thanksgiving I made a lot of appeals to people about the need to keep the family gatherings small," Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's provincial health officer, said last week, as she announced a ban on inviting more than six people into your home. "And unfortunately, there were a number of events that have happened that have led to quite dramatic increases over the past week."

It’s very hard for the elderly who have not seen but one or two other family member and no friends since last November and knowing there will be none this holiday season.
Being secluded from people has hastened their decline in my opinion. They lost interest in Zoom and FaceTime months ago. It’s especially hard seeing the neighbors go about their life, having parties and taking trips. It is so sad to see it and not be able to do anything.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I'm curious if others are noticing that there hasn't been as much holiday advertising as usual in early November. Other than the Christmas gift guide from Hallmark and a toy brochure from Meijer, we haven't received any holiday catalogues. I rarely see Christmas -oriented commercials except for continuous movie promos on the Hallmark channels. Are you noticing the same trend where you live?

 

[mickey2942]

I'm curious if others are noticing that there hasn't been as much holiday advertising as usual in early November. Other than the Christmas gift guide from Hallmark and a toy brochure from Meijer, we haven't received any holiday catalogues. I rarely see Christmas -oriented commercials except for continuous movie movies on the Hallmark channels. Are you noticing the same trend where you live?

It does seem subdued. We were at Costco last night. Normally they have huge displays of Christmas decorations, trees, all sorts of stuff. So far, one aisle, one tree. Not the usual "In your face" holiday season displays.

Maybe it is still early?

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

It does seem subdued. We were at Costco last night. Normally they have huge displays of Christmas decorations, trees, all sorts of stuff. So far, one aisle, one tree. Not the usual "In your face" holiday season displays.

Maybe it is still early?

Most years, holiday advertising starts immediately after Halloween, sometimes even a little earlier. I think "subdued" is a good way to describe what seems to be happening. Perhaps it is out of deference to the thousands of people who have been affected by COVID, and this holiday season will be unlike anything we've experienced in our lifetime. I sense that we are in for a bumpy ride between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Most years, holiday advertising starts immediately after Halloween, sometimes even a little earlier. I think "subdued" is a good way to describe what seems to be happening. Perhaps is out of deference to the thousands of people who have been affected by COVID and this holiday season will be unlike anything we've experienced in our lifetime. I sense that we are in for a bumpy ride between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

I don’t have a TV so I don’t normally see a lot of advertising in general. The predominant places I go, grocery store and fabric shop, have little holiday merchandise. It took the fabric store a long time to restock anyway much less holiday fabric.

 

[Rose in SC]

Rural South Carolina here - I am vigilant about keeping my mailbox free of junk mail, including catalogs and I don't watch TV, so I don't know about Christmas-related advertising or the lack thereof. FWIW, I stopped at Walmart on my way to work Friday morning. Don't know about Christmas trees or decorations for sale (wasn't on that side of the store), but the seasonal candy aisle was full and they were playing Christmas songs (which I think is way too early). Did buy my grandson a cute little Christmas onesie though, lol.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

A local radio station starts playing Christmas music right after Halloween. I put our CD player/radio "boombox" away and wasn't sure that WNIC had started their holiday playlist. I visited the radio station website and found out that they are playing Christmas music. There is actually a list of what songs are played and the time they can be heard. I like to listen to holiday music in the kitchen and will get the "boombox" out today. It's a little early for Christmas music, but I feel like I need a little Christmas now I've already watched several holiday movies

 

[JrzyGirl70]

Cancelled our normal Thanksgiving dinner with extended family. While a little disappointing, I am more than grateful that my family has remained healthy and hopefully we will all be able to celebrate together at a time in the future.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Cancelled our normal Thanksgiving dinner with extended family. While a little disappointing, I am more than grateful that my family has remained healthy and hopefully we will all be able to celebrate together at a time in the future.

You and your loved ones will not be alone in having to make the decision about whether or not to host holiday gatherings this year. There will be many, many families who won't be together to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day. It will difficult and disappointing but better to be safe than sorry.

My sister called a couple of weeks ago to ask if I'd given any thought to what we might do for Thanksgiving. I told her that DH and I would like her to stay with us for the holiday weekend but that I didn't think we wanted to host a family gathering with other local family: two brothers, niece, and nephew (her 30-something children). We have no way of knowing who they have come in contact with and whether or not they're diligent about wearing masks and social distancing. Our niece lives with her boyfriend, and we know nothing about him or his contacts. I hope it doesn't sound selfish, but DH and I want to stay healthy and won't take unnecessary risks even for family members.

 

[mickey2942]

Cancelled our normal Thanksgiving dinner with extended family. While a little disappointing, I am more than grateful that my family has remained healthy and hopefully we will all be able to celebrate together at a time in the future.

My daughter and her BF have Covid now, so they will be over Covid by Thanksgiving. But, I think that they will be busy with school, work. My other kids, they are working, just not a priority this year, keeping a job is...

 

[CSIDreamer]

My daughter and her BF have Covid now, so they will be over Covid by Thanksgiving. But, I think that they will be busy with school, work. My other kids, they are working, just not a priority this year, keeping a job is...

How are they doing?

 

[mickey2942]

How are they doing?

Okay, they are definitely getting on each other's nerves right now. One bedroom apartment, each one feeling not the greatest. And on isolation until 10 days after Last day of symptom.

Yeah, I can see that testing any relationship.