As the classic lyric goes, “there’s no place like home for the holidays.” This year, those heartfelt lyrics have notably more significance. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many families have decided to celebrate individually within their homes, instead of traveling to another location or celebrating in large groups at a different house. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, recommends that people take precautions during the approaching holiday season. However, much like Halloween and Thanksgiving, Christmas, among other accompanying winter holidays, will not be cancelled this year.

Many students have thought about binge watching some of their favorite shows during the Christmas break, especially with Netflix releasing more series later on this month. Junior, Mikaley Applewhite, said that she will be catching up on two tv shows and has a lot of show recommendations for people still looking for the perfect binge worthy show to watch throughout the break.

“I’ll be catching up on Supernatural and Startalk. I also really recommend The 100, Gilmore Girls, The Office, Anne With An E, Law and Order, Supernatural, American Horror Story, Startalk, Tokyo Ghoul, Kakegurui, JJBA, On My Block, and Grey’s Anatomy. Those shows are all binge worthy and very interesting to watch,” said Applewhite.

One of the main parts of Christmas and the holiday season is the shopping and presents that patiently sit underneath the Christmas tree. Each year, the shopping may get a bit overwhelming. Sometimes, it may even be hard trying to find some good sales and decide what to buy for each family member or friend. Junior, Jada Awuku, said she will be taking it easy this year and will possibly buy either gift cards or she might send some fresh baked cookies to her loved ones.

“I will be mailing everyone that I know a gift card from the places they suggested or order Tiff’s Treat to their house. Tiff’s Treat is a cookie and brownie delivery company, and I think my friends and family will enjoy those special treats this year,” said Awuku.

Another student who will be sending gifts to friends this year is senior, Kylie Wagner. Wagner wants to buy presents for her lifelong friends since this will be their last Christmas together before her friends move to different cities for college. Wagner wants to make sure the presents she gives them have some sort of special meaning so her friends will have something to remember her by.

“I will be buying my friends very sentimental gifts this year because it is our last Christmas before college. I want to get them something to remember our friendship by before we all leave for college,” said Wagner.

Decorating for Christmas each year is a tradition in itself for lots of families. Some people like to decorate ahead of time, while others like to decorate towards the end of the month or at the start of Christmas break. Senior, Ethan Vu, said he and his family decorate his house for Christmas every year with a four tier tree and nutcrackers in different places around his house.

“Personally, I don’t decorate my room, but we do decorate the house. We put wreaths around the guardrail up the staircase so they wrap around. And then our Christmas tree is actually really big; it has four tiers. You have to carry each tier down individually from the attic so they stack up onto each other. They decorate the fireplace with greenery on the top, and we have nutcrackers around the house and big snowflakes,” said Vu.

A safe holiday season doesn’t mean totally losing the spirit and magic of Christmas. This holiday season is not cancelled and it is a time for creating new memories with family despite the ongoing pandemic. Christmas cheer and happiness can still be spread around among close family and friends without possibly spreading COVID-19.