2020 has been nothing but a surprise to all of us and has felt like the longest yet shortest year of our lives. As the holidays are coming up once again, it’s in times where we still are unable to physically be with loved ones, or even go out at the risk of catching the virus. Holiday shopping is something that mostly everyone participates in, we hunt for the best possible gift and then go home with no worries, but this year that will be different. Not only are the holidays just shopping though, but it’s also a time where many families gather with one another and enjoy the past year in hopes the next will be even better. In this day and age though, how will that all go down? 

We can already vouch that this year was completely different than the past few, but that doesn’t mean our holidays have to be. Even though we can’t pack the living room with guests, we still can enjoy our loved ones. There is already a huge fear that a lot of families will not be following CDC guidelines for the holidays, which means a huge spike in covid cases. It is important for this holiday season to be healthy at home and celebrate holidays in many other ways besides being in person right now. We can still give gifts and still have happy holidays. 

Not only have family gathers for the holidays changed but so has the shopping aspect of it. Due to the pandemic, so many businesses and companies have lost millions of dollars. The only time they can make that money back is during the holiday season, they rely on it. The holidays are the one time of year businesses can make lots of money before the year comes to an end. Before the pandemic started online holiday shopping was already started to become more popular, but still, most shopping was done in person. Even though in-person shopping won’t go away completely this year, there still is going to be a huge difference in shoppers. There will be a huge difference in events such as black Friday which in person was the whole goal of it all. 

Many others seem to have a particular idea with how this year’s holidays, in a survey that was taken most people seem to see this holiday season as one that will be very similar to the others, but slightly different. A lot of people have torn opinions about holiday shopping, most think it will be different while others see a very big change. Also, a lot of people do believe how our cases will have a change due to holidays and others not taking precautions. The one thing we can all agree on though is that we are all excited to celebrate the holidays this year.

Even though the holidays are much more different this year, they can still be merry and bright. It’s important we follow our civic duty in keeping everyone safe and staying home this holiday season. Perhaps next year hopefully things will be slightly back to normal.