Around this time of year, you can usually catch people in the stores shopping, enjoying holiday parades every weekend, gathering with family and friends, hosting holiday parties for colleagues, and so much more. Those were the good days, right? Now, with a national pandemic, we are forced to get creative with celebrating the holidays in a way that allows you to keep the Christmas spirit while keeping your family well and healthy at the same time. Below I have listed five activities you can do in safety of your home sweet home to celebrate the holidays with love and fun!
Decorate Like There is No Tomorrow
I have never been much of a holiday decorator other than a Christmas tree and stockings. But this year has created a whole new monster within me. Since we cannot leave the house to see the beautiful décor downtown and at fancy venues, I am turning my home into a holiday destination! I have made Pinterest boards for inspiration and found so many affordable decorations from Dollar Trees, Family Dollars, Dollar Generals – almost any discount store you can think of for Christmas décor. This has helped put everyone in the spirit and enjoy being stuck at home for the holidays.
Games, Games, and More Games!
Games have become our favorite past time with my little family! We have ordered so many board games and card games from amazon and our weekends have become such a fun experience of competition and reward. Some of our favorite games have been What do you Meme?, Phase 10, Uno, Spades, Pitty Pat, Taboo, and Monopoly just to name a few! We clear off the kitchen table or pick a comfy section on the floor and play games until bedtime with prizes for the winner of each round. This is a great way to keep the family entertained and safe within your home.
Holiday Movies!
Soon as Thanksgiving ended, we began watching Holiday movies every day after work. My family will take turns selecting a movie for the evening and we all watch over dinner. This has been such a fun and comforting way to wrap up the day with holiday cheer and also reminisce about what life was like before COVID. You get to see people standing close together and being normal people in the movies, what’s not to enjoy about that!
Music & Videos
Now that we have some teenagers quarantining in our home, I have learned to appreciate the social media app, Tik Tok. This app is full of some of the funniest and silliest dances and activities to bring a smile on everyone’s faces. In my home we jam out to Hip Hop and R&B holiday music while making Tik & Toks videos. We love hopping in front of a ring light and putting on a show for each other!
Creating & Baking
We have fallen in love with trying new recipes and baking sweet holiday treats. We have done the standard gingerbread houses but decided to take it up a notch with new pies, cakes, and dinner ideas from Tasty. Staying inside and cooking my own food instead of eating out like we’ve done in the past during the normal holidays have been special to my pockets financially and my soul. My family loves my cooking, and it has been a creative outlet for me to experiment some things that were winners and some that were big fails; but it’s all been a great experience.
In summary when you are in challenging times like COVID you must let the light inside of you shine brighter than the chaos and confusion around you. You have to tap into the resilient and creative person inside of you to push through. You will make the most of this unfortunate situation with fun, creative ideas that make your family feel warm, cozy, and loved.
Read more of Georgina’s contributions to allmomdoes here.
