4 TIPS ON HOW TO CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS ALONE

Many of us are about to spend the holidays the same way we spent most of 2020: at home. If you’re one of the people planning to hit the road for Thanksgiving or Christmas travel, the CDC is asking you to reconsider.

Though it might be hard to believe right now, as things get so grim, the promising vaccine developments suggest the proverbial tunnel finally has a light at the end of it.

We just need to hang in there a little longer.

You’ll likely be able to plan a spectacular family feast for Easter 2021, said Paula Cannon, a virologist and professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Keck School of Medicine at USC.

( For calendar- marking purposes, that’s April 4.)

“Come Easter, you can have two turkeys. You can make up for it,” she said. For now, “I think there is no greater way to show your gratitude and give thanks for your family than to forgo the usual family get- together this year.”

In other words: We only have to do this once. So let’s make the most of it.

1. Embrace it as self- care.

This won’t be the first time for Jacy Topps, a freelance writer who’s written about why she chooses to celebrate the holidays alone. It started when she moved to New York City and couldn’t afford a ticket home, but she discovered she enjoyed making new traditions on her own, like watching all the “Harry Potter” movies on TV while drinking homemade butterbeer. After she got married, she spent the first few holidays with her in- laws, but this year, she said she’s opting out.“There is that stigma that you have to spend ( the holidays) with people even though you don’t want to see these people or travel or hang out with them or do their traditions. It’s more of a societal pressure,” she said.“Sometimes you have obligations, and that’s fine, and you do those some years, but some years it’s OK to treat yourself and do what makes you happy. Your obligation is to yourself.”

2. Re- create rituals.

Ovul Sezer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina, led a study about how participating in rituals and traditions affects enjoyment of the holiday season. The verdict: “Family rituals improve the holidays,” Sezer said, and add to overall holiday enjoyment. These are things we can try to re- create with the power of phone and video call technology.

A few ideas to get you started: Have everyone buy the same holiday craft supplies, puzzle or Lego set and do them together at the same time.

Send out a family recipe and cook it together.

Open a video call and decorate your houses at the same time ( a virtual form of parallel socializing).

Do Youtube karaoke with holiday songs.

Plan a virtual game night with online versions of the board games you usually play together at home.

3. Make a holiday bucket list.

Macenna Lee, whose Youtube channel“XO, Macenna” has more than 600,000 subscribers, describes herself as“very much a Christmas person.” Already, you can watch her video where she puts up Christmas decorations in her apartment. Her plan for the rest of the season: a“holiday bucket list,” where she writes down all the things she loves doing during this time of year and crosses something off it every day. Some of the activities she has planned include making hot cocoa, creating DIY gifts to send to family and Christmas decorating.

4. Practice gratitude.

Julianne Holt- Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, says research shows that expressions of gratitude are associated with increased social bonding and reductions of loneliness. Telling people you appreciate them makes both of you feel better, whether it’s going around on a Thanksgiving video call to say what you’re grateful for this year or leaving a note for your neighbor saying thank you for letting you borrow a roll of toilet paper.