Families this time of year spend their cold nights and days by putting up beautiful red and green string lights all around the exterior of their homes. Putting up Christmas trees, decorating by putting up stockings and making ginger bread houses is the best part of December! Most of all, being together and drinking hot cocoa by the fire place, or watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

Usually, by this time kids and adults would be looking forward to coming home to relax and hide from the chilly weather. Unfortunately, this year things will be much different. Due to the slow rise of coronavirus hitting Nassau County again it seems like people have started to ignore guidelines to staying safe. Apparently, health officials are “terrified” of this year’s Christmas during a pandemic. A couple days ago, millions of people traveled to visit their families and gathered for Thanksgiving, giving this virus even more chances to affect people. On November 30th, a scary 6,816 new cases were reported alone in the state of New York, which is a huge bummer.

Now the real question is, will Christmas be different this year? How can we still enjoy America’s most festive and favorite holiday? This is what some students at FPM are saying,

“I think because of the pandemic many families won’t be together so it will be a little more lonely. But, because every year something new comes out and people are getting more and more creative, decorations will be amazing. For example, some people have been lighting up talking Christmas trees. We could stay safe this Christmas by sanitizing things because people possibly will be constantly touching, not sharing food that’s already on your plate, and making sure if everyone is covid free before being invited to join,” Laia Ali, a fellow seventh grader said.

Another student at FPM, Aiden Ramballi, proceeded to also add, “Due to the world’s current global pandemic, we are all forced to stay indoors, away from other people. And if we are to go outside we must wear masks, stay 6 feet away from people, and avoid any large gatherings. So what does that mean for Christmas, where the whole point of the holiday is to go out, and spend time with your family and friends? Well it means Christmas 2020 will be very different from all of the past times we’ve celebrated the most wonderful time of the year. It’ll mean you won’t be able to see some of your family and friends. But don’t worry, there’s always a second way around things. You could talk to your loved ones through video calls or maybe even just through letters or cards. And if you are spending time with family this holiday my main tips for you are to wear a mask, don’t get to0 close to people, and remember that things go wrong, things that are unexpected, things that are not planned, often make the best memories. This Christmas season will probably be more memorable than ever, because it’s more different than ever. Make the best out of the worst. Happy Holidays!”

Lastly, Katelyn Diaz a seventh grader concludes, “Christmas will definitely be different in a way we all may not like it to be. I think we can make it fun by socially distancing ourselves from others and still doing the things we love to do at this time of year. Though it will be hard to do it’s worth a try for us to take on. We will be safe by using hand sanitizer and masks around others. It may be something we don’t want to do or something we think is fine to not do around our family and friends, we must take precautions in what we do around others to keep them and yourself safe.”

As a host, to have a safe and celebratory Christmas these following questions should be answered with ease.

• –  How many people will be attending your home?
• –  Who is coming and where are they from? Is COVID spreading there?
• –  How are guests transporting to get to your party?
• –  How long will they be staying?

A infectious disease specialist says if you or a host cannot answer those simple questions confidently you are in a high risk of having COVID spread during the holidays.

From what we have heard from specialists, doctors, classmates and students we all have a simple gist on how to have fun and stay safe during this pandemic. While also hearing opinions and feelings about how this holiday will be different. Most importantly this holiday make sure to be wise and enjoy yourselves! Christmas will not and shouldn’t ever be a bummer any year, especially this one.

Thank you to Katelyn Diaz, Aiden Ramballi, and Laia Ali for contributing to this article 🙂