It’s the holiday season during a pandemic. The CDC is advising people to celebrate the holidays at home and avoid larger gatherings with outside your household. For many, this means abandoning a holiday tradition of hosting or attending a large gathering.

Did you ever wonder how those traditions began?

There had to be a first gathering of your family at Uncle Tom’s house. Or a first time at your home. Those events became tradition when everybody enjoyed the first one and wanted to get together the next year and the year after that, etc. This holiday season offers a similar opportunity.

If it’s just you and your immediate family, it presents a chance to express gratitude that you have made it through the pandemic and you are all healthy and able to enjoy a holiday together.

While there may not be any gatherings leading up to and around the holidays, you can enjoy each other’s company in other ways. Zoom, Google Meet and other video chat apps make that possible. Make a list of the people you want to chat with and send out invites to see what days and times work for you. With the right planning, you may end up seeing more people this year.

The lack of gathering inadvertently puts less of a focus on gift-giving. In many cases, we don’t know when we will see those who aren’t at our holiday gathering. To avoid the cost of shipping, you may opt for gift cards so your loved one can enjoy their gift sooner rather than waiting.

For some, this may make gift-giving more of a challenge. When struggling to think of a gift, use these four guidelines. It’s one most minimalists use:

1. Something you want
2. Something you need
3. Something to wear
4. Something to read

In terms of the holidays this year, we have the choice to celebrate. This year won’t quite be the same. Yet neither was the first year you did Christmas at Uncle Tom’s or hosted. As we’ve found with many things during the pandemic, there may be activities from the holidays this year you want to incorporate into next year and beyond. Like a group viewing of “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Zoom?

You just don’t know until you the try the first of anything. That’s how all traditions start. In the long run, this could end up being a very special holiday season.

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