How will you be celebrating the holidays differently because of the pandemic, or are things back to pre-pandemic “normal”?

I think I’m back to doing things the way they were pre-pandemic. I’ve scheduled my annual party to decorate my Xmas tree. I invite some friends, I put up the artificial tree, and we add the decorations during the party. Finally, we have a game and exchange gag gifts. I’ll make mulled apple cider, and everyone brings food to share.

Thanksgiving is small this year. It will be just me and my boyfriend. We’ll have good food. I’m already thinking of what to put in the apple pie. I add stuff to mine like nuts and cheese and such. I sweeten it with honey instead of sugar.

Oh, @Hawaii_Jake, I am on my way!!! :-)

Sure! Please come! E komo mai (welcome)!

I might order a bucket of KFC, French fries and gravy, for the holidays.

I’m very relieved things are less complicated, though I did sort of enjoy the one year (2020) that we didn’t go to any inside gatherings. In that first year, we celebrated Thanksgiving as a couple. For Christmas, we met up with some family members at a park. It was a wet affair. In 2021, we went to inside gatherings, but everyone was tested (some had quarantined), and there were masks, too. And then last year, only testing was left over from the Covid precautions.

Now, we’re almost back to normal. People might still test before the big gathering (I will). There will definitely be testing if anyone’s been exposed. People with symptoms won’t come, whereas before, a sore throat or some coughing would not have been an issue.

How about you, @canidmajor?

I’m back to doing everything as it was pre-Covid.

2020 I don’t remember if we were home for the holidays or what. I think we stayed home for both Thanksgiving and am not sure about Christmas. 2021, back to normal. 2022 I woke up on Christmas day with Covid and so it was kind of a relief. It was about 5 degrees for a few days (cold snap), and we were supposed to take the train to the city to meet family at a fancy private club with a strict dress code, so it was kind of a relief to not have to do any of that. Covid wasn’t that bad for me both times I had it – more like a bad cold.

Things are back to normal here.

Sounds like most of you are returning to previous stuff, I am glad that this is working out!

I had started to dial back before the pandemic, a prime person in our group had passed and left a big gap. This year, my child will be in their first house, so I have handed over the reins. The house closing is today (yay!) so Thanksgiving won’t really be a big event, but I am hoping that they’ll have Christmas pretty well put together. We are pretty excited about all of this!

The holidays changed radically for me when my husband and I split up years ago and my kids all moved thousands of miles away. Recently, I’d been going to cousins in the D.C. area for Thanksgiving but that stopped for Covid (“Although I could not stop for Covid, it kindly stopped for me.”) This year, I thought of going down there but it feels like too much right now so I am having dinner at a restaurant with my oldest gay friends and their families. A friend from NYC will come to stay later in the weekend. For Christmas which was a lovely day in my marital family, I have devised some private rituals of my own and then will go to the same family friends for dinner. New Year’s Eve will probably consist of Fluthering and messaging with friends and Netflix. It’s not ever been much of an important holiday for me.

The only year I celebrated the holidays in a Covidian way was 2020.

I was happily anticipating joining my wife, my niece and her daughters for TGiving and Xmas, but both occasions were accompanied by infectious surges, so I stayed home both times.
However, my niece and her daughters came by my house, for short visits and a festive food delivery during those occasions.

In 2021 I was fully vaxxed and boosted when the holidays came, so I returned to full-party mode.

I remember when it was holiday 2020 and I was staying home for Thanksgiving, what a sweet relief it was. So nice not to have to travel anywhere. Same when I got Covid on Christmas day 2022. A nice welcome rest and a perfect excuse to stay home without guilt.

I remember when I worked, one of my friends came to have a chat with me in my office. She told me that since her two adult children lived in California (and we’re in NY), she was going to spend Thanksgiving staying home in her sweat pants, watching movies and eating what she wanted. I thought it sounded like a perfect day.

A friend got divorced during the pandemic and she now spends Thanksgiving home with her two teen daughters, cooking and decorating the Christmas tree. She said Thanksgiving used to be driving to her husband’s family about an hour away, and she is so relieved now to be done with that.

For the holidays I’m celebrating the same as if covid existed or not.

Thanksgiving my husband and I with another couple at their house. Actually, Thanksgiving was a holiday my parents used to visit, because that holiday meant a lot to my dad, and he won’t travel because of covid risk.

Chanukah I perform in a Menorah Lighting celebration, we did the performance during the height of the covid years, although 2020 we wore masks. Maybe we wore masks in 2021 also I don’t remember. This year I am more paranoid than usual about antisemitism. Covid has shifted to the back burner for that event. I do try to sit somewhere where people won’t come up and hug me. Sigh.

Christmas we will do the usual and spend it with my husband’s family. Oh, and I’ll go to Disney for 2–3 days during late November or early December to see the decorations. I wear a mask when I’m indoors in crowded places in DW, like standing on a line.

I went about my business without a mask, then picked up Covid when I went to pick up Philly cheesesteak sandwiches a few months ago. So mask is back on.

Back to normal.

We are back to normal, although we are always very mindful of the fact that my one sister’s husband has a bit of a compromised immune system from being on dialysis, so that we’re uber aware that if one of us is sick we should definitely stay home.

Sadly, we live in Maryland and my brother and his family moved to Texas in the past 5 months and we won’t be getting to see them this Thanksgiving so it won’t ever be quite the same from here on out anyway.
And since my parents died 2 years ago, it’s been a huge adjustment too because they were always there as well.