Items

• 
  2020-03

  Postcards From the Pandemic

  I intended to record the lived experience of the COVID-19 pandemic through the mundane details of our coping strategies, set against larger, national events.
• 
  2020-11-26

  Thanksgiving 2020

  This was the homemade stuffing I made for Thanksgiving of 2020. Due to social distancing my family had in order to protect people, my extended family ate at two separate locations. For me, that meant going to my parent's place next door and dining with my aunt and uncle. My grandparents had their own celebration with other family members. One interesting twist to this was that we all ended up eating the same food between both houses because it was split up. This is why I ended up making a lot more stuffing than I normally would for Thanksgiving. In addition to this, I brought over some homemade cranberry sauce and homemade jam. I had learned to make canned jam during 2020, and I had some leftover to give. Everyone enjoyed the food I made and my aunt said it was some of the best stuffing she ever tasted, and she isn't really a big fan of stuffing. Sadly, the stuffing was not enough to ease tensions on the politics happening at the time. Other parts of the day included my family getting into a political discussion on the 2020 election. I had different views on it than my family did, so I left once that started. Later on in the evening, me and my husband went over to my in-laws. My sister-in-law was sick with COVID, so my father-in-law gave her food from the evening for her to take home. I was bummed about that, but people did not want to take their chances of getting others sick, which I understood. My father-in-law invited someone that year from Egypt for the occasion. It also turned into a political discussion there. I felt more comfortable voicing my opinions there than I did with my immediate family, but it was still draining. It made an otherwise okay evening into something that I don't want to think about. 2020 was a hard year for many people, and the election being so close to Thanksgiving made it very awkward. It has toned down since then, but I think people being locked down and exposed to constant social media and news coverage made it harder for people to actually discuss things. I think it's a good thing to be informed, but I do not believe the information overload many dealt with during 2020 was healthy. It even took a toll on me, as it made my mental health worse. Between the lockdowns, protests, and election, it was hard for me to take all at once. My only real solace was school and my husband, as both forced me to think of things not happening at the very moment. As a history major, I find it easier to think of events in the past than I do the present at times. It's why I really like the medieval period in Europe because it is far enough removed from the current era, so I am less likely to get heated about some of the topics brought up. With current events, I need to take a break at times. It was very obvious that the Thanksgiving from 2020 was not something that really made my mental health better. I enjoyed the food and the company, but I had a hard time wanting to discuss politics with people that I interact with regularly. It's one thing to discuss with strangers I might never see again, but completely another to talk about it with people that you need to interact with daily. Now that things are back to normal, for the most part, the tensions are not as high. I find myself being able to discuss politics again with some family members without it going badly. Overall, I would say that Thanksgiving 2020 was a good social experiment on how much overexposure to media and lockdowns can be detrimental to personal relationships. Seeing things behind a screen too often and being away from others takes a toll on humanity. This is why I was so glad when things started opening up again because people need to be out more and with others. As much as technology has helped us communicate, it still can't make up for the human interaction everyone needs. My own mental health has been much better since the ending of the restrictions and I don't want to go back to them again.
• 
  2020-11-29

  Holiday weight gain

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2020-09-06

  Pandemic holiday

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2020-12-22

  First Christmas not with Family

  This is a picture of the first Christmas tree that my brother and I bought to set up in our apartment. It is a small tree because I figured we did not need a big one since we had a small number of ornaments to hang up. This tree also represents Christmas 2020, the year of COVID-19 and the first year we did not spend Christmas Eve with our parents. My Mom has an auto-immune disease and she could not go out much in 2020. However, at some point, she either went out or COVID was brought home. She ended up in the hospital a day or two before Christmas and tested positive for COVID. Therefore, it was for the best for my brother and I to not go home on Christmas Eve. I was disappointed we couldn't go see them. However, my brother and I decided to order Shari's, a diner restaurant local to Washington and Oregon, for dinner. We didn't see them that day, but we were able to go over the next day to open presents and not much else. Not the best Christmas, but I suppose it could have been worse.
• 
  2021-10-09

  Christmas 2020

  Over the holidays, it was a good way to reflect on how the year turned out. When my fiance flew home for the holidays, we had to wear a mask to go pick him up from the airport. There were even some family members that came to visit over the holidays asking us to wear a mask around them as we opened up presents. The only time we took our masks off was for family pictures.
• 
  2021-09-20

  Town of Cochrane commits to Truth and Reconciliation, declares Sept. 30 a stat holiday

  This is a newspaper from Cochrane Today, a subsidiary of the Cochrane Eagle on the adoption of the National day of Truth and Reconciliation in the town of Cochrane. The document talks about how other municipalities and even the provincial government have chosen not to participate in the first day of this incredibly important national holiday.
• 
  2020-12-25

  Covid Family Holidays

  This picture was taken on Christmas Day of 2020. Due to my cancer diagnosis, a weak immune system, and the need or me to socially isolate Christmas gifts were delivered by the matriarch of my family, my mother. Adjusting family holiday traditions has been another consequence of Covid.
• 
  2020-11-14

  Diwali rangoli at City Center Bishop Ranch

  This is a photograph of a rangoli at City Center Bishop Ranch I took on November 14, 2020. That date also happens to be Diwali, a Hindu holiday on which some people make rangoli. Rangoli are made of various dyes and powders.
• 
  2021-07-27

  Out of Touch

  When I spent the Thanksgiving 2019 holiday with my family at my grandparent’s house, I had no idea that my hug goodbye would be the last hug I could share with my grandmother for a very long while. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC pushed multiple changes to prevent the spread of the virus which included social distancing. Both my grandparents are at high risk with underlying health conditions, so possible exposure to the virus was not an option for them. For us, social distancing also meant family distancing. Thankfully, I was able to have regular meetings with them on their front porch. We kept one of the front doors closed to separate us, and we talked from a safe distance. It was not the same as what I was used to and I missed the closeness that we once had, but they were moments to cherish as I did not know when I would get to hug them again. Sadly, I was not the only individual forced to find new ways to stay in touch with family members. All over the internet, heartbreaking pictures and videos surfaced showing families separated by hospital windows, mothers giving birth without family in the delivery room to support them and hold their new baby, and people ‘touching’ their loved one’s hands through glass barriers. These moments showed how the coronavirus left many families out of touch. Once the virus started to slow down and vaccines became accessible, I was finally able to spend more time with my grandparents without the physical barrier. Lots of people are talking about a ‘new normal’ now that cities are reopening and people are getting to go back to their lives. For me, getting to hug my grandmother again was a sign that everything would be okay, and life finally felt normal.
• 
  2021-06-06

  Pandemic Thanksgiving

  Our first pandemic thanksgiving
• 
  2020-04-12

  Easter has Landed

  When I first told my six-year-old that we would be Zoom-ing with family for Easter, he frowned at the idea. Once logged on, he was engaged with them much more than either of us had expected. After we discovered the background options, it became a dress-up party. We stayed on the call for over an hour. This photograph really drives home the feeling of isolation and the reliance upon technology invading our lives.
• 
  2021-04-01

  #JOTPYFuture from MacKenzie Brash

  I am really hoping that at least my older relatives are vaccinated by summer (though I have little hope for myself). I'd love to be able to travel outside Canada by Christmas. #JOTPYFuture
• 
  2021-04-09

  A Year of Virtual Sharing

  Our Sunday morning coffee/hiking group, professional women 60 or over, took to Zoom to stay connected. We started in April 2020 wearing Easter hats; we upgraded our haberdashery on Easter April 2021. Wishing to escape daily Covid fears, we chose a topic each week. One individual shared and then we moved on to the next. Topics were seasonal, from Mother's Day, Father's Day, Veteran's Day, Christmas, New Year's. We learned more about each other than we ever knew. Women out-of-state who were part of our circle could join us from D.C., Portland, and Wisconsin. As a former teacher and oral historian, I began to take notes on the conversations and realized these stories were too important to lose. I wrote them up weekly, edited them with the ladies, added photos or clip art, and provided a printed notebook to each friend for her birthday or Christmas. Some of us who are fully vaccinated can now meet in person, but we have decided to meet once a month online to continue telling the stories we might not share in person.
• 2021-03-04

  Education

  When PM Johnson announced the lockdown my secondary education sadly ended without me knowing, my grades were decided by teachers then corrected by a computer - it then turned out the computer was wrong and our year was given our original grades. What a thing to put 18 year olds through, I was dissapointed to say the least that this was allowed to happen and it turned out the government knew about the computer failure and still did nothing. However, the lucky ones of us lived on, staying at home, protecting the NHS and saving lives. Now at university, which has predominantly been online, has been great. Staying online means that I am not interacting with people and not potentially spreading the virus so I hope this way of learning continues for a long time! Overall, the pandemic has meant I have been given the holiday of a lifetime, been allowed to still carry on my education but in a safe way and allowed me to reflect on how I use my education.
• 
  2021-02-12

  #JOTPYSilver submission from Lynn Okiec

  We had a quiet and peaceful Christmas! @covid19archive1 #JOTPYSilver @DM_JayKelly @ohsochelly @BernieSanders @BuffaloHistory @NicoTortorella
• 
  2020-04-12

  Easter in Quarantine

  We all remember where we were on March 13th. That is the date that quarantine began, I remember sitting in my classroom and being told that we were going to be off for two weeks. At first, I was excited, a two-week break sounded like something I would love. I would have never expected this. I then found myself on April 12, 2020 celebrating the first holiday in quarantine. Easter was usually something pretty big in my family the whole family got together. We did baskets and candy was given out and we had a big dinner. However clearly because of the restrictions it was much different this year. It was only my mom, my two other sisters, and who spent the day together. However, my oldest sister, who is a nurse at a hospital had to spend it alone away from us to ensure the safety of her patients, herself, and us. we are a pretty close-knit family, so going through this experience was hard. Only being able to see my sister through our door or outside significantly distance apart was not the same. Staring through the window as we had conversations through our phones was not something, I thought I would ever experience. Not only, did I not get to see my sister, I did not get to see my Aunt, Uncle, cousins, and Grandma. We always spend Easter day with my mom’s side of her family. This probably was the first time in my entire life that I did not. this day was probably one of the hardest days in quarantine for me, because I really took in account that this is my life now. Easter is usually a time for happiness, celebration, and spending time with your family however this year it was filled of heartache and separation. As I sat down to my table that was set for only four, we put our computer at the end of the table to start the zoom call connecting my family together. We are all separated by miles apart, all in our own houses, yet we were together through this call. Having our dinner looking through a computer screen definitely was not expected. I am very grateful that my family has the technology to still talk to each other see each other's faces even if it is over screen. Something that I will never forget is when we were taking our traditional Easter photo. Usually, my three sisters and I all get together and take a happy picture. But this year we took the picture with my two other sisters and I inside and my sister who is the nurse on the outside of the door. That Easter in quarantine really made me realize what we took for granted. We simply took for granted each other's presence.
• 2020-12-25

  Christmas

  This years Christmas was not different from the rest of my Christmas'. Every year it is usually just me my sister and my parents at home because my family lives in Iowa. Occasionally my aunt will come over for Christmas but that is really all we do for Christmas. In the end Christmas was not different this year.
• 
  2020-12-09

  celebrities during the holiday season

  This is a instagram post made by Hailey Bieber, who is Justin Bieber's wife. This post shows them somewhere tropical on a vacation and you can see the date is December 9th. While they may not have been traveling exactly on Christmas, this post shows that they were traveling during the holiday season during a pandemic. Nowhere does it address them being tested for covid or being covid safe, you can only hope and assume they are taking cautions. This post makes me wonder how many other celebrities are traveling and having fun but not posting about it because of the backlash they would get, and deserve. I found this post important because you always here about these huge celebrities preaching to us on how important it is to stay home and wear a mask, but then you see them traveling to these beautiful islands and all these nice places because “we have a private jet” or “ we rented out our own private resort” so they justify traveling because they have the money to do so and ‘be safe’ while doing it. In my opinion it is very hypocritical on their part. Meanwhile the majority of the world is still stuck in their homes during the holidays not able to see their families or really give gifts to one another. This post is important to show the other side of the pandemic, the rich people side. I suppose the rich and famous are immune to covid? Who knows.
• 2021

  statistics

  when covid first started in march, I was checking the rising statistics every day and trying to stay positive. Who knew it would be still high in January. Now, the cases seem to be going down everywhere, which is really good. The countries with the highest cases seem to be the united states and united kingdom, but they are both thankfully going down. People i know have affected these statistics, for my grandparents and parents got covid, but no one died from it. In august/september, the cases were going down a lot, but went super high again when the holidays came around. Now that the cases are going down again with no holidays coming up, I feel like we are getting to a good point. Its been a stressful year but I learned alot from it and improved myself.
• 2021-01-24

  statistics of covid

  there has been 3.19 million cases and 37,118 deaths in California alone. the us has 25.2 million cases and 419k deaths. in the whole world there are 99.4 million cases and 2.13 million deaths. the cases got more over the holidays but know is going down a little. no one I know has died but some of them have got it. hopefully this can all be over with soon than later and we get back to normal
• 2021-01-22

  Cases of Cvid

  We as a family have only known one person that has had covid and luckily we were never near them when they had it. It was a cousin that lucky couldn't make it to our home for Thanksgiving dinner. After they were in the hospital we got updates about their health almost every day and visited them (with masks) after they tested negative and feel much better. I personally would never want to get it because I heard it could cause damage permanently and you could be in the hospital for weeks. So I guess we were very lucky to not have someone with covid at our dinner table for Thanksgiving this year.
• 2021-01-22

  My Experience with COVID Symptoms

  When COVID-19 had just started I had heard a lot of people had gotten sick, but no one that I had known. Fast forward a couple of months into the pandemic I get the news that my friend had gotten COVID when I had just seen her a couple of days ago. She has five siblings, one of them was a toddler, her older sister who had a one-year-old was staying with them, and she was pregnant for the second time. Thank god everyone ended up all right including the baby who had not even been born yet. Out of the 9 people that were living in their house at the time only two of them got it bad. The second oldest siblings along with her mom had body aches, a fever, a headache, lost their sense of taste, had a couch, stuffed nose, and couldn't get out of bed for a week. The rest of them only had a cough and a stuffed nose. Lucky they weren't infectious yet when we saw them so my family did not contract the virus from them. Another time this happened, my dad had a business meeting with his co-worker. Three days late his co-worker had tested positive for coronavirus. Once again our minds filled with worry. My grandma was staying with us at the time and because of her age, she was high risk so we sent her along with my uncle to a hotel nearby our house. We waited till we reached the five-day mark and my parents went and got tested. Luckily they tested negative and my grandma and uncle came back home and we celebrated the New Year all together with some negative COVID tests.
• 2020-12-25

  Personal COVID Story in 2020

  It was during Christmas time, and my aunt wasn't feeling too good. She went to get tested and she tested positive. I had seen her on Christmas day, and she felt sick a few days later. It didn't really affect me, but I got scared thinking that I might have it because I was near her during Christmas. I ended up not getting COVID, thank the Lord.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid Exposure

  We have a night nurse (NCS) come over to take care of my 3 month old sister. One night we were eating food when the night nurse came down and said that she had bad news. She said that she tested positive for Covid but still decided not to wear a mask when telling us and came really close to us. We had to tell her to put on a mask and go because she asked if she should stay regardless of having Covid. This was a week before Christmas so of course it ruined all of our plans and didn't have anyone over. A couple days later after she confirmed she had Covid, we went to get a rapid test, and a normal test in both of my nostrils with a total of 4 swabs and i was very much against it. They all tested negative. We then got tested again a week later with again another 4 swabs. We had a total of 9 swabs so far because i also got one in early quarantine. They felt like they were stabbing at my brain and one time gave me a gushing bloody nose. Luckily we still tested negative but Christmas wasn't as good all because our night nurse didn't tell us that she had an exposure (which she new about for days before telling us). After a couple weeks she tested negative and came back.
• 2021-01-21

  A personal story of how I have been affected by someone testing positive.

  During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I had both sides of my family get it. My dads parents and my cousins, and my cousins on my moms side. This was really hard because I usually visit them every holiday or try to at least. Since they had COVID I wasn't aloud to see them or visit them. This was really hard because since wasn't aloud to see them I didn't know if it would be there last day, my grandparents are all 80+. This was a personal story of how I have been affected by someone in my life getting COVID-19.
• 
  2021-01-21

  When Mundane Days Become Commonplace

  To be honest, when it was first announced that there would no longer be in person school last year, I was pretty excited. I knew about the terrible things happening where Covid originated and that it was spreading rapidly, but all I could focus on was that I had been gifted a second summer break. However, like most things, staying at home every single day eventually turned into a negative. Everyday seemed like another day and the weekends lost their value. The situation really dawned down on me when Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year came and went without even a second look. Holidays I tremendously enjoyed in the past no longer had the same spirit and it felt just like another week. Yet I should feel grateful since nothing has changed. I've been lucky to avoid the serious effects of the pandemic so I guess I should count my lucky stars that fate handed me mundane days instead of no days at all.
• 2021-01-17

  Thankgsgiving 2020

  Due to COVID-19, some of my holidays looked a little different this year. Thanksgiving this year looked extremely different for my family. Every year, my immediate and extended family go camping together and over the years it has grown to over 50 people. Due to COVID-19 and the fact that my mother and I have diabetes, my immediate family and I decided not to go this year. Instead, we chose to stay home and cook for just the 5 of us that live in my house. We still had the turkey and ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the other goodies we usually eat. It was kind of sad that I couldn’t see my family this year and have fun camping, but it still turned out to be just as nice with only those that I live with!
• 2021-01-15

  Covid 19 Virtual Learning

  After months and months of online school I developed my daily routines. Roll out of bed, get ready and hop on the zoom call at 8. Take a break, make a snack and get back into class. Online school was difficult because everyday felt the same. Over and over days up in my room finishing assignments, watching a zoom, and talking to teachers. FaceTime and Zoom were the closest possible thing to interacting with friends which posed as a difficult obstacle for everyone. Although we were able to wake up later and not have to wear uniforms, I was never more upset about not going to school. It seemed like it was all bad but there were a few things that especially brought me joy like spending time with family, playing video games with friends, setting up zoom calls on holidays with relatives. It seemed as if the world had shut down for brief period of time. Businesses, airports, restaurants and even some grocery stores were closed. Here we are now slowly returning back to the new normal and adapting to a new way of life. Things were tough but overall I think we came out stronger together than before.
• 
  2021-01-15

  Changes To My Annual Holidays

  My annual holidays consist of Eid al-Fitr, Christmas, and New Years. This is what happened in 2020. I think it's important to be able to document experiences from different walks of life. I don't know how many people would celebrate the first two in the same family, but they've been a big part of my life since I was born.
• 2021-01-12

  Christmas Break.

  To be honest, this Christmas break i didn't do much. I normally hang out with friends and go on bike rides and just have fun. This time though, i didn't do that. I really just played video games with friends and spent time with family. Although I went to get my haircut and I did see David Price. (A former Dodgers Pitcher). So ya, thats my break, not too interesting.
• 2021-01-12

  COVID 19 Christmas

  My Christmas looked very different this year. I still got to see some of my family but most of them did not feel comfortable traveling. We had a zoom call for some of our family on the east coast and in England and they got to watch us open presents on Christmas morning.
• 
  2021-01-12

  Christmas in Cochrane, 2020

  This file contains both a photo and a text story to accompany it, it's mainly just my thoughts surrounding the holidays in the pandemic, firstly with what I did, what my previous Christmases were like, and my family's reasoning with staying home and abiding with quarantine restrictions in opposition to the many other examples of people breaking these restrictions for the sake of family. I think it's important mainly, because the pandmic has redefined, or put a new emphasis on familial love - do we love our family by choosing to stay home during a deadly pandemic? Or do we love them by breaking restrictions to visit them during said pandemic. Submitted for HST 580's first assignment at Arizona State University, Pandemic Prompt: Holiday's.
• 2021-01-01

  Covid Christmas

  This Christmas was very different for me due to the pandemic, it started out normal, I was with my friends and family exchanging gifts and having a good time, but the next day, I had learned that people at my house were exposed to someone with Covid-19, this led to us quarantining and being scared that we caught it, but everyone was negative for the virus in the end thankfully. It doesn't stop there though, my trip to Mammoth Mountain got cancelled so instead I took my Can-Am out to the desert, the reason this is so strange is because it has been a yearly tradition of my family's to go to Mammoth for Christmas for over 10 years, and this was shocking to me. Now that it's the new year, things are already going downhill, I've had to postpone my birthday because there are no places to go, this is a summary of all the things different about my Christmas, I'm just thankful my families okay.
• 2021-01-07

  My Christmas traditions before and during Covid

  Before Covid, this is how I spent my holiday. On Christmas Eve, my cousins, my aunts, and my uncles come to my house to celebrate. In the late morning, we have brunch and in the evening, we would play board games and card games while waiting for our dinner to cook. When the food is ready, we eat and do a White Elephant gift exchange with everyone. On Christmas morning, we open our presents and we eat breakfast. After we go to my best friend's house and exchange presents and have lunch, once we leave my friend’s house, we go home and mess around with our gifts until dinner, and then we would eat and be done. Since Covid, we didn’t have anyone come over on Christmas Eve and did not do a white elephant gift exchange. We tried to keep some of the tradition by playing cards and other games with my mom and sister. Instead of doing a gift exchange on Christmas with my best friend, we dropped off their Christmas gifts a couple of days early. The one thing that stayed the same was that I spent the holidays with my mom, sister, and grandpa.
• 2020-01-07

  consider how Christmas was different for you this year because of covid-19

  This year with Covid-19 going on my Christmas was a little different. Every year on Christmas day we go to my grandparent's house and all of my cousins that live in town go to my grandparent's house but my other cousins that live in Virginia cannot come down to spend Christmas with us this year because of Covid-19. We all go over and exchange gifts and eat dinner as a family. I feel if covid-19 wasn't around I fell like all holidays would be extra good just because we get to see our close family members.
• 0007-01-21

  A Christmas durning COVID 19

  Unlike other Christmases, this year was different. I'm Avi Sobel, and I am an 8th-grade student sharing my Christmas expire during the COVID 19 pandemic. What greatly made this different was the amount of family and friends. For example, it was only the people I lived with. But, even though it was different it didn't lack meaning. We still celebrated our father Jesus birth and gave thanks for one another. We also did a tradition of giving presents. by, Avi sobel
• 2020-12-25

  Dewey Christmas 2020

  For christmas my sisters and I normally sleep downstairs by the tree then we wake up. After a while we wake up our parents and they get their coffee. We open our stockings first then we open our presents. At around lunch time we get dressed in nice clothes and go to my aunt's and uncle's house. This year was way different. On christmas my sisters and I woke up by the tree and then we woke up my parents after. We opened our stocking mine had pistachios, trail mix, chocolate, earbuds, earrings, an amazon gift card, and cashews. Then we all opened our cards from my grandma. Then we opened our presents. I am not a huge present person but I am so grateful for what I got. I got a comfy Nutella sweatshirt and 2 super cool cookbooks. Then we watched A Christmas Story and Elf. The whole day we read our books that we got and we watched Hallmark movies. For dinner we had tamales and apple cider.
• 2021-01-07T14:30

  Covid Christmas

  This year was way different than normal. I normally love Christmas/winter and I tried to enjoy it but it was very difficult. After Christmas day my Aunt, Uncle and grandparents (on my mom's side) would come stay at our house or we would go to my grandparents. This year we did not see then. On Christmas Eve my Aunt, Uncle and two younger cousins (on my dads side) would come over all evening/night. They decided not to come over this year so we briefly exchanged gifts and talked. 8:00am on Christmas morning my mom woke me up. My parents and grandparents (on my dads side live with us) where already up. My older brother woke up shortly after. We opened our stockings at the fire place then went to the living room with the Christmas tree. We opened the other present there and talked for a few after. We all went to our rooms to use the new stuff we got. I was kind of sad that Christmas was over because it barley felt like Christmas. Later that night we had Christmas dinner. As much as I tried to enjoy Christmas and the long break from school the vibe wasn't the same and was slighting disappointing.
• 2021-01-07

  How Christmas was Different

  Every year at Christmas time we have family over to celebrate. We would have skied at Mammoth Mountain California this year. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions my family was neither able to ski at Mammoth nor have family over. This made the holidays very different. We did not travel over the Christmas break, rather we spent the holidays, hiking and going to the beach. On Christmas Day my family hiked the Sandstone Peak trail. The peak is the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains this made for a great view, especially of the ocean. Another hike that my family went on was a hike up a mountain called Mt. Boney. We went to various beaches during the break, where I surfed a little. Overall, it was a different Christmas due to Covid-19 and we could not do some of the things we usually do in order to protect ourselves and our family members.
• 2021-01-07

  My Christmas During Covid

  This year's Christmas was a bit different, but it was pretty much the same as normal. We never travel over Christmas break so staying home wasn't too unusual. My uncle and grandfather ended up coming over for dinner because we see them pretty often, but we still stayed socially distanced. We were extremely blessed this Christmas with an amazing meal and lots of presents to open, but it was really nice to just sit down and catch up with everyone. I realized that even though we were all in the same place at the same time we hardly knew what was going on in each other's lives, in detail I mean. It was also probably the longest I had gone without looking at my phone or computer in the last year or so. Despite not being able to see all of my friends like I normally would, I think this has been one of the best Christmas' ever.
• 2020-12-25

  Celebrating Christmas during the Pandemic

  This Christmas we had to change some of our traditions. Although it could not all be the same we ended up still having a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas eve we wanted to do something special but everything is closed so we just hang out with each other and then at night we went to a church service. Christmas morning, we really didn't have much planned for Christmas so we decided to head to Mammoth. In the morning we opened up all of our presents and packed our bags and got in the car to go off to Mammoth. Once we got to Mammoth we had a lot of fun skiing. The second night we were there our family friends came up to so we got to have dinner with them and play games. A few days later we went home and that's were our break ended. In all we had a wonderful break but I was also very excited to come back to school.
• 2020-12-22

  Christmas with Covid

  The coronavirus or covid-19 is what I had to live with and continue to live with. During the Christmas season covid hit hard and it prevented me from seeing family and friends. It was quite devastating that I was unable to visit my grandmother because it may be one of my last Christmas's with her. By the time covid is solved we will have arteficial hearts.
• 2021-01-07

  Covid-19 Christmas

  On March 13, 2020, America went into lockdown because of the virus of Covid-19. People lost jobs, and people in they're family, things became a lot different. Eight months later, it's Christmas time yet again. This year, it was a lot different for a lot of families, including mine. Lots of people weren't in the Christmas spirit since it was such a rough year, but even more people decided to embrace being at home and go all out with decorations, and anything 'Christmas' they could get their hands on. If I'm being honest here, kids all over the world look forward to gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. This year, since people where unemployed, and struggled to get things for their children. A lot of kids didn't get many or even anything this year. My family was very fortunate this year to even be able to celebrate Christmas since they both lost they're jobs back in March. Every Christmas, we do the same thing, stay at home so this year wasn't much different from the rest. This year really impacted a lot of people, but we all got through!
• 2021-01-07

  Christmas with COVID

  Christmas wasn’t much different this year. We aren’t big believers in shutting down for COVID. So, we didn’t change anything. Christmas Eve we had our family dinner only one relative didn’t come because his wife is a believer in shutting down if it was up to him he would have come. Other than that we woke up in the morning and had a great Christmas
• 2020-12-25

  Christmas Story

  Me and my family open our presents in the morning. Then we go over do my dads side for breakfast. Our cousins come over to my grandparents house and we open presents. We stay there for a couple hours. Then in the afternoon we go over to my moms side and all my family goes over there. We eat dinner and we open presents. However because of covid this year we weren't able to go to mammoth to ski. My christmas wasn't different at all. We did the same thing that we normally do.
• 2020-12-25

  Christmas in 2020

  I experienced a very different Christmas than I would usually know. First, my brother and his girlfriend came over in the morning and we all opened presents, but we were social-distanced and wearing masks. After that, we went to my grandmother's house and we had breakfast. We had pancakes, sausages, bacon, and orange juice. After that, we went to my other grandmother's house and we opened all of our gits from them and we stayed there a while, but we were social-distanced, and wearing masks. Then we went back to my grandmother's house and we opened the rest of my presents. It was a very different experience and I will never forget it.
• 2020-12-25

  Not normal not as fun

  This Christmas was definitely different. On Christmas Eve I had to wear a mask the entire time and we had to eat socially distanced. On Christmas morning I could not get close to my mother due to exposure. My grandpa did not attend Christmas Eve's dinner due to too many participants. This year's Christmas was very odd, but it will always be a good story for my children.
• 2021-01-07

  The Hollow Holidays

  Over the Winter holidays which are usually filled with laughter and joy from relatives across the state was rather boring compared to that but still the same eventful. With just me, my dad, mom, and dog there was a little commotion but lots of leftovers. Even though Christmas and New Year's were different they were not stopped. We had take out for New Years and a feast for Christmas whith just the three uf us I had brisket for all meals for the next week. Over Christmas, I got a mini-fridge as the big gift and have loved it since. So even though the 2020 holidays were different, they still raised my spirits no the less.
• 2020-12-25

  Christmas Vacation

  It was Christmas Eve. As usual I can't sleep because well you know Christmas. And I remember this was the fist time in 4 years that we had Christmas at our house. Because of covid my grandma come up from where she lived which is in San Diego. So I toss and turn and then all of the sudden my younger brother Milo opens the door and says "Its Christmas! Wake up wake up!" So I got up and realized it was Christmas, yeah it was! I walked down stairs and saw all of the presents. My grandma came over and we started I wanted an iPhone for Christmas and I wasn't sure I would get it. When it was my turn to open my gift I shook it and it made the sound that legos make so I was like ok so a lego not a phone. I opened it and it was a little box that had legos in it. Then I looked deeper in the box and there it was a phone. And that was it.