
- Courtesy of VAHHS
Here are some ways to connect safely with friends and family without being in person:
If you miss the fun of cooking for others, drop a favorite holiday potluck dish to a friend or family member's front porch. (Let them know it's there, of course!)

Dress up for your Zoom. If your family likes to don your finest during the holidays, put on the glam. If you’re happier in jammies, by all means Zoom in them, especially if they’re silly matching pajamas!

Do your usual gift exchange via the mail. And if you usually make it a rollicking Yankee swap, do it online! It will be just as funny.

Plan a remote — yet special — story time. Have a grandparent, aunt or uncle read a holiday story to the children in your family.

Watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve on your TV with Zoom to loop others in, then raise a toast together.

Embrace the fact that your holiday dinner is small. Enjoy dishes that don’t work as well for a larger crowd — something intimate like fondue, extravagant like crab or too-challenging-for-company international cuisine.

- Courtesy of VAHHS

So many December holidays involve light. Take a drive and check out the neighbors’ lights. Join the “Vermont Lights the Way” effort. Or challenge your family and friends to light up the area where they’ll chat online with you.

Give back in a new way, maybe to your local food pantry or fire department. Drop a meal for an elderly or homebound neighbor. No gift is too small.
Whatever way you find to keep up the cheer during the 2020 holiday season, be sure to be safe. If you must travel (which is not advised), quarantining is required when you return to keep your neighbors safe. And if you host people from other states (again, not consistent with the governor’s order), know guidelines for their quarantine in advance. To learn more about how we can all stick together and get through this safely, visit vahhs.org/safe-holidays.
Be well. Be safe. But, by all means, connect with those you love!