As we are aware many of our Easter celebrations and summer festivals were cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. So, will Christmas have the same fate? The thought of a ‘Covid Christmas’ may have crossed your mind one or two times. But, what will this mean for our Christmas celebrations. Will the magic be lost if Santa has to wear a face mask?
Here are three ways Christmas could be impacted this year.
Christmas shopping
It has been suggested that the virus may return in winter. Regardless of this I am sure the new rules and regulations will make Christmas shopping a very different experience this year. First of all, online shopping has certainly boomed recently, which may make our shopping experience easier. However, for some of us the thought of spending hours online scrolling through pages looking for gifts is not ideal. Although, if you feel like venturing out this winter perhaps a few of your favourite shops may have closed down due to the current economic crisis. Many independent businesses have suffered, those quirky little shops that sell the best stocking fillers may no longer be an option this year.
Moreover, how many of us leave Christmas shopping to the last minute? Perhaps even though you tell yourself every year, this will be the last year I do all my Christmas shopping on Christmas eve well, it looks like things may actually need to change this year and starting early to prevent endless cues outside shops and early closing times and a huge amount of stress.
Income
Financially, we call all agree it has not been a good year for anyone, whether you have lost your job, had reduced hours or a complete change in your usual ways of working, this certainly will have an impact on us financially. And let’s be honest, how much time do we spend saving and planning to splash out unnecessary amounts of money at Christmas time. Perhaps we all need to take step back and remember what the true meaning of Christmas is supposed to be, much easier said than done right? There are far too many expectations of what the festive season needs to include. Drinks with work friends, family dinners and let us not forget the abundance of gifts we are expected to give others.
Gatherings and dinners
All the planning and time sharing in the festive season is already very stressful as it is, where to go? What day? Who to bring? Now imagine spending this year without that. For some of us this will bring a huge sense of relief, finally you can have a socially acceptable way of declining invites to that work party you hated for years. For others the thought of this will bring great sadness this year we have buried our families without funerals, cancelled weddings, missed the birthdays of our children and soon we will not be celebrating one of the most festive holidays of the year.
Stef Gafa’ is a counsellor with Willingness who has a particular interest in trauma, attachment, domestic violence and the LGBT community.