As 2020 is coming to a close, the holiday season is quickly approaching. We can already see how this year will be drastically different than past years in the ways we have been used to celebrating.

Every Thanksgiving day the Macy’s parade is held where there are floats, singers, the Rockettes, and so much more. This year was a little bit different. If it weren’t for the pandemic, hundreds of people would have been crowded outside to watch the parade, but this year people watched the parade in their own homes on television. The parade still went on and the performers did an amazing job as usual, but there was still a decrease in enthusiasm and excitement because there was no crowd to cheer on the performers and uplift the viewers watching on TV. 

Black Friday is a huge part of holiday shopping and every year people are crowded outside stores waiting to get inside for some of the best deals that only come around one time during the year. This year the amount of people who went out for black Friday shopping dropped drastically. In some states, stores are still closed and have strict restrictions on the number of people let in at once. Even then, many people are still not comfortable going out into public and being around so many people, which is more of a positive than negative,  and are choosing to online shop instead. 

Christmas shopping and celebrations are also going to be different. People are not wanting to spend as much money on presents and gifts because no one knows what could happen regarding the pandemic after the holidays. More people are choosing to be safer, which means families who are used to having big family gatherings will most likely have smaller and simpler celebrations, instead of big parties.  

Although this year has been wild and brought many unexpected situations it hasn’t completely taken away the holiday spirit. 2020 also brought realization to the significance of the little things that matter and have brought people closer in this crazy time.