By Versailles Dalessio, Features Editor

Whether it’s visiting loved ones, inviting the neighbors over or having a full table for dinner, nearly everyone does something to celebrate during the holiday season. However, with COVID affecting our lives, some are choosing to put safety first, even if it means spending the holidays a little differently.

Last Christmas, people didn’t have to stress about wearing masks, social distancing and disinfecting everything they touched. As circumstances have changed, though, people are being mindful of who they come in contact with and how best to abide by safety regulations for fear of their loved ones contracting the virus.

“The scariest part (about traveling) is probably the possibility of infecting an older family member and then something bad happening to them,” sophomore Sydney York said.

Normally, York’s family drives to visit her grandparents, but this year they are deciding to stay home as cases spike and the virus continues to spread. 

“For Thanksgiving, usually we travel up north to Pennsylvania, but this year we didn’t do that because of COVID,” York said. “We do the same thing for Christmas, but it might be the same way. We’re just hoping we can go up and visit them.”

Senior Nevaeh Tucker is also following through with plans not to travel for the sake of her grandfather, who is more at risk of catching the virus. 

“We were planning on traveling to Rocky Mount, but we had to cancel the trip due to my grandad’s health conditions and to save him the stress of the virus,” she said.

Despite Tucker not being able to make it this year, she still has things to look forward to. She and her family have always made an effort to spend Thanksgiving wherever they can with family, and also have multiple Christmas celebrations in which they celebrate separately with different relatives.

Aside from having to work in social distancing rules, they can still spend Christmas like they normally do.

“On Christmas morning, some of my family comes to our house, we eat breakfast, hang out and open presents,” Tucker said. “After that, my little sister and I go to her grandparents’ house and spend time with them and exchange gifts.”

Above all, Tucker is thankful that she is still allowed to see some of her family, even if everyone isn’t all there together.

“I look forward to spending time with as much family as possible and even seeing family that I haven’t seen since before COVID, but I’m scared that some family members may miss out on being all together with everyone, or that they will not have anyone to celebrate with,” Tucker said. “I do believe, though, that phone calls will play a huge role in this holiday season to bring everyone closer without physically being there.”

Meanwhile, sophomore Stella Bryson and her family aren’t letting anything get in the way of precious time with family during these especially difficult times, when it means the most.

For Thanksgiving, Bryson visited both of her grandparents’ houses, one in Nashville and the other in Knoxville. She recalls that the trip to Tennessee wasn’t much different than usual, except that some relatives didn’t want to travel because of COVID.

Bryson is simply grateful that she can still hang out with family.

“I always enjoy seeing my family and I like to see my cousins, because that’s always fun, and just being around the family always makes for a good time,” she said.

Considering this is a regular trip taken by Bryson and her family during the holidays, they are planning on spending Christmas the same way, visiting her grandparents in Tennessee.

“All of our family lives in Tennessee, so we’re probably going to go and do the exact same thing again for Christmas, because we do this every year,” Bryson said. “There will probably be less people traveling, though, because I don’t think the family who’s really far away wants to fly in just because of COVID.”

While Bryson is there, she celebrates in many ways with her grandparents and truly makes the most out of her time with them. 

“We normally put a little pickle on the tree and whoever finds it first gets a dollar — I always do that with my grandpa,” Bryson said. “With my other grandparents, we like to walk around the block and pick some moss for the reindeer, and then we make cookies with my grandma, which we give to Santa and his reindeer.”

Also taking a Christmas trip is sophomore Maura Trivette, who will be visiting relatives she hasn’t seen in a long time.

“We usually travel to my grandmother’s in Lexington (N.C.), and see my uncle and all of my mom’s side of the family,” Trivette said. “From there, we go to Hickory to see my dad’s side of the family and usually leave either right before Christmas or right after.”

And while Trivette is looking forward to seeing her family, she still has her doubts, as most would. 

“I’m afraid of them being sick, us being sick and getting it, because it’s pretty bad here, but I don’t really know what it’s like where they live, even though I know everyone’s been really cautious about it,” Trivette said. “I think we all should maybe look up how bad it is in the area we’re going to, and also ask our families if they’re OK with us coming.”

Although Trivette will be away for a short time, she will still be home for Christmas, hopefully doing her normal thing and enjoying some time spent with her neighbors.

“Every year, we have brunch in the morning where we invite all of our neighbors over and it’s pretty fun, although I actually don’t know if we’ll be doing that,” she said.

No matter what happens with holiday travel traditions, everyone seems to be making an attempt at normalizing things for the time being, finding ways to enjoy themselves after the year of chaos we’ve been through.

“I think we should try to make it as normal as possible and try to just have fun with the circumstances, even if it’s not how it usually is,” York said.

Junior Versailles Dalessio can be reached @22dalessiove31@daretolearn.org.