Are you seeing family for Holidays? (Safely?)

In my case, I have been quarantined for several weeks and tested negative; and so I am seeing my parents household: mom, dad, and maternal uncle. They all have been quarantined except for visits to supermarket. No other family will be there just my clean household (me and my cat) seeing my parents. All other family will be seen via Zoom call on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

My parents and I have planned this meeting and we are all negative as near as we can tell with testng before hand. My parents are in their 80s, and my maternal uncle is 66. My uncle is their day-to-day help with the household; i.e. doing small chores that would wear my older parents out. Long story short, I worked hard to visit all three family members safely as I could. My next visit to them might be July 2021 or after we all get the vaccine. I hate to say it, but I worked this hard to make this possible because I don't know if this could be the last Christmas - it is a hard thing to not think about. Ugg.

I will be spending time with my roommate's family, since I already live with my roommate and we see her family weekly. My brother is spending Christmas with a friend that he sees every day at work, and my parents are spending Christmas by themselves. My parents and brother are driving (separately) to my place (which is centrally located) this weekend so we can meet in the parking lot with masks on and socially distance.

What a fucking year.

Absolutely not. I get it and really have understanding for those who want to but there's no way in hell I will risk it.

I'll be helping mine move in a few days. I've seen more of them in the last fortnight than the rest of the year combined. No Christmas, though. Once my mother's settled in I'm back to work and, "See you in the new year."

Just me and my Mom this year. My mom has been quarantining at home because she's considered high risk (she's a diabetic) and I've basically been home since this whole thing started outside of grocery runs. It's gonna be different this year but better to be safe than sorry.

i had planned on it- but since i would be travelling between states it proved too onerous to be safe and by-the-book. i can't fully WFH so total quarantine isn't possible, and i would have had to get tested 3 times in less than a week.

my folks are older, so their safety comes first. it's rough, but we're almost there.

This poll is weirdly US centric. A lot of people on this forum don't live in the States (I do, but many don't) and their considerations may be totally different.

My mom is elderly and lives in the same city as me so I see her regularly to help her. Because of this I take lots of Covid precautions to avoid possibly contracting it. It can't be perfect, of course, and I worry, but the risk of cutting off all contact for an extended period is too great.

London just raised its level of lockdown/restrictions so, even though technically we are allowed to travel during a festive window, it seems pretty unsound for me to travel out to the rural midlands where my at-risk-age Mum lives. I don't drive so all those trains and buses when everyone else is traveling sounds nightmarish and far to risky to others I'd see on the other side of the journey.

An ex-coworker of mine died of covid.

Two co-workers of mine have covid.

A friend has covid.

My father is immunosuppressed and if he gets it, he'll be dead.

There's a reason the US has record numbers of deaths and cases and it's because of people who see family and friends, and attend gatherings. You need to go beyond guidelines and flat out stay inside and leave only for essential things. Full stop.

Can't take the risk -- both my parents are pushing 80 and one of them is messed up enough that even catching the common cold can put them into the hospital.

It really sucks, especially since they are old -- time is running out and they're missing seeing their grandson grow from a toddler to a very adventurous pre-schooler -- but any risk is too much risk. If I guess wrong or get unlucky, one of them is dead, and one of them is very likely dead. There are too many stories out there of people who were following all the precautions, and they still caught it, and have no clue where it came from. And I'm in a situation where I can't completely self-isolate for two weeks anyway.

We just have to live with phone calls and FaceTime, and make up for it when they finally get their vaccinations.

Nope!!

The last time I hanged out with somebody in person was......January(?)

'No and I finally have a valid excuse instead of being antisocial'.

Agreed. I went with the top option, because it most closely matched what my situation is. The situation in my country is not nearly as bad as in the USA, but it's been getting slightly worse in the last month or two. Restaurants and bars are still open, but I haven't been to any for over a month.

I am seeing my parents on Christmas, because I've been seeing them regularly throughout the year. We've cut things way back this year though. Usually there are 15-20 of us together on Christmas eve, but now we will only be six.

My "state", Norway, is doing ok, and people are mostly good at following restrictions. I'm seeing my family.

I feel for all of you that can't see your friends or relatives this holiday, and I hope you stay safe.

I live in Germany and my family in neighboring Switzerland. Getting there would be pretty easy right now, there are plenty of flights and trains or even car share rides (though they're probably pretty fucking expensive at this point), but I'm simply not risking it. My father has had issues with his breathing and blood pressure for years now and my mom, while quite healthy for a 60 year-old woman (knock on wood), is simply not where she used to be at. Add on a close family friend who is 79 and has struggled through prostate cancer — it's just not worth it.

On top of all that, I'd like to have ideally returned back to Berlin in time for NYE to hopefully do at least something small with close friends. But if I were to have traveled and returned, I'd have been stuck in mandatory quarantine, alone in my apartment, on New Years' Eve. That would be pretty bleak, no?

I understand those wanting to go back to see family and I just really hope these folks are super careful, ideally isolate for a week beforehand, wear masks, keep distance and are just overall responsible. My roommate is heading down to Bavaria to his family, where cases are perhaps the highest in the country, and I dread him bringing the virus there or (more likely) back to Berlin.

As a dog I generally don't need a mask but I'll try putting one on for xmas.

I'm moving to Japan in 4 weeks so I cant risk getting sick before then

I'll be doing xmas on my own in my pyjamas

No. Even though it would probably be entirely safe here, even for someone immunocompromised like me, the only place in the country I still specifically feel like avoiding is airports, which I would need to enter multiple times if I went home for xmas.

I told my family I will visit later next year instead, when it is a less stressful affair.

That seems like a good compromise using social distancing and PPE.

We'll be doing a video call with my family that lives out of state to avoid lengthy travel across states, but may see my wife's family that lives in the same city as us. Think the plan there is to stay distanced but see each other in person, but we'll see.

Nope! Just hoping to sleep in a bunch over the break.

@rorie said:

Where does one catch some z's at a brunch? Do you take a snooze in the car after you eat, or at your table between rounds of food? Alternatively, do you hide under one of the tables of warming trays and use a tablecloth as a blanket, or go pure power-move and just climb right up onto the omelet station and perch like a cat on a windowsill?