Please treat everyone kindly.
Stay home if you can. Wear a mask. If you can’t avoid an in-person interaction, keep the mask on and stay as socially distanced as possible.
This includes everyone you interact with, the package delivery person, the salesperson at the register, and even the knit/crochet designer you email with a question late on a Friday night.
We’re all on this planet together. Yes, there’s lots of differences and divisions and you don’t have to agree or forgive, however, please treat others kindly. They’re going through each decade of 2020 the same as you (even if they refuse to acknowledge it).

Set realistic expectations.
I’m all for disrupting traditions and doing things differently. No matter how you have traditionally celebrated certain days, it’ll not be the same this year. Please accept things may not work how you expect, and that’s ok.
Small meals with your household and video conferencing can be enjoyable if you don’t hold too close to “we always did it this way”. I first did this back in April, and there have been several holiday observances since then. This article shares some helpful tips for making a socially distanced holiday feel special.
I will be making a dal next Thursday and dessert will be the apple pie I grew up making (here’s my vegan pie crust recipe that I first made in 1989).
Accept that you won’t get everything done.
I really wanted to finish 3 projects this year, two baby blankets and a scarf. I haven’t and it’s unlikely I’ll finish them before January. I’ve completed other projects but haven’t been able to focus on these three gifts. I was stressing and avoiding them for the past few weeks. This week I accepted that I won’t complete these projects when I hoped and found last night, I was able to pick up and work on one again.

Find time to have fun.
Make something fun and different.
We’ve said for years we want to build an LED menorah to put in a front window.
Earlier this week we started designing and coding it. Here was my test to confirm creating a flicker effect.

Donate money to nonprofit organizations.
I’ve been seeing variations of: “did you buy extra cans back in March and now you don’t know what to do with them? Donate them!”
My mantra is this: Give Money, Give Time (and Social Media boosts), and only if you know the organization well then Give Stuff.
It’s highly likely that if your odd canned item ends up in a food pantry because you didn’t know what to do with it, others won’t be able to build a decent meal with it either. I urge you to be creative and search for ideas and recipes so you use those items and instead of cans send your local food pantry a monetary donation.
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