Holly, Jolly and Covid Free Cheer: Staffer finds safe ways to stay connected during the holidays

Having spent nine months in a pandemic, we know the obvious way to stay connected with family is to hop on a Zoom call and catch up. While in theory a good idea, my family Zoom calls quickly turn into awkward small talk about how virtual school is going, or they end up with my three-year-old sister throwing a tantrum in the background. For me, the best part of Christmas is having fun with family and celebrating our traditions — not explaining Canvas to them for the fourth time.

To spice things up and keep everyone happy for the holidays, I’ve compiled three of the best ways to enjoy holiday activities with extended family — while staying at a distance. 

Teleparty

On the evening of Christmas Day, my family and I usually gather in my grandparents’ living room to watch Christmas movies, such as “Christmas Vacation,” “A Christmas Story,” “Elf” and yes — “Die Hard.” Half of the fun while watching these movies is the snarky comments we all make to poke fun at the dorky dialogue and cheesy moments. Sure, you can still do that by sharing your screen on Zoom, but if virtual school has taught us anything, it’s that screen-sharing a video almost never works. In my research to find a screen-sharing service that worked, I discovered Teleparty. 

Teleparty is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to sync a movie or TV show with anyone who has the invitation link. It’s compatible with Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Disney Plus.

It has a text chat feature so you can chat your relatives, and if you keep Zoom running in the background, you can utilize its voice chat feature as well to laugh along with your family about the Griswald family’s mishaps.

Virtual Board Games

Before we find our seats to watch holiday movies, we wear ourselves out through over-competitive rounds of board games and cards — my favorite being Canasta and Sorry. Unfortunately, not everyone in the family has identical board game collections, and it would be very difficult to have everyone play the same game on five different boards. Luckily, there’s a number of online options for board games to play with your family.

The first and simplest option is Pictionary. You don’t even need a physical or online version of this game. Using Zoom’s whiteboard feature, you’re able to share your screen and your drawings. 

If nine rounds of Pictionary starts to get boring, head over to Playingcards.io. This website allows you to pick from many different card and board games — in my experience, “Joking Hazard” can get pretty intense. Once you pick one, or even create your own game with the custom room option, share the room code with your family and let the games begin. 

Meal Packs

Whether we care to admit it or not, the most important part of the holidays is the food. I’m sure we’ll all be missing some signature dishes from certain relatives — I’m already reeling in this year’s absence of my Grandma’s sugar cookies. 

A good way to combat your family recipe cravings is to create meal packs to deliver to your family members and vise-versa — they can create meal packs to deliver to you! And don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be full of the healthy stuff (I never eat the vegetables anyways). 

It’s also a great way to be creative, since each family has their own traditional foods. This is good time to throw in a handwritten note from everyone in the family. And don’t forget to throw in some homemade hot cocoa too. 

These boxes don’t just have to be for your family. Make some for your friends and neighbors too. Now more than ever, it’s important to check in on others and stay connected — and food is something that can bring us all together.