As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Christmas this year will look different than our typical Christmas. As with Thanksgiving (COVID Thanksgiving post here), we usually visit in the neighborhood of 20 people over the course of a few days. We typically have Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day brunch, lunch, and dinner all prepared for us by different family members. Knowing that it was not going to be a possibility this year, we prepared by doing 2 things:
Just like Thanksgiving, we organized a food swap. We will be cooking the ham, green beans, and mac n cheese, and will be getting from others clam dip and glazed carrots. We are also sticking with the Christmas Day brunch food and will be making bacon, French toast on Manghi’s Challah bread, eggs, and breakfast sausage.
In addition to food, we wanted a way to make Christmas more special than usual, and we wanted to avoid crowds while Christmas shopping. We achieved both of these by using November to prep for Christmas and made homemade advent calendars for each of our family members. We shopped locally and sustainably, and each person has had a small gift every day of December up until Christmas. Just a few items that we included in our boxes:
- Chocolates from Lake Champlain Chocolates
- Tea and coffee k-cups and bags (coffee bags from Brave Coffee & Tea)
- Alpaca socks from a local alpaca farm
- Gift cards
- Lotion
- Hand sanitizer
- Reusable straws
- Reusable ziplock bags
- Reusable shopping bags
We hope that your Christmas, while maybe different than usual, is enjoyable and that you and yours are healthy moving into the new year. If you have any pictures to share of your Christmas food or festivities, be sure to use hashtag #economicaleats on Instagram!