A Different Kind of Holiday Season

​By Sydney

When people think of the holidays, they tend to think of snow. Whether it be snowball fights, sledding, or sleigh rides, most people associate December holidays with the ground being covered in fluffy, white, snow. However I think of something a little different. For me, the holiday season means being able to go outside without the sun trying to fill me and cacti (not cactuses, don’t say cactuses unless you want to get laughed at) wearing Santa hats. I think of the holiday season differently because of where I live: Arizona, a state in the southwestern United States.
    
​A lot of people forget that the US has desert biomes even though it actually has four of them. Arizona is home to at least a part of each of the four deserts (https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_northamerica.php). Being a state that is mostly desert means it doesn’t get any snow, except in the northern area which gets a lot. Therefore, people living in Arizona have adapted winter traditions to fit our climate better. When decorating for Christmas, instead of putting Santa hats on snow people, we put them on cacti. Whereas some people in other states have electric reindeer, my neighbours have lit-up javelina, wild pigs that like to roam the neighbourhoods.
    
Some years I do wish that we got snow. When I was little, my parents used to tell me that Arizona sent all of its snow to places that need it more. Now, I don’t want it to snow, I just want it to be cold. As climate change gets worse, it just keeps getting hotter and hotter here in what locals call the Valley of the Sun. So, instead of looking for snow as a signal that winter has begun, we look for a different sign: snow birds. Now, you may be thinking “how do birds tell you when it’s winter?”. Well that’s easy to answer: snow birds aren’t actual birds. “Snowbirds” is our term for retired people that live in Arizona in the winter and more northern states, such as … Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois in the summer. Therefore, when the license plates start changing to show more states like Minnesota, North Dakota, or even Canada, that’s how we know it is winter.
    
This holiday season will probably look a lot different for everyone. As COVID-19 gets worse again here in the United States, holiday plans will have to be adjusted. Thankfully, I have a small family: just me, my parents, and their parents. We plan to sit as far away from each other as possible, but if cases get worse we may move Christmas to zoom. I know it may be hard to spend the holiday season on zoom, but it is the safest option. To help our doctors and hospitals, it is best for holiday plans to be put on hold. To accommodate this new way of celebrating, try playing some fun games on zoom. A lot of websites have been created to play card games or even board games online, making it possible to have fun with people that aren’t with you. Some streaming services are even creating platforms, such as Netflix Party, that let multiple people in different locations watch the same movie. Doing gatherings virtually may seem like we are back at the start of quarantine, but they are steps we need to take to help get the pandemic under control.
    
If someone had told me that I might not be able to see my grandparents for Christmas, I probably would have thought they were lying. I am their only grandkid and my mom their only child so where else could they go. It will be hard not to see them, but to keep them safe I am willing to go a Christmas without them. On a happier note, this weekend we are putting out all of our Christmas decorations and I am excited to see the electric javelinas once again.​