Here are 50 ideas to spend the Christmas with your children in the a pandemic year.

Many things have been canceled as a result of the coronavirus epidemic. However, don't give it the authority to call off the festivities. In 2021, here are some safe ways to celebrate the holiday season with your family.

1. Be open and honest about your normal holiday customs. Try to duplicate the ones you can, let everyone grieve the ones you'll have to say goodbye to this year, and then commiserate about a few you're not so sad to see go. You could even wish to keep the pared-down traditions going in the future.

2. Don't forget about family members and friends who live alone. Send something else than the standard holiday card. Perhaps a present, a longer letter, or a video conference invitation.

3. Taking in the holiday lights is ideal for social isolation. Take your family to enjoy the holiday lights throughout the city. Alternatively, Candy Cane Lane. Or the Boerner Botanical Gardens' Winter Wonders. Alternatively, your own neighborhood.

4. Every year, Milwaukee schools and youth groups decorate Christmas trees in Cathedral Square Park. This year, the trees are making a comeback.

5. If going downtown to see "A Christmas Carol" or "The Nutcracker" has been a holiday tradition for you, plan to watch the online performances from the comfort of your own home in December.

6. It's the holiday season, which means it's time to give. This year's traditional fundraising events are different (or non-existent), but there are still ways to contribute. Food for Families is a virtual fundraising organized by the Hunger Task Force. The United Way's annual Holiday Giving Tree is the same way. A wish list for Toys for Tots can be found on Amazon.

7. Make a large number of cookies. This is more than normal. There are numerous kinds. If you're looking for ideas, check out some of the previous winners of the Journal Sentinel's Holiday Cookie Contest. Alternatively, go through the recipes in this year's We Energies Cookie Book. There are additional books from prior years archived on this site.

8. Gather paper, crayons, and seasonal stickers to make Christmas cards for people in nursing homes, COVID-19 patients in hospitals, as well as physicians, nurses, and other critical professionals. Send cards, drawings, and greetings to people in participating care facilities as part of TimeSlips' Postcard Challenge.

9. While carolers and visits to neighbors may not be popular, remain neighborly by placing hidden surprises on their doorsteps. If you're making and giving food, make sure to follow the CDC's food preparation safety guidelines.

10. Host your own caroling gathering at home. You may also take a singing stroll through your neighborhood with your family. Simply ensure that you are socially distant and avoid the door-to-door aspect.

11. Discuss the future of Christmas. What do your children envision a great holiday to be like when they're older? Have them write or draw their ideas down and save them somewhere secure so they can look back on them when they're older.

12. Surprisingly, you may have a personalized Zoom call with Santa this year via the internet.

13. The NORAD Santa Tracker is a useful tool for determining Santa's location on Christmas Eve (and a good incentive to get the kids to bed). There are additional exciting Santa-related activities on the site starting December 1.

14. While Santa is the most famous elf, you can include several other elves in your Christmas celebration. Make your Elf on the Shelf costumes and hiding places as elaborate as possible. And don't forget to elf yourself. It never fails to make me laugh.

15. Make cookies, popcorn, and hot cocoa. Then, with your snacks in hand, sit down with your family and do some warm virtual shopping for everyone on your list.

16. Because customary Christmas gatherings have been canceled, some people will have extra time to make thoughtful homemade gifts. Come up with some craft ideas with your kids.

17. Consider why you care about your family and friends. Then write them down to show everyone how important they are to you.

18. Purchase and decorate tiny trees for various places of your home (for example, the rooms in your children's virtual school settings). Extra ornaments, favorite ornaments, or ornaments chosen to fit a theme can all be used.

19. Use candy canes of various varieties to decorate one of the tiny trees. Use the tree as a countdown to Christmas by allowing the kids to eat one every day until the big day.

20. Assist the children in choreographing their own version of The Nutcracker ballet for you to see.

21. Relive all of your favorite holiday TV and movie classics. Add a few more to your to-do list.

22. Learn about winter festivals that you may not be familiar with, such as those observed by other faiths or cultures. Discuss the similarities and contrasts between the holidays and what they mean to the individuals who celebrate them.

23. Collaborate on decorations with your children. Gingerbread houses (or easier-to-make graham cracker houses), marshmallow snow people, and gumdrop-decorated Styrofoam tree shapes might all be found in a sugar village.

24. Research classics when designing your holiday dinner menu. Make everyone pick a dish they've never tried before.

25. Ask each person to choose one of their favorite foods. Collaborate to prepare a "favorite things" meal for your family.

26. Make a list of unusual holiday traditions to observe during the season. Is this the year's first real snowfall? Enjoy some ice cream. When is the last day of school (virtual or in person) before winter break? If there isn't any snow, have a snowball fight with balled-up paper.

27. When you're in the car, listen to Christmas music.

28. Encore is a board game in which each team is given a word and then sings a song using that word in it back and forth. Do the same thing with festive music.

29. Make a list of appropriate groups for your friends and family members (people who love puzzles, artists, book lovers, athletes, whatever makes sense among your loved ones). Make a list of names for a gift exchange.

30. Hang a Christmas countdown across each child's bedroom door frame. Make a note for each day so that your child can read another item you admire about them every day.

31. Conduct a taste test on holiday foods. Purchase a variety of seasonal snacks, such as candy canes, cookies, fudge, and anything with a peppermint or gingerbread flavor. Decide which dishes have the finest flavor.

32. If you won't be able to spend Christmas with your extended family, grab some ideas from YouTube and make unboxing films of your gifts.

34. Over the years, you've most likely filmed hours and hours of footage of your children during Christmas. Have you seen them, though? This year, set aside some time to watch holiday home movies.

35. Set aside a day each week until Christmas to scour the house for odd toys, trinkets, or items you never wear. Wrap them up and trade them for a thrifted present.

36. Take your kids outside to have a snowball battle or build a fort when it snows enough.

37. This year, don't get an ugly Christmas sweater. Choose an old one and make it your own!

38. Every day, make your house smell like the holidays. Bake cookies, light candles, or simply leave a pot of apple cider simmering with cinnamon on the stove.

39. Take an evening to make a to-do list. What are the best and worst holiday films? Songs? Alternatively, you can personalize it by ranking the strangest Christmas experiences and family stories.

40. Do you write a Christmas letter to your friends and family every year? This year, have the kids write (or dictate) it. It'll be more amusing.

41. For each month of this strange year, think of anything wonderful that happened and write it down on cardstock. Glitter and markers can be used to embellish the cheerful thoughts. Display them as part of your Christmas decor.

42. Assign each window in your home a Christmas theme and let the kids go crazy with window markers.

43. To allow for social separation, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's annual "A Christmas Carol" changed into a one-actor production this year. Make a list of each child's favorite Christmas play, movie, or story. See if they can put up a 10-minute one-person show.

44. Host your own Christmas tree lighting party, complete with a countdown, festive music, and refreshments.

45. This year, forget about a posed, professional Christmas card photo shoot. Allow the children to choose their own clothing and create a backdrop.

46. At children's holiday gatherings, a few tables are set up with craft kits from retailers like Michael's or Joann. For your own DIY holiday party, buy your own supplies and set up a few creative stations.

47. Take a walk on Christmas morning to get in the mood to open gifts, after dark to see the lights, or in the middle of the day to remind yourself that there are other people in your neighborhood.

During the epidemic, many of us developed new hobbies or discovered new interests. Purchase gifts for your friends and family that represent your new interests.

49. During the holiday season, what is the one thing that makes each member of your family the happiest? What is it about the holidays that makes you feel the most festive? Make an extra effort to deliver that something unique to everyone – in a pandemic-safe manner.

50. Conduct research about how holidays are observed in various parts of the world. Consider incorporating some of those customs into your own.