With Christmas less than a month away, Mallory Miller, 7, was starting to get worried. How would Santa avoid the coronavirus while travelling from house to house this year?

“Isn’t he concerned that he might get sick?” she asked.

Mallory’s mother, Kelley Miller, said she was taken aback by her daughter’s questions. Like many things about the pandemic, there weren’t obvious answers.

She told Mallory that Santa and his reindeer would wear masks and that they would move really quickly when visiting the Millers’ home in Ashburn, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Mallory pondered this for a moment and concluded that leaving out milk and cookies would be a bad idea. “We don’t want him taking off his mask in the house, because he’s travelled,” she said. Her mother agreed.

So they decided that this year, instead of treats, they would give Santa a hand-decorated disposable mask and a large bottle of hand sanitizer.

Sanitizer For Santa? Families Adapt To A Strange Holiday Season | (Yann Bastard/The New York Times)

This holiday season is going to be a little bizarre. Pandemic-themed Christmas ornaments are top sellers. Family gatherings are being dramatically altered or cancelled entirely. Travelling to the local mall to snap an annual picture with Santa feels forbidden. Some Jewish families are planning to light the menorah over Zoom. And religious services, like those that were held during the Jewish High Holy Days in September, are happening outside, online or with other modifications.