Not Home for the Holidays

Liberated by the loss of tradition over the last two years, some are forging their own celebrations — or skipping them altogether.

In the past, Lexi Ivarsson, a content creator who lives in Boise, Idaho, felt she had limited options for the holidays.

She would pack her four kids, aged 3 to 7, in the car and drive to either her husband’s parents’ house nearby or her family’s house near Provo, Utah. It was a tradition so ingrained, she even saw family members last year for the holidays, in the middle of the pandemic and against the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But this year she decided she’d had enough.