While warm weather has given families the opportunity to gather relatively safely in backyards, fall and winter celebrations are a trickier proposition.
Dr. Charity Hoffman, Zero To Thrive's project coordinator on the Integrated Infant Mental Health project, is featured in this article.
"As one of 11 siblings, Charity Hoffman is used to spending Christmas with dozens of relatives at her parents’ house in Lansing, Mich. This year will be her 7-month-old daughter’s first Christmas and the family’s second holiday season without her brother, who died in 2019. She says she has a “big, loving family,” and being together helps them to grapple with the loss of her brother.
But while she had many socially distant porch and backyard visits this past summer, Dr. Hoffman, who is 35 and lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., said that for the first time, she will not be spending Christmas with her extended family, opting to be with only her husband and daughter. In addition to wanting to keep her baby safe, “we want to protect our community and not contribute to the spread,” she said."
