Gabrielle Union Is Determined to Keep Her Holiday Traditions Alive Despite the Pandemic

From Woman's Day

There's no doubt that the 2020 holiday season will look different for the people who are taking the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic seriously and doing what they can to stop the spread. Family get-togethers are being canceled, people are staying home, and loved ones are finding alternative ways to celebrate the holidays safely and from a distance. And while Gabrielle Union is one of the millions of Americans who have been forced to change their plans (many times over) this year, she's determined not to let COVID-19 completely squash her 2020 holiday aspirations.

"We had all kinds of plans," Union tells Woman's Day. "But then, Corona." When Union and her family realized it wouldn't be safe or responsible to carry one with their yearly holiday plans, they sat down and reevaluated what they wanted to do this Christmas. "It's gonna be more of the same, but with turkey and ham," she laughs.

Union does plan to keep some of her favorite Christmas traditions alive — a way to break up the Groundhog's Day-type feeling of sheltering-in-place, and to make sure the season still feels special. And, of course, there will be always-important inclusion of a candied glazed ham. "There is no holiday without ham," she says.

A Christmas meal has to have dessert, too, and Union has that covered as well. "What dessert don't I go to?" she laughs. "We always have sweet potato pie. This year we've been experimenting with a gluten-free, dairy-free version. I really need it to taste like there is lard in there. I don't know if it will, but we're trying, we're experimenting before we spring it on the rest of the family, and we're getting really close."

Union also plans to spend time during the holidays listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Dreamgirls — another yearly traditional in the Wade-Union household that's vastly preferred over a listen to the more traditional Christmas carols. And whatever happens, Union plans to make sure the holidays feel special and different from any other day in quarantine. "We'll try to keep our normal traditions," she says. "And try to create some fun with the new guidelines that keep changing."

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