Prepare stories and invite a dog: eight tips for surviving a Zoom Christmas

Instead of gathering around the holiday table, we'll be gathering around our laptops for awkward silences and Zoom fatigue

Your laptop screen will be a window into your soul this holiday season, so take advantage of the opportunity to make your life appear under control. An upside to any global pandemic is that you don't have to clean up for guests. When it comes to messes, it's out of screen, out of mind". Meanwhile, you can create an idealized - and/or completely false - vision of your home life: fill the area behind you with thick volumes of poetry, or hardcore exercise equipment, or the only plant you have ever managed to keep alive for more than a week.