LITTLE ROCK, Ark — It's a tradition for many people in and around central Arkansas to attend church services on Christmas Eve.
Unfortunately due to COVID-19, they haven't looked the same recently. The virus has forced churches to adapt, but with the experience of last year, many have said they're ready.
"Our pastors preached to empty rooms and we just got to kind of watch them from home on Christmas," Michael McMurray, spokesperson for Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church said about last year.
Pulaski Heights wasn't the only congregation impacted- Trinity Episcopal Cathedral also had to adapt.
And with the events of last year, they weren't going to let the opportunity this year go to waste.
"Gathering in person is important and we're gonna take what we've learned since March of 2020 and apply that to whatever comes next," Jack Dowling, spokesperson for Trinity Episcopal, said.
That experience is important – it's what is letting people gather for church services this Christmas.
Trinity Episcopal is requiring masks and social distancing.
"Now with omicron it seems like the mask is continuing to be an important thing," Dowling said.
Pulaski Heights is encouraging the same thing. Like Trinity Episcopal, their vaccination rate is high.
"We have everything that we can to do everything that we can to do worship safely," McMurray said.
At this point, this isn't new or even out of the ordinary – this is a part of life. We've seen COVID impact other holidays too.
"A lot of people felt like, great, maybe we can stop wearing masks. But we do have a good number of families that attend here and we want to protect the children," Dowling said.
Taking those safety measures and ensuring the families are protected is what the holiday is about.
Being together – safely – with friends and family.
"We don't want our Christmas Eve service to become a super-spreader event," Dowling said.
So as churches swell for service, there's two messages. One of the holiday, and one of hope.
"We still made some progress in that, in this, in being together at Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Jesus, we can find that hope that we can get past this pandemic," McMurray said.
And even though we may not be out of the pandemic yet, that hope is still hanging on, ready for next year as well.
"Fingers crossed, next year we'll be able to talk about COVID as a memory," McMurray said. "But until then, we'll keep trying to do what we can to dispel it."