Spread Christmas Cheer Now? Why Not! 5 Uplifting Stories For A Dose Of Good Vibes

Things seem bleak right now with the COVID-19 pandemic, and pratically the whole world is in quarantine or lockdown. But it is in these times when we need more good news, and in different parts of the world, people are serving it it and showing us that there is indeed a silver lining to every situation.

Philippines: Less air pollution in Metro Manila

In an Instagram post, Doug Kramer shared a clip containing three videos of the Metro Manila skyline, visible from his family home. The top video in the collage was taken in December 2019 and showed the intense smog in the sky. In the two other clips in the collage, however, you can see how the sky cleared up significantly.

“There’s a lot of unfortunate circumstances happening around our world, and also in our country,” wrote Doug, later adding, “It’s a rarity to get consecutive days of a clear and unpolluted view.”

Italy: Venetian canals are clearing up

Ever since travel to countries in the European Union was banned, the canals of Venice have been seeing fewer visitors, but there is an upside: Its waters are clearing up.

“The water now looks clearer because there is less traffic on the canals, allowing the sediment to stay at the bottom,” a spokesman for the Venice mayor’s office tells CNN. “It’s because there is less boat traffic that usually brings sediment to the top of the water’s surface.” He adds the air quality there has improved since fewer waterbuses are operating.

Side note: On social media, people were sharing photos and videos of dolphins and swans swimming in the canals, but National Geographic says these were not from the Venetian canals. The swans regularly appear in the canals of Burano, a small island in the Venice metropolitan area, while the photos of the dolphins were taken in Sardinia, located hundreds of miles away in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Italy: Neighbors sing to one another from their balconies

In Italy, which has now overtaken China in the number of COVID-19-related deaths, the lockdown did not prevent Italians from bonding with one another: Netizens have been sharing clips of people singing and dancing to one another from the balconies or windows of their homes.

U.S.A. and Philippines: People put up Christmas lights to spread cheer

Christmas may be nine months away, but in one United States suburb, neighbors have been spreading good cheer by decorating their homes with colorful Christmas lights and sharing photos of their lit-up homes using hashtags like #LightsForLife and #CoronaKindness.

Users say this simple act is their way of reminding one another that despite what’s happening right now, there is still life and light in the world.

It seems the cheer has also reached the Philippines: One photojournalist named Armand Bengue Frasco from Dipolog, Zamboanga also decided to put up a parol at his house as a sign of hope amid the COVID-19 threat. “I saw an article online about people putting up Christmas lights for cheer amid this crisis and I thought it would be a good idea to follow,” he tells GMA News.

“Inspired by this story, our family has decided to take out one of our Christmas parol from storage and hang it by our window to signify hope in a world enveloped by fright and darkness.”

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U.S.A.: Penguins freely roam around an aquarium

Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois has temporarily closed its doors due to the community quarantine. Now that the facility is not hosting tourists, its animal caretakers are letting their rockhopper penguins take trips around the aquarium!

“Without guests in the building, caretakers are getting creative in how they provide enrichment to animals, introducing new experiences, activities, foods and more to keep them active, encourage them to explore, problem-solve and express natural behaviors,” the facility wrote on Twitter. It has also been sharing cute animal pictures that will relieve your quarantine-induced stress.

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