'Tis the season to be jolly, says December.
In 2020, however, coronavirus changed that story.
Now that the year is finally coming to an end, people the world are determined to celebrate the festive season, but cautiously.
And holiday shopping has begun.
Take a look.
IMAGE: Shoppers walk past Christmas decorations inside a mall in Kuala Lumpur. Photograph: Lim Huey Teng/Reuters
IMAGE: Kurfurstendamm Avenue in Berlin is crowded with shoppers and discounts. The Christmas season has begun on a muted note in Germany as lockdown measures stayed in place and are due to become even stricter in many regions. Photograph: Maja Hitij/Getty Images
IMAGE: Shoppers wait in line to enter a Zara store on Bourke Street in Melbourne. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
IMAGE: In London, this woman's pram was laden with shopping bags. Beginning midnight on December 1, England entered into a tiered lockdown. Photograph: Peter Summers/Getty Images
IMAGE: A vendor sorts Christmas ornaments for sale at a market in Quezon City, Philippines. Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
IMAGE: Sale signs are displayed in the window of a business in Brooklyn, in the hope of attracting more customers. Businesses continue to struggle as unemployment remains high and more shoppers have migrated to online shopping. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Concept: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
