© 2026 ABC News

A friend just shared that an elderly neighbor came to her house and asked her husband to turn on the Christmas lights because there's so much darkness and scariness now. So, there are bright dancing Christmas lights now on in their neighborhood. #coronakindness

— Lisa St. Regis (@LisaStRegis) March 15, 2020

With school, work and virtually all public events canceled for an indefinite period, Mike Griffin and Lane Grindle thought putting lights up could be a safe social distancing activity to do with the kids.

My youngest son was bored today and said, \"can we put Christmas lights on our tree outside to cheer us up?\" Great idea buddy. Lights are on tonight as a sign of hope and the sweet mind of my 10 year old. #Rhodeisland #hope #lovemysons #Christmas #Cumberland pic.twitter.com/qhVjeuLc02

— Mike Griffin (@rhodyknowsbest) March 16, 2020

What if we all put our Christmas lights back up? Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity.

— Lane Grindle (@lanegrindle) March 15, 2020

The hashtag “lightsforlife” has since gained traction online, with more and more users sharing pictures and videos of their decorations going up.

There are dark times ahead, but I can still put love & light out into the world.

Some folks have mentioned putting up Christmas lights to cheer up people in quarantine, in isolation, or just to remind the world there’s still light & hope. Here’s my contribution💛#LightsForLife pic.twitter.com/S8Mx8bQ28I

— Sarah Bang (@DrBang_Wx) March 18, 2020

#LightsForLife My living room fairy light wall ✨ pic.twitter.com/QdoBxteWwR

— Rudi the Reader Ⓥ 🧠 (@penru_tondi) March 17, 2020
","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Living/people-put-christmas-lights-spread-cheer-amid-coronavirus/story?id=69665805","legacySlug":"/living/story/people-put-christmas-lights-spread-cheer-amid-coronavirus-69665805","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"16:49","publishDate":"03-18-2020","updatedTime":"18:55","updatedDate":"03-18-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"VIDEO: These Christmas lights displays will blow your mind","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/191219_gma_digital_lightsmashup_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"3/18/2020 16:49:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":69665805,"headline":"People put lights up to spread cheer amid COVID-19","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA CHRISTMAS LIGHTS","description":"Social media users are sharing a creative way to stay positive.","duration":"2:15","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/03/200318_wnn_ganss2_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["69662006","69618366","69650869"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"March 18, 2020","headline":"Ben Platt and his Broadway friends throw virtual dance party to ease anxiety","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/ben-platt-broadway-friends-throw-virtual-dance-party-69662006","id":69662006,"image":{"alt":"Ben Platt and his Broadway friends throw virtual dance party to ease anxiety","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/platt-ht-er-200318jpg_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Ben Platt/Instagram","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"March 17, 2020","headline":"#Quarantinelife trending across social media as Americans adjust to staying at home","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/quarantinelife-trending-social-media-69618366","id":69618366,"image":{"alt":"#Quarantinelife trending across social media as Americans adjust to staying at home","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/dog-1-ht-er-200316_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Courtesy Sofi Ameli","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"March 18, 2020","headline":"Husband holds sign for quarantined wife outside nursing home on 67th anniversary","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/man-holds-sign-wife-nursing-home-67th-anniversary-69650869","id":69650869,"image":{"alt":"Husband holds sign for quarantined wife outside nursing home on 67th anniversary","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/bobmain-ht-ls-200317_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Courtesy Laura Mikolajczak","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"People put lights up to spread cheer amid COVID-19","description":"Social media users are sharing a creative way to stay positive.","duration":"2:15","uploadDate":"03-18-2020","publication":"03-18-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/03/200318_wnn_ganss2_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/03/200318_wnn_ganss2_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/people-put-christmas-lights-spread-cheer-amid-coronavirus-69665805"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133075455","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063114","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133015093","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998564","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998072","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132977374","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132977531","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132962364","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132958371","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132932494","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132927870","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132911868","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132911765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132880952","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132873763","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132844494","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132840754","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132748964","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132636882","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:living:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"living","title":"People put lights up to spread cheer amid COVID-19","pubTime":"12:49","pubDate":"03-18-2020","modTime":"14:55","modDate":"03-18-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":69665805,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"People put lights up to spread cheer amid COVID-19","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA CHRISTMAS LIGHTS","videoId":69665805,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/living/story/people-put-christmas-lights-spread-cheer-amid-coronavirus-69665805"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/69665805","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/69665805","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};