To slow the spread of COVID-19, the United States, Canada and Mexico agreed in March to close their shared borders to nonessential travel.
Nine months later, it’s Christmas. Families across the world are disconnected, but perhaps none more than those trapped on opposite sides of an international border. Some legally can’t cross, and others can’t afford to endure quarantines if they do.
Yet, the holiday spirit survives. Along both borders, AP photographers found families connecting in smaller, more intimate ways, overcoming unusual obstacles for shared celebrations.
At the U.S.-Mexico border, most years bring festive Las Posadas celebrations; the centuries-old tradition practiced in Mexico reenacts through song Mary and Joseph’s search for refuge in Bethlehem.
Not this year. In addition to virus-related restrictions, people face another barrier: President Donald Trump’s border wall that stretches hundreds of miles and is still under construction.
A little girl in Arizona recently stuck her arm through giant steel slats of the border wall, wrangling a baby doll as she looked to the sky. A little boy reached through the wall for a hug, looking tired and serious.
Contrast that with the scenes 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) away on the U.S.-Canada border.
A short strip of yellow police tape is the only thing dividing Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec.
On a recent day, the mood outside the majestic, Victorian-style library where people from both countries come to congregate was festive and lighthearted.
A family unfolded chairs in the snow, bundled in winter coats on both sides of the border. They cheerfully exchanged Christmas cards across the police tape, chatting amiably as if there were no barrier.
A Canadian border policeman came by but only to make someone move their car.
The motivations for meeting this way vary: Dr. Tamsin Durand, a physician at a Vermont hospital, visited with his Canadian parents across the yellow tape, unwilling to enter Canada because it would trigger a two-week quarantine. So she, her husband and 3-year-old son, come to visit.
Travel 2,800 miles (4,506 kilometers) west, to Peace Arch Historical State Park in Blaine, Washington, where Canadians walked from a street parallel to the border across a rain-soaked ditch separating the two countries, many carrying tents, sleeping bags, food and other belongings for a visit with Americans.
To enter the U.S., they navigated a short but slippery downhill. Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers checked identification documents of Canadians as they returned. A sign that read “Leaving United States Border” reminded them of the international divide.
Couples romanced in the park; children played. Faith Dancey of White Rock, British Columbia, was all smiles with her bridal gown blowing in the wind as she walked across neatly groomed grass with her new husband. Drew MacPherson of Bellingham, Washington, gave her a joyful piggyback ride before her return to Canada. He stayed in the United States.
It’s not so simple at the Mexico border. In Calexico, California, a planned cross-border celebration happened only in the U.S. because a construction site blocked access to participants in Mexicali, Mexico, a sprawling industrial city of 1 million people.
About a dozen mask-wearing people waited in Calexico to celebrate with Mexicans on Dec. 12, the day of Mexico’s patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Americans gathered on the other side, too far to see or speak to their loved ones, and rallied for open borders.
A young girl pushes her doll through the border fence, as she attends a Las Posadas event with several asylum seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, on the Mexico side Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. People on each side of the border celebrate Las Posadas as they have done for decades, a centuries-old tradition practiced in Mexico re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search for refuge in Bethlehem through songs, with the families attending stuck south of the border, their lives in limbo with U.S. proceedings suspended amid the COVID pandemic. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
Canadians Stephanie Frizzell, far right, and her daughter, Shelby Dubois, second from right, move in for a big air hug with their American relatives, Christian Gervais, far left, Sherie Frizzell, second from left, and Caitlin Davis, third from left, after a visit, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, at the U.S.-Canadian border of Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vt. The holidays have always been a time when people come together, something that’s been true even along international borders where family, friends and communities have long overcome barriers to share in their celebrations. This year they faced their greatest barrier yet _ a global pandemic. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) 
People attend an event in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe along the border Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Calexico, Calif. In the town of 40,000 people, a planned cross-border celebration happened only in the U.S. because a construction site blocked access to participants in Mexicali, Mexico, a sprawling industrial city of 1 million people. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) 
Sisters Stephanie Frizzell, left, of Magog, Quebec, Canada and Sherie Frizzell, right, of Newport Center, Vt., chat as they sit in lawn chairs for a visit, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, at the U.S.-Canadian border of Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vt. The holidays have always been a time when people come together, something that’s been true even along international borders where family, friends and communities have long overcome barriers to share in their celebrations. This year they faced their greatest barrier yet _ a global pandemic. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) 
People attend an event in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe along the border Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Calexico, Calif. In the town of 40,000 people, a planned cross-border celebration happened only in the U.S. because a construction site blocked access to participants in Mexicali, Mexico, a sprawling industrial city of 1 million people. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) 
A Canadian Royal Mounted Police officer, left, talks with a woman after she crossed a ditch back into Canada as the man she visited with looks on from inside Peace Arch Historical State Park in the U.S., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, in Blaine, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) 
Caleb Dupree, left, an intern with Frontera de Cristo, slides a banner through the border fence, as several on the Mexico side take the other side of the banner, as they all participate with several asylum seeking families in a Las Posadas event at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
A couple embraces in Peace Arch Historical State Park in the U.S. just before one of them returned to Canada by crossing a ditch nearby, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, in Blaine, Wash. Canadians have routinely been walking across the ditch to meet with sweethearts, friends and family in the U.S. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) 
Two men walk near where the border wall meets the Pacific Ocean Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) 
A Canadian citizen steps past a border marker and walks into the Peace Arch Historical State Park in the U.S., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, in Blaine, Wash. Canadians have routinely been walking across the ditch to meet with sweethearts, friends and family in the U.S. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) 
Vicky Chaidez waves to children on the Mexico side of the border fence at the start of a Las Posadas event with several asylum seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. Las Posadas re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search for refuge in Bethlehem. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
A couple erects a tent in Peace Arch Historical State Park in the U.S. directly across from a street in Canada, background, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, in Blaine, Wash. Canadians have routinely been walking across the ditch to meet with sweethearts, friends and family in the U.S. there, many visiting in tents they set-up in the park, where the Washington state park remains open and the nearby, adjacent Peace Arch Provincial Park in Canada remains closed. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) 
With crosses in hand and a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle in the background, Mark Adams, PCUSA Mission co-worker serving with Frontera de Cristo, walks away from the border fence after a Las Posadas event at the U.S.-Mexico border wall where several asylum seeking families participated on the Mexico side of the border Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
Americans, right, sit bundled up on lawn chairs as they visit with their Canadian relatives, left, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, at the U.S.-Canadian border marked by planters and yellow tape attached to the Haskell Library which straddles the border at Stanstead, Quebec, Canada and Derby Line, Vt. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) 
A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle sits parked near where a Las Posadas event at the U.S.-Mexico border wall took place, as several asylum seeking families participate in the event on the Mexico side of the border fence Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
Stephanie Frizzell, right, of Magog, Quebec talks to her 3-year-old grandson, Jax, as her daughter, Shelby Dubois, holds coffee, left, while visiting with American relatives, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, at the U.S.-Canadian border of Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vt. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) 
Brother David Buer holds a cross commemorating an immigrant who died attempting to cross the border, at the start of a procession to the border as part of a Las Posadas event with several asylum seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
From left, Caleb Dupree, Father Oscar Mejia, Brother David Buer, Nathan Adams Maldonado, and Mark Adams, PCUSA Mission co-worker serving with Frontera de Cristo, start the procession to the border as part of a Las Posadas event with several asylum seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. The holidays have always been a time when people come together at U.S. borders, overcoming some unusual obstacles for shared celebrations. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) 
From left, Father Oscar Mejia, Brother David Buer and Mark Adams, PCUSA Mission co-worker serving with Frontera de Cristo, start a procession to the border as part of a Las Posadas event with several asylum seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border wall, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Douglas, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
They left behind flowers and candles. They touched the wall before departing.
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By Associated Press photographers Gregory Bull in Calexico, California, Ross Franklin in Douglas, Arizona, and Elaine Thompson in Blaine, Washington. Photographer Elise Amendola and writer Wilson Ring contributed from Derby Line, Vermont.
