Thanksgiving in Covid-Land

Thanks to Covid, the holidays will be very different this year. Different doesn’t have to be bad though, and you have the power to keep things positive even when you can’t get everyone together in the same place (for some of you, that IS the positive for this holiday season).

For us, Thanksgiving will be a solitary event in our home with just my wife and I, and our cats. A normal year would see up to 26 family members crammed into our dining room and living room. We will however have all the side dishes that would normally be on the tables thanks to a creative idea. Each family is making the sides they would bring to the communal dinner and packaging them for each of the other families. We are meeting Wednesday afternoon outside at a central location to exchange dishes (fingers crossed the weather is good). Each household is responsible for their own turkey but this way the whole family can safely get together for the exchange, and we all have a complete meal on Thanksgiving Day – and the leftovers to make a turkey sandwich the next day.

For those who can’t get together with family, Zoom, Skype, and other visual meeting applications can bring everyone together virtually. And they come with a mute function that many of us wish we had during in-person family gatherings. A suggestion if you have a large group is to appoint a leader of the call to keep things organized and direct the conversation.

We are planning Zoom calls with a couple of groups of friends we don’t normally get in touch with on Thanksgiving. It will be nice to spend some time catching up and celebrating the holiday with friends who are spread around the state and country. Something that would not have happened if we had a house full of family, and a welcome diversion from the craziness around us.

For those who indulge in wine, beer or spirits there’s no driving involved if you are isolating for Thanksgiving. And no worry about hiding the good wine from the family member who puts ice in her/his glass, or stashing the expensive scotch to keep it out of reach. Also no one to judge you as you enjoy your dinner and drink(s), and no alcohol infused family feuds to deal with.

Finally, for the football fans, there’s no competition for the prime seats to watch the day’s games and no worry about having to put on kiddie shows instead for the little ones (unless they’re your own, in which case, that’s on you).

In this crazy time, we can choose to be negative or we can choose to be positive. Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to be positive by focusing on all the things you are thankful for. For us, it’s our health, our families, our friends, my retirement and the opportunities it has presented to me, and my wife’s thriving business. Sure I could list a lot of things on the other end of the scale, but that only amounts to complaining – mostly about things I can’t control anyway. So, take stock in the positives all around you, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!