Thanksgiving

[Moemg]

It will be just my SO & I this year . I will make a small turkey or turkey breast with all the side dishes . We usually go to a Thanksgiving buffet at a nearby Hotel but that is not happening this year . I hope we can salvage Christmas with maybe a small outside celebration.

 

[LRDave]

My 96-year-old father is still mentally sharp as a tack but his health is going downhill and picking up speed lately. He lives with my sister and they have hosted Thanksgiving for my side of the family for years. We are going to spend at least some time with him at my sister's house, being as careful as we can be. I would like for my son's to have a short visit with him, as it might be the last. However, my oldest son that lives in Estes Park doesn't really want to fly or drive back this year. My younger son and his fiancé are planning on getting by there for a short visit.

Christmas is completely up in the air........

 

[Car-Guy]

For the first time in over a decade, the DW will be cooking for Thanksgiving this year but just for the two of us...Our favorite restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner, is still closed.

 

[easysurfer]

I don't plan on attending any family gatherings this year.

My mind still thinks the calendar says March .

If my arm gets twisted to do family stuff during Thanksgiving, I'm willing to start up my webcam and do a Zoom session. That's about it .

 

[6miths]

Thanksgiving today. Turkey going in along with other things being prepped. Will be 4 kids with one gf along with DW and I - our regular bubble group. No extended family sadly. No Canadian Football League this year and no NHL hockey now until the New Year. Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[geeky_grrl]

The discussion hasn't happened yet with the family but we'll stay at home this Thanksgiving. We often visit my SO's mom for Thanksgiving since she only lives a couple of hours away.

AFAIK, she isn't restricting her activities at all even though she is high risk. I'm also high risk so I don't feel comfortable being too near her (we've done driveway visits this year but nothing more). I don't know if she will accept this or if it will cause family drama.

 

[W2R]

Thanksgiving today. [...]

Happy Thanksgiving Day today, to all of our Canadian members!

 

[Nemo2]

Happy Thanksgiving Day today, to all of our Canadian members!

"Bah, Humbug"

Oh no, sorry, that's Christmas.

Carry on.

 

[W2R]

"Bah, Humbug"

Oh no, sorry, that's Christmas.

Carry on.

 

[Katsmeow]

The last couple of years we have gone to extended family dinner with about 20 people or so. I don't know if that will happen or not. If it does, we won't be going. Our kids are a couple of hundred miles away and work with the public so I wouldn't even want them here if they could come (which they won't be able to). If they were local, I could see us potentially eating on the patio (should not be that cold). But I imagine DH and I will just eat at home with the cats.

Christmas probably the same although if we can get together with the kids we might feel OK doing that then just depending on how things are going. I would not go to a restaurant though.

 

[rodi]

We will be immediate family only. Maybe invite my sister so she doesn't spend the day alone. (Divorced no kids)... We've had meals with her, but always outside.

As for the Christmas holidays went traditionally hosted a big 7 fishes dinner on Christmas Eve. That is *not* happening this year.

 

[Walt34]

No turkey this year

We've already talked about it, it'll be just me and DW, and since neither one of us likes turkey all that much anyway, we'll cook a chicken among other things.

 

[aaronc879]

We probably would have gone to a place where they bring unlimited food to your table. My Dad is very high risk so no eating out with strangers. No one in the family wants to cook a Thanksgiving meal anymore or host a large group so I think my Mom is going to make a fairly simple meal just for her, Dad, me and my Brother and that's it this year.

 

[braumeister]

Just two of us, as usual. DW's closest relative is over 900 miles away and mine is 600 miles, so no possibility of getting together for a dinner.

But I did the BTD routine and ordered a pasture-raised turkey from a specialty farmer so I'm looking forward to putting it on the spit in the smoker. And DW makes the most delicious pumpkin pie I've ever had so we'll splurge a bit on our dinner this year.

Last year we were in Chile for Thanksgiving, on our way to Antarctica, so this year's dough blowing exercise is extremely tame by comparison!

 

[bluelight]

Will just be hubby and me this year. We'll roast a chicken or small turkey. We'll probably zoom with family members like we did for Easter. Everytime I get Covid fatigue, I try to keep my eye on the prize of when this is over and we can see friends and family without being afraid.

 

[FIYes]

The extended family gathering for Thanksgiving will not happen this year. It will just be DH and I. Another COVID casualty, but it is just not worth the risk. The town where we live is more of a hotspot than the town where we usually gather, and I would not want to risk the possibility of bringing the disease to my family.

We will probably cook a turkey. DH loves to cook turkey. I love the leftovers better than the big turkey feast.

 

[gwraigty]

Last month a couple we know wanted to get together with us on a weekend. We last saw them when we hosted them last Thanksgiving. We regretfully told them that we're not socializing with anyone until all this passes. They understood. It's good to have friends like that.

Nothing is going to dramatically change by Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, etc. DH and I have decided that the same goes for his family, whether anyone likes it or not. (I have no relevant family left on my side.) Usually they expect me to host and I'll not be sorry to not oblige.

So far, many of you have mentioned the obvious health risks. Another concern is the possibility of contact tracing and the effect it might have on one's household. Bottom line, people who still need to work could be put into quarantine for 14 days, if someone at the gathering tests positive shortly after.

DH wouldn't go without pay, but DD and DS would. DS recently started working at the same Panera Bread as DD, so that would be a double whammy for their restaurant to have 2 employees sidelined at once, since they're quite short-staffed recently. To us, socializing with others isn't worth the risk of having our kids forced into a quarantine.

 

[audreyh1]

We’re not comfortable sharing a meal with anyone not part of our household. That doesn’t prevent us from celebrating Thanksgiving or feeling thankful for a great deal even this year. We keep in regular contact with family already.

We’ve generally done our own Thanksgiving thing anyway. The group of friends we joined for the last two years isn’t coming down this year.

We see this as a temporary situation and are OK being patient about it. We want to stay healthy and get past the pandemic with minimal health consequences. The more time passes, the more everyone learns about this disease and I feel it’s reasonable to expect the less severe the consequences.

 

[imnontrad]

I was hoping to go to a daughter's house or them come to mine. But they just had a baby - and the baby has two heart problems. So they are going to keep her isolated for the next two months, at least to keep her healthy. (hopefully both problems will heal themselves before the pediatric cardiologist's appointment but even a cold could mean a hospital stay).

So, as in past, I go a little decadent and will cook a duck plus an assortment of favorite side dishes, just not a lot of each.

 

[retire-early]

We see this as a temporary situation and are OK being patient about it. We want to stay healthy and get past the pandemic with minimal health consequences. The more time passes, the more everyone learns about this disease and I feel it’s reasonable to expect the less severe the consequences.

Dr. Michael Osterholm keeps stressing to think of this is our "Covid year".

I think of it as making a sacrifice this year to ensure that we will be able to remain healthy for many years in the future and thus see friends and family then.

Isn't that what we did when we were saving up for early retirement?
A bit of sacrifice in the beginning for bigger gain in the end?

 

[Bamaman]

Our family has a chalet rented on the mountain top above Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving. My wife plans on hitting the factory outlets in her new electric wheelchair with her daughter.

Next week, she has mid foot fusion surgery--4 days in hospital and 3 weeks in rehab facility. Will get home for Christmas, but cannot walk for 2 months.

We do the mask thing and stay socially distanced. And hands are often washed. But at our age, we have no one over and we do not go to people's homes. We're respectful of The Virus, but don't go crazy over it.

Our neighbors flip out if anyone gets within 50' and I'm uncomfortable even talking to them.

 

[gayl]

Anticipate just immediate family (that's 10 of us)

 

[Koolau]

Unless something big changes soon, I doubt we'll even get invited to a friend's house. Virtually no possibility of even being on the same land mass as any relative, let alone the kids/grand kids (new one by then!)

We'll probably buy the carry out at Times Supermarket. Their turkey and dressing is actually better than most folks' I know. I'll miss the fellowship, but I think the food will be WAY more than acceptable. AND we control the amount of left overs by whether we buy one meal and split it or buy two to insure we get at least two meals EACH. YMMV

 

[Philliefan33]

Typically we host 8-10 family and friends, but this year DH & I will be driving to my parents to have Thanksgiving just with them.

 

[SpinDoctorTX]

We are going to none of the holiday celebrations, and not hosting Thanksgiving. It breaks my heart, but we'll not be in attendance of my youngest nephew's wedding Dec 12. I broke the news to most yesterday, told them DH's oncologists looked at us in horror when we mentioned we were even entertaining the idea. My Dr. gave me a similar look the week before, and said they are celebrating at home with no guests for the foreseeable future.

My Snowbird DM arrives the week before TG. I cannot wait to see her- esp since it is only her we'll see- but it will be from afar as she is going to all of the family events. That is as much risk as we are willing to take (having her and her wanderings) and have made it clear we are all masked up- even at home- when she is in the area outside of her wing. I'm sure my draw dropped when she announced during our call that she'd gotten a flu shot in addition to the pneumonia shot she always gets (don't ask- it makes no sense). I just thanked her profusely!

DH still has to tell the stepson and family we'll not be going to Pensacola.

Up until we decided, we were both fretting about it. In my case I wasn't sleeping well at all. After a 3rd night of that, I said we needed to stay quarantined. I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to make other arrangements, & the news in TX isn't that great just now.

I slept fairly well, last night & think tonight will be even better.