This year, Thanksgiving doesn’t look quite the way many of us expected: smaller family gatherings, getting together outdoors, virtually, or not at all. Of course, the health and safety of friends and loved ones is of the utmost importance – but there’s no reason why we can’t make the best of it.
Here’s our game plan to make sure Thanksgiving is fun, and feels special for our family.
Deliver dishes to family and friends
Both hubby and I come from pretty large families who usually divvy up the holiday menu. That won’t change this year. Everyone will prepare their dish at home, and parse it out into containers for contactless drop-off at one family member’s house on the day before the holiday. There, the containers with separate dishes will be bundled together for each household to pick up. This way everyone enjoys each other’s dishes – and of course reaps the benefits of not having to cook an entire meal.
The kids have also been asking to make holiday cookies, so we’ll make enough to share and drop them off to family. I’ve been getting requests for my peach cobbler, so I’ll also make and deliver personal-sized ones for everyone to enjoy.
Play games/watch TV
While this general concept doesn’t differ from what we normally do, we’ll make a special day of it. We’ll watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade and dust off a few board games.
Get some air
There’s a gorgeous trail not too far from us where we can enjoy the fall foliage, so we’ll head out for a socially-distant walk (fully masked, of course – and weather permitting). This will definitely help the kids work up an appetite, and we’ll be back in time to enjoy dinner.
Zoom it up!
I get it…we’re all “Zoomed out”, but we’re planning a fun, interactive game night with the family! You can play Kahoot, Charades, Scattergories, Pictionary, or etc. Zoom even recently announced that it’s lifting its 40-minute time limit on Thanksgiving day, so you’ll have plenty of time to catch up with family and friends, near and far.
Participate in a gratitude activity
This one’s simple. Whether you write it down (Thankful Pumpkin, anyone?), or incorporate it into your virtual family time, this is something that we should all take place in – even after the pandemic is over – because it definitely helps keep everything in perspective.
Spending the holidays away from loved ones is extremely difficult, but I also believe that not only is it what we make it, but this presents the perfect opportunity to go back to basics and appreciate the simple things.
Do you have any ideas for how people can celebrate the holiday? What are your plans?