Another COVID Thanksgiving, 5 Strategies

COVID Thanksgiving Round 2

Just when we thought we were out of the woods, many are finding themselves in yet another round of ‘the COVID Thanksgiving’. Although many of us will be able to enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday with more friends and family, there are still many who are hearing of unexpected positive test results and seeing there would be Thanksgiving plans get turned upside down once again!

Despite the hardships endured through this pandemic, there are many lessons learned and many ways that we have learned to make lemonade out of the lemons we have been served. This article has some tips on ways you can make this COVID Thanksgiving as memorable and enjoyable as any.

How you choose to spend your Thanksgiving, is a personal decision that should be made with consideration to your individual and family needs and circumstances.

Mourn the Loss, and Remember You Will Survive This COVID Thanksgiving

There are lots of articles out there about how different this year will be, anecdotes and perspectives, which are helpful, however, what I want to focus on is the possibility and opportunity that lies within this altered thanksgiving. We can lament it all we want and if that is what you need to do right now, then do it… one of the first steps in the grief process is to actually mourn the loss, or rather just feel it, feel sad, be angry, pout, shout (a little … in your pillow… when it’s safe) or stomp around… whatever it is, if it will help you come to a place where you can accept that this is our reality, take a deep breath and move forward, you will survive thanksgiving. Below are some ideas for you to think about as you create possibilities within the obstacles.

5 Ideas to Survive A Second COVID Thanksgiving

If you are unable to spend this year’s turkey day with your loved ones, here are 5 steps you can take to help ensure that it is as meaningful as possible.

Create a new tradition with those in your household. Sometimes we find that we have many traditions that when we stop and think about them, don’t really feel they align with what we want or who we are. For example, do you like turkey? Do you really want to make a turkey with all of the fixings? Maybe instead of cooking all day, there is an opportunity to get outside (if the weather cooperates in your area) and do something that you have been wanting to do and have not had the time to do. #OptOutside was a great campaign that REI put out there a few years back and I thought it was brilliant. Forget all the shoulds (btw never “should” on yourself) and trail blaze a new tradition. The OptOutside campaign refers more to black Friday, but if it’s just you and your housemates or kids and family… why not start on Thanksgiving day and make the most of a day or two off from work, celebrate the gift of each other, and go back to the essence of life, nature and the outside world… if there is one thing we are learning to be more and more thankful for each day, it’s clean air and a healthy environment. More information about things to do in your area can be found here, https://www.rei.com/opt-outside
For those who don’t have the option of going outside, or it’s just not your thing… AND are a little more tech-savvy, here are some other ideas to chew on, courtesy of my tech geek friend @MsMSHSScienceS1. These are great alternatives if you have a home filled with energized youth and looking for something fun to do as a family, they might even be able to teach you a thing or two about technology… cause boy us Gen-Xers got a lot to learn, though I think we do manage fairly well!
Create a digital escape room, there’s a bunch of great resources online, here are two links that might help you get started

- https://www.cc-pl.org/digital-escape-rooms-2.
- https://wakelet.com/wake/e87e8fd5-61d5-4974-87f9-091dee574cb7

While we are talking about online gaming, teachers are a great resource which is where I got these insanely good ideas to use at home with kids, other ideas for your zoom parties are online monopoly games, apples to apples and the list goes on… here’s a link to a youtube version that talks about Monopoly.

One surefire way to survive this second round of a COVID Thanksgiving is to have fun. You could create an escape room in your home, there are tons of YouTube videos geared towards adults, teens, or tweens, here are a few that might help to get some ideas flowing. And always feel open to changing the structure of what is suggested to fit your home and family.

Or maybe you love getting into all of the cooking and tradition of thanksgiving and want to get the waft of a turkey and apple pie in your home… it doesn’t have to be hours in front of the stove to achieve a beautifully prepared Thanksgiving meal. A few years ago we started to order pre-cooked meals from our local grocery store and it was one of the best decisions we had ever made, giving us some sanity in this at times, chaotic and stressful time. The pre-cooked meals will require some effort that day and you may want to supplement with a dish or two of your own, but it can reduce anxiety knowing the main event is taken care of and you can work at a more leisurely pace while enjoying the feel along with all of the smells of a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal.

Don’t Forget the True Meaning of the Day

However, you decide to spend your thanksgiving, remember that you will survive this Thanksgiving and it is good to remember what the day is about. It is not about turkey, or black Friday shopping, but gratitude. Gratitude for what we do have, which may not always feel like enough but that which we can hope and pray will sustain us. I wish I had something more inspirational to say here, so I will leave you with this TED talk about happiness and gratitude.

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