Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thanksgiving in the year of the virus


Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Despite the current situation, we do all have plenty to be thankful for. Number 1 on my list is Trump did not get re-elected.

We didn't do Thanksgiving at my house growing up. My mother said she wasn't doing all that food if she just had to do it again a month later for Christmas. The irony is that I don't ever remember her cooking our Christmas dinner, the maid did and another couple (who had their dinner on Christmas Day) came and served it and cleaned up afterwards, though she must have early on I suppose, and then when I was 12 my parents bought a lot in Sea Isle on Galveston's west end and built a beach house and forever after Thanksgiving weekend was spent there along with every other weekend and summers until I grew up and left home. After I married and the kids were young we would go to Marc's mother's house for a very laid back casual Thanksgiving except for the times we hosted it all formal like (had to use all that china and silver sometime) and even later as we all got older it became a smaller more casual affair at our house or later still when Sarah and her family were living next door, at her house or both houses. After our son got married the first time he abandoned us for his in-laws big gathering, the only time he got to see some of them whom he liked. We even joined them one year. Later still our son and his new real wife hosted Thanksgiving their first year of marriage, their one and only time to do that. After we bought the country house we would have it mostly out here. Since 2014 when we sold our city property and Sarah and her family moved into a bigger house she has been hosting it in the city. Until this year. Sarah and Mike moved out here on their land last January into a small manufactured home and so Thanksgiving was once again going to be moved to our house and then the virus hit.

Because Zoom Thanksgiving is better than ICU Christmas, the plan was that we would each still do our part of the cooking and share but eat at our respective homes. The grandgirls were coming in from three different cities (the grandboy going to Arkansas with his girlfriend) and even though they are all very careful, not going out and wearing masks when they do, we opted to follow the advice of the health care professionals. It's just one year after all out of many and considering the sacrifices and rationing our parents' and grandparents' generation endured during WWII to ensure that the war effort had all they needed, it seems a small effort to skip the big family gathering in order to insure that we are all here next year.

That was the plan. And then Sarah texted on Tuesday that one of her asymptomatic co-workers tested positive. The co-worker's father was planning to come in so she and her brother went and got tested just in case and, surprise!, she tested positive. My daughter got tested Wednesday morning but won't have the results for 2 – 4 days. Two of the grandgirls have opted to stay home, last minute ideas were tossed around but ultimately we decided not to do the massive amount of cooking and just skip that whole thing. Well, not skip the whole thing, Sarah got a turkey breast and is fixing small amounts of the traditional meal for her and Mike and Autumn. Marc and I are blowing it off altogether. We will have a meal, just the two of us, it just won't be turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. but there will be dessert, that is if I get in the kitchen and make it.

We have no idea how long her co-worker was at work shedding virus. There's only 9 of them, all feeling well, all wearing masks at work, disinfecting surfaces every day, the building has an excellent ventilation system because of all the machines. Sarah has been going to yoga with us and a week ago last Wednesday was the last time she was in close quarters in the car with Pam and I, no masks. Both Pam and I feel fine and surely a week is long enough for us to feel ill if Sarah was shedding virus then and exposed us. Regardless, I cautioned all the neighbors I encountered when I walked the dog yesterday to stay far back while we chatted. Sarah feels confident her test will come back negative but even so the family decided to act as if she is positive. If her test does come back positive, then I'll get tested but like her, I don't think I've been infected. So for now it's just a wait and see.

From Thanksgivings past...

2018

2013

2016

2014

2017

2017

(Don't know what the fuck is up with blogger but it would not accept the first two years in my chosen font no matter how many times I tried to fix it.)




10 comments:

  1. I could have written your third paragraph as it mimics my thoughts exactly. Hubby and I are just the two of us and eating the traditional meal but just a turkey breast.

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  2. New Blogger is still very temperamental. The only way I can get it to do certain things is to go into HMTL and strip out the coding, then re-format it. It's a drag.

    Love these looks at Thanksgivings past. We used to do a big dinner but this year we got takeaway!

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  3. This virus is just a vicious bastard and we have to admit that we are always at least one step behind. What with symptoms not showing while infectious and so on. I hope you are all going to be ok.

    I haven't had a roast turkey since my mother in law died 28 years ago.

    I spend so little time in social environments and if I have to, always with mask etc. I can literally count on two hands the number of people I have had around, in front and behind me in the last fortnight but still, the tracing app on my cell phone informed me this morning that in the last seven days, I have had one contact with a person who has since tested positive. It also said not to worry, watch for symptoms and to carry on with all the hygiene stuff. Blergh.

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  4. Can you imagine if, like Sabine, our government tracked and let us know if we'd been exposed?
    Haha!
    I am so totally with you on being most grateful that Biden will be our president soon.
    We had our abbreviated celebration with Jessie and her family and that was plenty. I miss the rest of the kids but we've really been making our celebrations too big in recent years.
    Sure hope that none of y'all gets covid.

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  5. Thanks for the history of your family moves and celebrations, and the gallery. It was lovely to see.
    And you seem to be handling the uncertainty about the potential exposure with poise. Yes, let's hope it's a false alarm. You've been so careful.

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  6. When Blogger won't cooperate, I save the page, exit, then go back to the page and Blogger does what I ask.
    That looks like a real Thanksgiving plate. Mine would have some of everything except the turkey. I have not been able to swallow turkey for years, ten at least.

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  7. What a fun history -- loved the photos. I did a fresh turkey breast this year, and I was surprised by how much better it was than a frozen bird. In fact, it was delicious: not at all dry, and extremely flavorful. I think I hve a new holiday tradition!

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  8. No question, 2017 looks delightful, all of my favorites. Coming from the Pacific NW, southern Texas cooking was a new experience for us. Ray, born and raised in Texas near Dallas, cooked a southern Thanksgiving from memory. Not everything, Ray is 75 I think. But we had Turkey that had remained in a salt brine for 24 hours prior, cornbread dressing, unlike us he did not stuff the turkey but cooked that dressing on the side. He also made a corn and cheese casserole. All delightful, added to everything else, way too much. We are bubble boys BTW, all quarantined in two different houses since March. And don't ask me about that pumpkin cake he made, that's a mortal sin.
    :)
    Tom

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  9. That is a wonderful array of thanksgivings.. Thanks so much for the gift. This year, we had noodles and pumpkin pie with huge volumes of whipped cream. LOL

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  10. Well, here's hoping you all stay safe from the virus. It's just creepy how rapidly it's accelerating how many people decided to get on airplanes. I made dressing to go with the chicken, it's an annual thing. It was good, we ate to much of it. It's out of the house now, so that's good.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.