Thanksgiving 2020
It’s going to be a little different…
Thanksgiving in 2020 isn’t going to be typical. Everything is a little different this year. Actually, a lot of things are wildly different. Everyday life has changed in ways we couldn’t even have imagined this time last year.
It seems like a whole bunch of things are conspiring at once to make 2020 a worldwide annus horribilis. We’ve got social and political division. We’ve got a contentious election season that drags on. And we’ve got COVID-19. That’s the biggie.
All of these things are causing major stress in our lives. Stresses of all kinds. And they all promise to keep us from our loved ones and our traditions this holiday season.
Families and friends that gather together each year, traveling miles to see each other, won’t be making those trips in 2020. Why? Because we’re worried about catching or spreading the virus. Because state and local governments are decreeing that we don’t gather, even if we want to. Because so many of us don’t have the money to buy plane tickets or pay for the gas that would get us across town, much less across the country. And some of us won’t gather because political differences have strained, and even destroyed our oldest and most important relationships.
Older people will be especially affected by all the chaos. In so many families, we gather at our parents’, grandparents’, or other older relative’s homes. They and their homes are often the hubs of our families. It’s where we go to see everyone all together. Sometimes it’s the home we grew up in and feels like a safe place in this crazy world.
This year, many of us won’t be having that big family Thanksgiving. Some people will still gather but will not include their older loved ones for fear of their vulnerability to COVID-19. Millions of seniors have already been alone and isolated for months on end. It’s almost too much to bear to have to be kept apart at the holidays.
So what do we do about it?
We make the best of it, and – I sincerely hope – we do everything we can to keep a feeling of connection with our loved ones. Especially our older and more vulnerable loved ones who have endured separations and isolation like they may never have been through before. We all need to make sure everyone feels included, loved, and connected.
What does that look like?
It could be that we have our first ever Zoom Thanksgiving dinner. Or Facetime, or Skype, or WhatsApp. It’s not the same, and it’s not as satisfying – you can’t hug over video chat – but it may be the closest we can get to being together for Thanksgiving 2020.
Or it may look like taking Thanksgiving dinner to an isolated person’s house and doing the old drop, run and wave from the car. Maybe it’s a front lawn and socially distanced Thanksgiving picnic.
And then we hope and pray that Thanksgiving 2021 (and 2021 in general) will look a whole lot better than this year.
Whatever it looks like for you this year,
we wish you a healthy, safe, abundant and
You’re right, we didn’t even mention sleep once in this blog post. Huh, that’s different! If you want to read more about sleep and the holidays, check these out:
Sleeping Over the River and Through the Woods