Celebrating Thanksgiving During a Pandemic

Photo by Nancy Hann on Unsplash

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My family loves to cook, and we all prepare special dishes for the holiday. In addition to my culinary responsibilities. I am the annoying aunt that reminds all my nieces to tell us what they are grateful for. Before dinner I take our annual family photo and after dinner, we take the dogs for a long walk prior to returning home for dessert.

This year we are trying to figure out how early to eat so we can sit outside without being too cold. We are using paper plates to avoid having lots of people in the kitchen. The family has decided to divide into two pods because my cousin’s college-age children have been more social than the adults. There are several members with compromised immune systems so we may have to skip the photograph and spread out when we walk the dogs.

Each person in the family is chiming in with ideas about how to keep safe during this time, the main point is that we all want to be together; we have been together every year since I moved to California in 1990 and we don’t want to be apart.

My clients are struggling with these same decisions and my job is to help them explore their emotions and make the choice that best suits them. I’m not a scientist, doctor or an expert on COVID-19, but I am a psychotherapist, and I can help them express the feelings that arise as we enter into our ninth month of this pandemic. I’m sad that this Thanksgiving will be different, but I am grateful for my family and the opportunity to be together this year. I wish you and your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Photo by Nancy Hann on Unsplash