It’s Thanksgiving week!  There will be turkey, stuffing, pies and lots of overeating.  I will join in  those festivities, but Thanksgiving will be different this year.  Fewer people are traveling and  that is a good thing physically, maybe not emotionally. 

Covid-19 has taken its toll on everyone.  Hopefully, you are not one of the many who contracted the virus but if you did, and you lived to tell about it, you have antibodies.

My family is split this week on gathering for the holidays.  My Oklahoma City group is having their own celebration and so are the Enid ones.  We will be a smaller group of about seven.  We’ll have the same menu, but fewer people around the table. My son has taken over the hosting and that pleases me.  It seems to be harder and harder to host a big celebration than it used to.

When my kids were young, and their grandparents were alive, my small house was stuffed to the brim with people and food.  The windows open and ceiling fan going from all the body heat, still it was warm in the house.  Kids ran and giggled, and grandparents smiled. Well, my children are adults and so are their children these days, but we’ll get together – most of us.  Some have opted out of the festivities because of the pandemic.

My husband and I discussed that yesterday was opening day of deer season in Oklahoma. I had forgotten.  He always hunted the week of Thanksgiving. In the last few years, he gave his deer to a family who would eat it – venison was never my favorite. But in the last 48 years, this is the first time I know of him not getting up at the crack of dawn to freeze and take down a deer.  I always felt it was the caveman in him feeling the need to provide for his family.  The fact that there was meat at the grocery store was beside the point. 

Things have changed.  We hired a painter for the first time ever.  We’re do-it-yourselfers.  I purchased a pie crust and used it in a quiche this week.  I’ll go back to making my own pie crusts. 

But Thanksgiving is a celebration for families.  We can still eat too much and gather with a few – but still the feeling of giving thanks for our lives and our families is as strong as ever.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving this week? Happy Thanksgiving!