November 23rd, 2020: How to Recreate Your "Cancelled" Thanksgiving

Courtney Gaylord
Nov 23, 2020
5 min read

Y'all. Times are so hard, weird, uncertain... Throw in any crazy adjective you want to describe these times and you'll probably be spot on.

Some of us haven't seen our family in days, weeks, months, maybe even since this pandemic started. Maybe this is you. Maybe you are missing your family so badly and are just craving time with them, especially holiday time.

Maybe you were so looking forward to Thanksgiving because it was going to be the first time you saw your sister since February! You couldn't wait to snuggle her and her babies. Then reality set in and cases were growing yet again.

Maybe your hopes of a perfect Thanksgiving suddenly withered away. Your hopes of loving on family and enjoying your favorite aunt's sweet potato casserole. Oh, you love how the sweetness of the brown sugar just melts in your mouth.

With our family, we are cancelling both Thanksgiving and Christmas with our extended families and it just plain sucks. We barely get to see some of these members of our big family, but we know it's the smartest choice. There are family members who are diabetic, elderly, pregnant (holla!), and some with a compromised immune system. As much as we love them, we want to be able to see them next Christmas. That's the tough reality.

So, if this is you and I am literally telling your story, I am so sorry that you are missing out on this time. It just isn't fair. You may be having thanksgiving with a small gathering of just your immediate family like us. Or if you are like a lot of my friends, maybe you are going to be celebrating just by yourself and your special someone. That's ok, too!

Your goal right now could be to try to make this special day not just like every other Thursday. Just being off work isn't enough people! We all need a little more joy and celebration in our lives right now!

Today, I am going to share some of my ideas on how to enjoy this Thanksgiving even if it was labeled "CANCELLED".

1. Build New Traditions!

Every single year we always play an intense game of Bingo. There is nothing like hearing my dad yell "That's a good Bingo!" with little laughters and cheers in the background. My uncle usually makes some joke about making sure that the winner wasn't fibbing. My mom always picks out the BEST candy and lotions for prizes each year, but usually my eyes are on the bottle of wine that everyone knows is going to be mine when I win. Well, that can't be the case this year for many reasons. lol! Thinking back to these memories now, they all just bring a smile to my face.

At the end of Thanksgiving, we always bring our full bellies to the movie theater to watch whatever movie we agreed on that year. Our family is HUGE sooo sometimes deciding which movie we all agree on takes hours, but no matter what movie we chose, it was always a fun time. Popcorn in our hands with butter spilling out of the sides, a large fountain diet dew, and maybe even some family size candy we snuck in our bags. (That's the holiday diet right?!)

So, clearly we can't go to the movies this year or have a huge Bingo game with our extended families, but we CAN build new traditions with the loved ones we do get to celebrate with.

How to create new traditions:

Give everyone in your family a small piece of paper and have them write ONE thing they want to do over Thanksgiving. It could be as small as make a pumpkin pie together or as big as write holiday cards to their neighbors and put them on their front porch. Maybe it is playing a new game of Charades together. Depending how many people you have in your family, this could be done over the whole Thanksgiving break instead of just the one day. Since this gives every person in your family a say on what they want to do, it will SURELY make new memories and maybe even build new traditions!

2. Go Virtual!

I know that you miss seeing those faces so much. Zoom, FaceTime, Facebook Video, all of these are perfect ways to still be able to enjoy the day together even if it's just for a little bit of time.

Special things to do on your video call:

- Family prayer before your meal

- Share what you are thankful for and do a quick catch up/share anything important you feel the need to share with your loved ones

- Virtually play one of the games you traditionally play on Thanksgiving! Play Bingo and the winner gets $5 via Venmo! Make it fun!

Even if you can't physically be in the same room with your family, you can enjoy a little tid-bit of holiday fun with them virtually. You the real MVP, technology.

3. Journal this Historic Moment

Last, but certainly not least, JOURNAL as a family! Give each person in your family a piece of paper, journal, or whatever you want to use to be able to keep this and look at in years to come.

I hate saying this is a historical moment because people are dying. People are losing the ones the love every single day. But it truly is a moment in history that you and your kids are going to want to remember.

In their journal have them note:

- What their day looked like

- How that was different than last year

- What they loved about this Thanksgiving

- What they missed this year

- What they are thankful for

Then, you can either put it in a special place labeled "Thanksgiving 2020" or whatever suits your fancy and enjoy looking back in years to come.

I know this year has looked a little scarier and harder than most, but guess what, we can still make the most of the time we have together. If you have lost someone this year, I am sure you are wishing the rest of us enjoy the time we have with our family while we have the privilege of doing so.

Stay safe, wear a mask, celebrate the life that we get to live.

Love you all!

XOXO Court

Also -- JUST over a month before we have the number 1 at the end of our year! No matter what happens, let's make it #1. (cheesy, I know)