Thursday, November 19, 2020

Thanksgiving Day Minus 6

It is now one week from Thanksgiving Day. Everyone in America (plus a few people in far-away lands) knows about Thanksgiving. The History website has a long article about it here

Thanksgiving is celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia, as well as Leiden (a town in the Netherlands), Norfolk Island (an Australian territory), and the inhabited territories of the United States.

I have a friend who lives nearby and he will be gormandizing Thanksgiving dinner with his close family at a family member's home—eight people in all. He has other family who, due to distance, probably won't attend. Last Thanksgiving I dined at his house with his family, and the food was delicious, but not knowing most of them sort of takes the fun out of it. Everyone is talking to each other about family matters, and I can't help feeling like a proverbial "fifth wheel."

The word coming down from the government this year is to cancel family dinner plans or adjust them for a small number of people. The more people who are in a home, the greater the chance of spreading Covid-19 to everyone in the family. 

That makes good sense, but I doubt many people will do it. Thanksgiving is one of those big holidays that people have to celebrate. Many Americans will say, "I'm going to celebrate Thanksgiving if it kills me." For some of them, it will. But what can we do? Sit around the dinner table with our masks on? Or eat by ourselves? Neither sounds like fun.

Normally, I don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Or July 4th. Or, you know—holidays. That includes my birthday (which, don't get me wrong, is not a holiday, but if it were I am sure many Americans would celebrate it with some manner of ethanol-fortified beverage. "VirtualWayne? Never heard of him, but I'll drink to his birthday!")

I am planning to have a guest this Thanksgiving, and I am wondering if I should attempt to cook a Thanksgiving dinner beforehand. I am not much of a cook, as evidenced by a number of my blog posts which describe how I have, on occasion, filled the house with smoke, or annihilated a bird, in an effort to produce an acceptable meal. I guess I could go out for Chinese. I've done that on Thanksgiving. The buffets are almost empty on that day—it's just me and a few forlorn stragglers who likewise can't cook. But I don't want to inflict a Chinese buffet meal on a Thanksgiving Day guest. Of course, I could tell my guest it's not really Thanksgiving Day. 

Thanksgiving Day? Oh, I'm sorry, but that was yesterday. Yes, they changed it to Wednesday this year because of Covid. But how about a nice Chinese buffet?

I wonder, would that work?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great celebration! I hope that all the people from others countries will know and understand the meaning of this day. I wonder if Macy's will also have the famous parade that has been celebrated for years.
Very nice blog!
TA

Anonymous said...

Greetings

Great idea !!! Order the complete dinner from Kroger/Food Lion or whomever else is advertising it. You get plenty of food and it's all the traditional fixings -- you generally cannot go wrong. You get even pumpkin pie -- Cafeterias do the complete meal as well as lots of other stores. It can be set up to pick it up the day/evening before or the same day. I've done this loads of times and will never again prepare the entire meal as I have in the past.

Order/pickup/reheat and enjoy as if you spent hours in preparation --- and you can't beat the costs.

Problem solved -- Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

LL