Even before the huge new Covid spike - and now, as of this week, further restrictions on restaurants/schools/gatherings in Michigan - we had already resigned ourselves to the sad fact that Thanksgiving is not going to be the usual occasion with 30 of our loved ones this year. Or anyone outside of our household for that matter. If you're thinking about being indoors and eating with anyone who is not part of your pod - please see some of the linked articles below, and re-think). So, I've been planning a Thanksgiving for three. Some ideas, in case your household is still figuring out the approach to scaling back and staying home:
1. Sheet pan meal for two (I'm sure it'll feed our 3): isn't this a brilliant idea? You've got turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and veggies all on 2 sheet pans. I have already bought a small turkey breast and have it ready in the freezer, and when I was Googling a bit to figure out how to cook it, I came across this. Pretty much don't need any other recipes for the day!
2. Easy turkey gravy: did I say I don't need any other recipes? Well, I must admit I have never in my life made gravy, but Peter LOVES it. So this'll be my chance to learn, I guess!
3. Turkey napkin rings: usually I help my mom with all of the tablescapes for our multi-table gathering (we have a lot of family!), but at home we usually just eat at the kitchen island. Maybe we'll get really fancy and move over to the dining room table for the occasion, and H could color in these printable napkin rings for us.
4. Mini skillet apple crisp: we're not really pumpkin pie people, but besides the time with family, one thing we'll be missing is my grandma's excellent apple pie. No sense in trying to recreate it (not least because 3 people can't eat that much pie), but this mini apple crisp looks yummy and easy and just the right size.
5. Oreo turkeys: but really, I'm a chocolate dessert person in my heart of hearts, and these might be fun to make with still-in-quarantine Hendrik next week.
Okay, clearly it really stinks not to be able to have a normal Thanksgiving. I'm sad about it, you're sad about it, we're all sad (mad?!) about it - but let me get on my Covid soapbox again and say that's the way it has to be right now. Having Hendrik home in quarantine after being exposed to a classmate who tested positive has driven that home for me. There is risk in getting together with our family, and that risk spreads to our broader community the more we gather.
- Normal Thanksgiving is the antithesis to the main pandemic safety rule: don't spend time indoors with people outside your household. Important to note: "talking, eating, and other merrymaking don’t magically become safe when they happen inside your home. The coronavirus spreads through the air, so—no matter where you are, even if you’re at your grandma’s house, or your best friend’s—breathing the same air as other people for extended periods of time is risky.
Your best bet is to avoid indoor gatherings altogether. They can be made marginally safer through testing, masking, and limiting the number of attendees, but none of these methods is foolproof... A negative COVID-19 test is not a 'get out of jail free' card; it’s unclear how well the tests work on people who aren’t feeling sick. Masks don’t do much good if people spend several hours together in an unventilated room. And several public-health experts recently told The Washington Post that even small, casual get-togethers are significantly contributing to the spread of the virus." (That's definitely been reported as the case in my part of Michigan - take note, people!!)
- Cancel Thanksgiving: this is a moment for creativity. Yeah, we're all sick of Zoom, but also so many people are sick. We need to be careful. We keep breaking records for daily diagnoses, and the positivity rates in many places are at their highest, which means now more than ever it's likely that if you gather with several people from outside of your household, someone could be spreading the virus. Even if you're not worried about your own health, you should be worried about others. Not to mention that many hospitals are already full, which means that in addition you and your loved ones might not have access to care for all of the other things that people need hospitals for. So we've gotta stop spreading Covid around!
- Evidence that Thanksgiving could easily be a superspreader event? Happened already in Canada.
- CDC guidelines say not to travel for the holiday, and governors and doctors and more are begging people not to get together with anyone outside of their household. Again, really stinks to not see your family - but if it makes you feel any better, I live 5 minutes from mine and we're also not having a Thanksgiving meal.
Let's all keep each other healthy and alive so that we can have our regular holidays again next year - and keep our sights on the recent good news about vaccines. And the fact that soon we'll have a president WHO ACTUALLY CARES whether people get sick and die. Something to be thankful for, indeed.
