Thanksgiving 2020 Wow! – in less than a year we have changed almost all of our holiday gatherings because of Covid-19. The great-grandparents and grandparents along with other relatives will not be joining us at the the table this year because of Covid-19. And sadly in some families our loved ones will be missed forever because of the virus.
So we have been left with being creative with our family at this time of gathering together. Thanksgiving 2020 will now have to be held in smaller groups or with only the people who live at the house, apartment, townhouse, etc. The huge meals we usually plan for will be cut back now and be reduced to smaller size dishes. The main dish, “Tom Turkey” will even be smaller this year. Grocery stores are stocking smaller birds to prepare because no one will probably be fixing a large turkey this year. Smaller meals in a way will be a good thing if your waistline is not where you want it to be, so that could be a plus for some.
Traditions that we have done for decades with our family and friends will take on a different look with Thanksgiving 2020. Looking at Christmas lighting displays will be either virtual or seen from your car window with your immediate family only. Who knows if there will be football to watch on TV, games have been canceled because of Covid-19 already during the regular season. So maybe all of us will wind up taking a nap during the football game that was canceled. If the weather turns out to be nice in some parts of the United States then the family can get outside to do some activities if they stay at a safe distance with one another.
I plan on having a Zoom conversation with my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. We haven’t been to Iowa in months because of the virus so I guess this is the next best thing to being there to visit. We have all learned many new creative ideas on how to be with family without being with family. We never thought this would be our new normal but as with each holiday we have overcome the challenges one way or the other.
I’m sure that if our ancestors were around they would tell us of all of their hardships over the years to celebrate Thanksgiving. The Great Depression in the 1930’s was a time when things were difficult to buy anything because their was no work for our ancestors to do. Thanksgiving consisted of one our relatives to stand in the “bread line” to wait for any scrape of food they could take home to their families. In 1918 there was the “Spanish Flu” and it lasted until 1920.
It wasn’t until 1863 when the United States was in the middle of the Civil War that President Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving to be celebrated in November. You can imagine with families slipt apart because of statelines or whether they were Confederate or Union that Thanksgiving was very different also in those days.
And we have all been taught in school about the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims didn’t have an easy time coming to America and then trying to establish their village. Throughout all of these events it has been proven that we are a strong people and when things get hard we just work harder to survive. Our descendents have left us with their DNA of how to survive in a crisis and we owe it to them as why we continue to use our common sense to protect ourselves and others from Covid-19.
We can share our memories and our recipes with loved ones through technology, it won’t be the same but we are all use to things not being the same this year. We have gotten through all of our holidays this year without our many loved ones, some will not be returning. Lets say a grateful prayer that we are still alive, that we still have our family members and lets pray for all these families who will miss their loved ones forever. Offer your support in the best way you can because it could be your family that is stricken next. We need to learn to take care of each other – we use to do that once upon a time. Maybe it is time we think about what our ancestors and what they did to help their fellow man.
Thank you for reading my blog and please share with others if they are doing research on their family tree. I wish everyone a “Happy Thanksgiving” in a not so happy year! I am grateful for all of you!
Brumley Family Branches 