Ok, who is calling Thanksgiving already and telling family you won't be attending

[Anonymous]

No. DH andI are planning to travel to our second place in his home town where his dad and sister live. Usually, we host holiday dinners when we are there. To avoid any kind of mess and hurt feelings and corona concerns, we will not be going there for Thanksgiving, but two weeks before. That way I am not hosting "who can catch coronavirus faster" dinner.

I don't see any point in making any premature and huge gestures about Thanksgiving. Should you not wait to be invited somewhere to decline?

[Anonymous]

Just us-love it. We plan to visit my mother who lives closeby-just outside. The thing is she feels we should be podding with her or whatever you call it. She has chosen to get together with friends, go to indoor restaurants, get her hair done often and I respect her choices without complaint. However, my kids are high risk (asthma), my husband and I have some risk factors so we won't do it. The crazy thing is she actually usually doesn't want to do Thanksgiving with us because we live close. She prefers to wait for "better offers." Now that her better offers won't come through she expects us to do what she wants...but we won't.

[Anonymous]

Well, duh.

Nobody should be having family gatherings during a pandemic.

I really don't get people who think this is going to get any better before the vaccine is widely distributed. It's going to be in 2021, people. Let go of your 2020 Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[Anonymous]

ILs are three hours away and mine are two hours. We plan on staying home but haven’t had that talk with anyone yet. ILs have been pretty careful so that shouldn’t be an issue, but my mom told me to stop being “paranoid” the other day. DH is a physician (not seeing COVID patients but seeing patients) and we have told them we’re being careful to keep them safe. But that is considered “paranoid” now. Sigh. I love thanksgiving, but it’s never without drama.

[Anonymous]

I am the thanksgiving host every year. Unfortunately, this is not by choice (long story with much family drama). We are not hosting g this year. It will be my nuclear family and that is it.

[Anonymous]

PP again. Forgot to add that I would have no problem going to my mom’s and having dinner in their backyard, but they would find that “offensive” since that was what they said when we visited them over the summer.

[Anonymous]

We're not doing Thanksgiving and probably not Christmas either. Too many relatives in essential jobs and college that there is no way anyone will be able or willing to quaratine.

[Anonymous]

I am definitely super isolating and not doing anything risky. Just my most immediate family and friends, but that doesn't count. We have been totally isolating....except for the 4th (traditional crab fest day!) and the Labor day! I mean those were super quiet affairs, just a few closest and dearest people and kids organized a nice parade with their street friends, so all the neighours stopped by.

But, apart from that, we haven't seen anybody for months. I think we are all due a nice Thanksgiving, All will be isolating for two weeks before so we are fine.
Apart from a few college students that will fly in just before. And a few relatives have kids in-person schools, so that is ok, they will just come in the day before, and aunt Jemma that we will pick up from her long term care home. Of course, and our kids can't isolate bcs they would be going crazy without their soccer practices. And a few neighours will stop after their dinners, but that is ok too because they are in our circle of coronavirus safety network.
We are so careful, we will make the catering staff wear masks the whole time. And we will all wear masks, of course, except when we are eating and drinking at our sit down dinner, and if we talk loudly. We are not covidiots, we take every precaution possible! Why would we take any chances that might ruin our Christmas party?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the thanksgiving host every year. Unfortunately, this is not by choice (long story with much family drama). We are not hosting g this year. It will be my nuclear family and that is it.

Great. Let that be the new normal

[Anonymous]

Haha PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I could say no to Thanksgiving because we always spend it at my ILs, but then DH would object to spending Xmas with my family, which I still want to do.

Yes, I'm being inconsistent. But I hate traveling for a short holiday like Tgiving and have never spent it in my own house.

I hear you. Although in our case we’d need to fly to my ILs and they currently have high rates of infections, whereas we could drive to my parents and they live in an area that is currently doing well. But there would be a lot of hurt feelings trying to explain that to ILs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am definitely super isolating and not doing anything risky. Just my most immediate family and friends, but that doesn't count. We have been totally isolating....except for the 4th (traditional crab fest day!) and the Labor day! I mean those were super quiet affairs, just a few closest and dearest people and kids organized a nice parade with their street friends, so all the neighours stopped by.

But, apart from that, we haven't seen anybody for months. I think we are all due a nice Thanksgiving, All will be isolating for two weeks before so we are fine.
Apart from a few college students that will fly in just before. And a few relatives have kids in-person schools, so that is ok, they will just come in the day before, and aunt Jemma that we will pick up from her long term care home. Of course, and our kids can't isolate bcs they would be going crazy without their soccer practices. And a few neighours will stop after their dinners, but that is ok too because they are in our circle of coronavirus safety network.
We are so careful, we will make the catering staff wear masks the whole time. And we will all wear masks, of course, except when we are eating and drinking at our sit down dinner, and if we talk loudly. We are not covidiots, we take every precaution possible! Why would we take any chances that might ruin our Christmas party?

Oops, the haha PP was meant for this one.

[Anonymous]

If I was hosting, I would let people know the party was off. Otherwise, I would wait until I was invited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haha PP

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have local family so we'll see if we can make it work by keeping isolated in the lead up to the holidays. So we haven't called it yet. But I'm also fully prepared for it to not be normal and not nearly as many people as usual. And probably no multiple days of bouncing around to different family member's houses. Just one gathering, and that's it.

Same. We saw local grandparents carefully over the summer; would be comfortable seeing them at Thanksgiving if conditions hold. But the other grandparents, who live out of state, are already planning to miss Christmas with us.