A Socially Distanced Thanksgiving

Every year Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart, as well as that of my family. None of us can wait to gather at Mom’s house. We always crowd around the table and gaze upon her Norman Rockwell table setting.

         Mom has never claimed to be a perfect mother of housekeeper, but come the holidays, you couldn’t ask for better. The table is adorned in a fall foliage table cloth, or some other scene depicting the holiday. The table is large, so all of the many dishes are placed in the middle of the table, and when everything is placed, Mom tells us to dig in. 

         That signal from Mom is our cue. We all begin grabbing dishes and spooning food onto our plates. The dishes pass around the table, and Mom always makes so much that there is hardly a dent. She serves absolutely everything that you could want.

         There is turkey, of course. She makes homemade rice dressing, as well as cornbread stuffing. She makes a green bean casserole, homemade mac and cheese, and carrots. She makes rolls. Once we have all had our fill of this delicious feast, the main course is cleared and the desserts appear.

         Oh my gosh! The desserts. She makes pumpkin pie, blueberry pie, pecan pie and mincemeat pie. She makes cupcakes and cookies for the kids. There is eggnog, chocolate and white milk. If you have the inclination, she will even have a bottle of spiked eggnog.

         This year, however, is going to be extremely different. There is a virus that has been causing problems with gatherings since March. Not to mention that two hurricanes hit our hometown within six weeks of each other, causing everyone in our family to lose their homes. No kidding – all of us. We are scattered all over two states, thankful to have roofs over our heads, but scattered too much to all be together even of this stupid Coronavirus wasn't causing the problems that it is.

         Glory be! Mom was able to get an apartment. It isn’t as nice as the one she had before, nor as big, but she likes it and it is temporary, anyway. So, Mom has decided that she is going to cook a miniature Thanksgiving dinner this year. 

         Due to the fact that none of us know where we will be, or anything, we can’t commit. Also, they are recommending that people not gather due to the stupid virus. I feel bad for Mom. No one will get to enjoy her wonderful dinner this year.

         Mom just called. She was acting very mysterious. She said that I should be on the lookout for a large, perishable package. I checked with everyone else. Mom had made the same phone call to everyone. 

         I waited three days for the package to arrive. When it finally came, naturally, I wasn’t home. Once I returned and saw that it had come in, I opened it immediately. My phone was ringing off the hook. The rest of the family had received the exact same package that I had. Inside of this wonderful package was Mom’s entire Thanksgiving dinner. Every single signature dish!

         There was a container of the homemade mac and cheese (my personal favorite). There was also one of the cornbread stuffing and one of rice dressing. Here were the green beans, the carrots, and the rolls. There was a huge turkey. 

         All of the desserts were there, as well. The pumpkin, blueberry and mincemeat pies. The cupcakes. The cookies. She even had included all of the drink choices. Along with all of this were instructions on how to heat everything up perfectly. It told how long and on what temperature. It told whether to use the regular oven or the microwave. 

         The final part of the instructions brought everything together for us – literally. The women in each family would sign on to a group chat with Mom at five in the morning on Thanksgiving Day. She would guide us through preparing our entire Thanksgiving feast. She would be preparing hers right along with us. Everything would be ready at the same time for all of us and we would all sit with our families on the group chat and eat dinner with Mom and each other.

         On Thanksgiving, my whole family woke up early. The kids wanted to help out with the dinner preparations. We signed on to the group chat along with all the rest of our extended clan. Mom was there, ready and raring to go. 

         The first and most important part of the meal was, of course, the turkey. Mom showed us how she seasoned and oiled her bird before placing it in the oven. She set the timer and turned to the side dishes.

         She showed us how she carefully crumbled the already prepared cornbread. We crumbled ours right along with her. She sautéed onions and prepared the gravy mixes. We worked together as we all mixed the gravy into the cornbread and sampled our work. It tasted just like Mom’s! 

         We followed the same procedure in preparing the rice dressing. We seasoned the meat together, made the gravy together, and cooked the rice together. 

         The entire meal was prepared in this manner. When Mom set timers, we all did the same. Scattered though we were, throughout two different states, we all prepared the meal together.

         Once the entire meal was complete, and that gorgeous turkey was removed from all of our ovens and brought to the table to join the rest of the meal, we set our chatting equipment to where all of our tables and families could be seen. Dad had passed away a year ago, so we all went around our tables and told of a good memory that we had of him. We then shared what we were thankful for.

         Everyone was at the ready to carve the turkey. Mom counted down, and we all cut at the same time. Each dish was passed around. As we all ate, socially distanced not only by CO-VID, but by Hurricanes Laura and Delta as well, we still felt a closeness, a comradery. We joked and laughed. We shared memories and caught up on things that had happened during our various evacuations.

         Even though we couldn’t all be physically together, Mom’s Thanksgiving get-together worked out splendidly, and we all had a wonderful day and memories to be thankful for in the year to come.