Thanksgiving options to consider

#Middlebury #Seniors #Thanksgiving

What is Thanksgiving going to look like this year? That’s a big question, and many of us don’t have the answer yet.

Part of it depends on whether we’re still the ones cooking the turkey or whether that particular baton was passed years ago. Part of it depends on whether we’re close enough to relatives that they can drive over or whether somebody would be required to board a plane. Part of it depends on whether anyone present has a preexisting condition that would make getting COVID especially risky.

I’ve done an informal poll of those around me and scattered across the country. One person has flatly stated his family will all be present with the triple garage turned into a big dining room. Another said it will be a repeat of last year with everyone in their own home with online meeting software running during dinner. Another is delivering a turkey dinner to her mother. Yet another is taking his parents out to a fancy buffet.

Some say it all depends on whether everyone in the group has been vaccinated. Some don’t want to take the shot. Many refuse to be around those who didn’t take the shot. A few are leery of small children who aren’t eligible for the shot, but who are in school with others whose parents might or might not have gotten vaccinated. Or maybe there’s a teen who’s been released from home prison, as they’re calling it, and might or might not have been socially distancing from pals or wearing a mask, which might or might not work anyway.

Then there’s the wee matter of breathing used air on planes and whether we’re sitting next to someone who sneaks off his mask when the stewardesses aren’t looking. It gets complicated, this business of calculating how to handle Thanksgiving. The biggest debate used to be: turkey or ham?

© 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.