“If you can’t always get what you want,
try sometime and you find you get what you need.”
– Rolling Stones
This is the year of the COVID holidays. It will be hard to have “normal” Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, or New Year’s Eve celebrations this year.
Public health experts ask us to celebrate the holidays with in-person gatherings limited to the people who are living under the same roof. For some people, this is a relief, a chance to avoid the boring pontificating relative or a houseful of screaming over-stimulated kids. For others, this loss of family connection increases feelings of isolation and boredom.
How to make the holidays feel like more than an ordinary-COVID-day
Start with the menu
You can recreate your traditional holiday dinners, modify them, or do something completely different. To avoid a hoard of leftovers,down-size your menu with a roast turkey breast instead of a whole bird. If your traditional menu doesn’t feel right this year or you are bored with the same-old dishes, this is the year to try something new. Personally, I believe Thanksgiving turkey is flavored with nostalgia. When the best compliment you can give to an entree is “it’s so moist!” something is missing. Skip the turkey and have a meal of all of your favorite side dishes. Or do lobster, BBQ, or a slow-cooked Bolognese sauce. I’m planning on making an herbed butterflied chicken with my favorite roasted vegetables (1-1 1/4 hours cooking time), an apple galette (lazy apple pie), and a nice wine.
Music, music, music
Start the day by turning off the computer and television. Fill your house with the music you love.
Setting the Table
Whatever you decide to serve, set your table with your best dinnerware and some candles. You deserve it. If empty places at your dining table are too depressing for you, enjoy your holiday meal in a sunroom or in front of the fireplace.
After Dinner…Walk
Once dinner is over and you have cleared the dishes, instead of watching a football game (which is an excuse to sink into a post-prandial stupor), go for a walk. Please realize this walk recommendation comes from someone whose happy-place is curled up on the sofa with a good book, tea, and some homemade cookies. Bundle up so you are warm and dry. Being in Nature has been documented to calm nerves, lift spirits, and aid digestion.
If you are lucky and family and friends are a walk or brief drive away consider an outdoor masked and socially-distanced front lawn or sidewalk visit (you know the drill). If family or friends can’t see you, do a Zoom-type visit or consider the more intimate connection of a simple phone call.
Reward
The reward for your brisk walk: the warm beverage of your choice and perhaps a sliver more of dessert. And the start of some new traditions.
While this year we can’t be with the ones we love, we can be grateful for the people we love and who love us.
We are isolating this year so all of us can celebrate together next year.
Be safe, be happy!
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