Remember how stressful normal Thanksgivings used to be? The turkey breast dried out. Gravy clumped. Pie filling refused to gel. There were in-law scheduling conflicts. Food allergies. Vegetarians. And pretty much always, the relative whose views you least wanted to explore insisted on discussing politics.
Now we realize how grateful we should’ve been for Thanksgivings like that — the kind that didn’t threaten to become super-spreader events.
And we’re struggling to figure out new ways to celebrate.
“I actually think this pandemic holiday gives an opportunity to break free of traditions other people have set for you, and start setting your own,” says Robert Searcy, a Houston Realtor. Normally he and his partner join their extended family at siblings’ houses for dinner. But this year, they’ll invite their quarantine-bubble friends to a very intimate dinner at their cabin in the Hill Country. Searcy, who owns six sets of china, hasn’t decided which will star in the tablescape.
Some people are trying to figure out how to downsize beloved gatherings. Leaneice Strawder Brown laments that for more than 30 years her family has come “from far and near” to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year she can’t even invite her 91-year-old mother, but will have to deliver her a plate.
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Karen Aptekar plans a Zoom happy hour with the larger group she’d normally share Thanksgiving with, followed by turkey at her house with only four family members. The food will be plated indoors then carried outside to two socially distanced tables, one for each of the two households. And in case it’s chilly, she’s bought outdoor heaters.
Michael Bludworth, a volunteer at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum, isn’t hosting a big gathering, but he and his wife plan to cook an entire turkey anyway: “The leftovers have always been my favorite part.”
Patrick Kopplin says his plans include individual beef Wellingtons and a “fine Syrah” for two. “Hell,” he jokes, “we’ve hid out from the family for so many years, we won’t be able to tell the difference!”
Normally lawyer Christina Solis and her husband Graham Gaskill celebrate Thanksgiving at her parents’ place in central Texas. This year, they’ll instead drive to Taos, N.M., and stay in the house her parents normally rent out as an AirBnB — even though Texas’ growing COVID-19 rate could mean that New Mexico will require the couple to quarantine inside the house the whole time.
Solis says that even if that’s the case, they’ll still pack up their dogs, Fusilli and Celosa, and drive to Taos. Since March both she and Gaskill have been working at their 1,000-square-foot house in Montrose. “We’ve been inside this house, together, for eight months,” she says. “So even just being inside a different house would be good.”
Last year Rowena and Buddy Young flew to Alexandria, Va., for the International Lindyhop Championships, a long weekend of sweaty swing dancing with people from all over the world. They took classes. They danced with strangers and friends they hardly ever get to see. And exhilarated, they planned to go back.
This year, though, the event will be entirely online. Competitions will be “solo jazz” — no dancing with other competitors. The classes will be about things like musicality, no partner required. There’ll be live music, and the virtual attendees can dance to it, in their homes alone, or with the people in their bubble. Or, says Rowena, they can just enjoy the music.
Michael Fjetland, 70, usually spends Thanksgiving with relatives of his girlfriend, Margie Townsend. But this year, he doesn’t want to risk a big traditional gathering: “I can’t afford to be stupid.”
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Instead he, Townsend and her two travel-loving dogs will spend Thanksgiving on the road — probably around San Antonio that day —in Fjetland’s enormous RV. Before the pandemic, his company, Armor Glass, rented an office in Sugar Land, and he traveled frequently for business. But after the virus hit, hotels and restaurants struck him as risky, so he acquired the super-sized Ford Leprechaun.
Now he’s let the Sugar Land lease go, using the RV as a mobile office and driving it for pleasure travel too. He’s found that he likes camping, now that it includes hot water and his own bathroom. Texas’ state parks have been a revelation (Palo Duro Canyon!), and when a reservation at one of those isn’t available, he uses Google Maps’ satellite view to check which RV parks are actually as scenic as their websites claim.
The BakerRipley Turkey Trot is a tradition for marathoner Todd Breton’s family. He was one of the 200 or so people who ran in the first one in 1992, starting at the Waterwall near The Galleria. His son and daughter grew up running it with him, and his wife, who doesn’t run, cheers and takes photos. During the nine years the family lived in Dallas, they’d drive back to Houston for the run.
This year will be very different: The Turkey Trot has gone virtual. Via an app, registrants can run their races any place and any time between Nov. 26 and Dec. 2. Breton plans to spend Thanksgiving in Hot Springs, Ark. He’s not sure exactly where he’ll run his 10K, but whatever the course, he’ll probably run it alongside his son. His daughter, he says, will run her race separately back in Houston, probably starting near her house in the Heights.
“You just have to adapt,” Breton says. “You gotta keep at it.”
lisa.gray@chron.com, twitter.com: LisaGray_HouTX
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How do you celebrate Thanksgiving when you can’t gather? - Houston Chronicle
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