Usually I write my Thanksgiving morning blog posts from my in-laws’ den in Lincoln, Nebraska. Not this pandemic year. Here’s what we’re missing and what we can do about it:
- Long conversations with my wife’s parents and usually her brother and his wife (Substitute: Zoom.)
- Long runs or bike rides around Lincoln along its pretty good recreational trail system. (Substitute: Jog over to Moccasin Creek, down to Melgaard Park….)
- The chocolate candies my wife’s parents always set out in the fancy metal dish in their keenly retro living room. (Substitute: my jar of minty Christmas trail mix.)
- Our dog going bonkers in the car. (Substitute: I’ll drive him out to the lake for a walk.)
- Our dog going bonkers on his leash as I walk him around the strange smells of various I-29 stops while he watches the rest of his pack disappear into the Coffee Cup or Burger King. (Substitute: much calmer strolls around our familiar neighborhood, where he knows his pack is safe.)
- Our dog going bonkers when we don’t take him in the car and leave him at my wife’s parents’ house as we go out around Lincoln. (Substitute: none! Our dog enjoys three days on his favorite corner of our couch, surrounded by his favorite smells and nobody but his pack.)
- Movies in downtown Lincoln. (Substitute: Netflix and Amazon, with much cheaper popcorn, and our dog eagerly cleaning up dropped kernels.)
- The cool houses and giant piles of leaves in the Piedmont neighborhood. (Substitute: well, none, really, as Aberdeen just isn’t that architecturally or arboreally well-endowed.)
- A run to Hy-Vee Lincoln to load up on Dreisbach’s salad dressing. (Substitute: beg for care package from in-laws.)
- Chance that we’ll spread coronavirus in Nebraska or bring it back to South Dakota. (Substitute: warm feeling inside, right next to my wife’s first home turkey, knowing that we helped a few people we know and a lot more people we don’t know reduce their risk of suffering from coronavirus.)
Now I’m going to eat some breakfast in my dining room, listen to South Dakota Public Radio, and enjoy Thanksgiving at home. I hope you have good sense to do the same. Don’t fret what you’re missing: find your happy substitutes. Use the technological wonders at your fingertips (if you’re reading this, you’ve got the tools) to connect safely with the people you love. Burn off your home turkey with a nice long walk outdoors, away from everyone else… maybe out in the woods, if you’ve got woods, where you may see some free turkeys.
Stay connected, stay safe, and stay home. Gobble Gobble!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Stay safe, stay well, stay masked!
Me… I miss being home with my mom and rest of my family back in Winner and eating a good home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. But the risks are too great to travel now. I may be pessimistic here, but I doubt the case count will go down by Christmas since thousands of travelers aren’t heeding the advice to stay home. I’m making plans on staying home for Christmas too. It shouldn’t have to be this way, but here we are. I have to make the best of a difficult situation, even if it means foregoing seeing my family in person for one year.
When you are able to go to Lincoln again for Thanksgiving in future years, instead of going to a box store like Hy-Vee for Dreisbach’s salad dressing, you should see if any locally owned grocery stores are open on Thanksgiving. Based on Google searches, Lincoln has a couple independent grocery stores such as Schmick’s, Russ’ Market, and Leon’s Gourmet Grocer. They might carry Dreisbach’s as well, but I can’t say for sure. Shopping local ensures that more of the money you spend stays in the community, compared to a chain store.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
I do miss Aberdeen it’s a good place. Happy Thanksgiving.
Just read President-Elect Joe Biden’s very empathetic Thanksgiving tweet to us-the U.S. people who voted for and against him in the election; I’d recommend it highly! Then, as a comparison-read Trump’s tweet of a few minutes later, still whining about losing…
Cory, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. May your ‘bubble’ be impenetrable to the virus and to all of his blog readers: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
¡Aquí está esperando que todos tiene un feliz día de acción de gracias!
muchas gracias, que tu mesa sea bendecida con generosidad
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. This was one year when I watched snippets of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Lo and Behold! here was the South Dakota tourism float!! The curmudgeon in me couldn’t help but think…why? I can’t help but wonder at all the places in the state where the money could have found better uses. Community Support Providers immediately come to mind.
“A small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow Americans.”
—President-Elect Joe Biden.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1331962915033903108
Thanks for pointing that out, Jake.
Mr. Knute, it is probably illegal by the legislatures to let money from tourism be handed out to providers of community support, but grudznick also wishes they would stop advertising in the parades to get people to come to South Dakota. I am OK with a few thousand tourism dollars going to the providers of community support.
Turkey of the Year 2020 Trump Leftovers
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/this-governor-ignored-mitigation-efforts-and-now-her-state-has-the-highest-rate-in-the-world/#comments_section_start
grudz -our governess spent $500 MM of designated Covid relief funds on Tourism advertising. Do you think that is what paid in part for the Macy’s float? How do you feel about that? Got an excuse for that behavior from the governess as well? Just to reemphasize – 500 MILLION dollars of Covid relief funds spent on Tourism. And you feel a few thousand of tourism dollars spent on relief for community support workers “might” be okay?
Thank You. Well written and very poinient.
The Macy’s parade was from last year. No parade this year.
Anyone notice the new TV ad by SD Health Dept that doesn’t show our governess telling us to wash hands, maintain 6 ft distance, and stay home if sick instead took Covid Kristi off the pic and never mentions wearing a mask? South Dakota- your tax dollars are paying for this crap-along with what she’s done in past couple months traipsing along with Trump collecting money to run against our best interests.
David Owen-did you mean poignant perchance (I googled your word ‘poinient to no avail)
Cathy, actually there was a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and there was a way to livestream it here:
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-2020-how-to-watch-today-in-every-time-zone/
No spectators, but it was held, and you can probably get it at YouTube.
Many of us have spelling miscues. Some are intentional. Some are meant to give words moar puha.
Thank you and yours for everything you’ve done or will be doing. Enjoy the rest of the evening.
Mr. Schriever, I seem to recall that same float in the turkey day parade for many years now. I also think you should check your numbers. $500 Million Dollars, or 500 Million Quatloos? That kind of wampum could float the float for many more years, I’m sure.