Due to the current state of the pandemic in the U.S., we’ve decided to cancel our planned trip to see my mom for Thanksgiving. As I’ve written in past years (here and here), Thanksgiving was always a big day in my family. It’s been many years now since this holiday looked like it did in my youth, but I believe this will be the first year that I won’t spend Thanksgiving with my mom and at least some of my extended family.

This isn’t the first time I’ll celebrate Thanksgiving in my own home. I hosted Thanksgiving dinner in 2015, the year we got married and bought our house. My parents came to visit then, and we shared a Thanksgiving meal with some of our international friends who lived here in our town. Preparing the meal was a lot of work, but it was worth the time and effort to enjoy a special meal with family and friends.

This year, it’ll be just the four of us, and a Zoom call with the extended family. The baby isn’t eating solid food yet, her brother usually only picks at whatever I serve him for dinner, and their dad isn’t fond of turkey. Given all that, I don’t think I’m going to cook a traditional feast this year. I haven’t decided yet what I might cook, or whether I’ll cook at all. This may be a particularly good year to support a local restaurant and order take-out. I have been craving Thai food lately…

Still, I want to feel festive. I want to do something that makes this Thanksgiving feel different from every other recent day. Maybe we’ll go for a hike. Maybe we’ll decorate for Christmas earlier than I ever have before. Maybe we’ll light candles for our loved ones who are no longer with us. Maybe we’ll all watch a movie on Netflix while eating pumpkin pie next to the fire. Maybe I’ll make my family take turns saying what we’re thankful for. Now that I write this, these all seem like good ideas, so perhaps I just created the blueprint for our little family’s Thanksgiving traditions.

Whatever we do, I know there will be a lot of love and a lot of memories — memories of times gone by, and new memories created. Thanksgiving this year may look very different than in years past, but I still look forward to a day dedicated to family, abundance, and gratitude. Despite all of 2020’s faults, I have a lot to be thankful for.

How are you planning to spend this Thanksgiving? Tell me about your own traditions, old and new, in the comments.