Thanksgiving
Dr. Pfister shares a Thanksgiving meal with his wife’s side of the family.
Covid has changed so many facets of our lives this year…
In March, we sure never imagined our Thanksgiving dinner would be in jeopardy!
Established by the Pilgrims as part of their religion, Thanksgiving began with a celebration of gratitude for a bountiful harvest and was shared with the Pilgrims’ Native American neighbors, the Wampanoags. Some say Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year because the spirit of Thanksgiving is one of family, love, friends, and gratitude. In other words, it’s a fabulous meal amongst a warm gathering of friends and family… not a holiday of excess gifts and extravagant decorations.
Most of us had to significantly cut down on the number of people surrounding the bird this year. At my own home, we’re having a grand total of five (and that includes my mother-in-law!). No jokes please.
My mother hosted Thanksgiving dinner for over 50 years and we averaged 40-60 people every year. Each year the number grew with the addition of new babies, boyfriends and girlfriends, and new neighbors around the farm in Hinckley. Mom always had the normal fare (plus she would always roast three ducks for me - one to eat immediately, the other two for the road). Thanks mom! Duck with an apricot glaze, sweet and sour red cabbage, and wild rice - in my book - will always give turkey with giblet mushroom stuffing a two-legged run for the money in flavor.
When mom hit 88, my sister and I took turns hosting with three turkeys, a ham, a beef roast… you know the routine… along with pumpkin and apple pie and half a table of other scrumptious desserts. But sadly, neither my sister nor I could do a duck justice!
I personally have to concur with Thanksgiving lovers that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Growing up, I never got to see all my cousins as much as I would have liked to. Christmas was always so hectic… with gift buying and wrapping and finding a perfect tree… you know what I mean. But Thanksgiving, we just played games as a kid and caught up on life as an adult. The interactions and conversations around Thanksgiving dinner were priceless.
Why do we fully appreciate something only when we can’t have it?
One of life’s great questions, I guess. Kind of a twist on “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. Maybe, just maybe, as I’ve said before, there are a few silver linings or pearls of wisdom that we can extract from a pandemic.
Numbers are great and mass gatherings around the turkey are fun, but we still need to savor and hold on to the true meaning of Thanksgiving. You and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Yes, we have had and will continue to have inconveniences, stress, despair, and frustrations… but hell, we’re still alive! We have each other, our families, and friends. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and yours if you lost a loved one this year. But for those of us who remain, we need to be as positive as possible for each other! I’ve heard people say, “I don’t want to live anymore. It’s just not worth it. This world is depressing and there is no future for my generation.” I say to them, “Yes, the world is currently depressing because for so long we had so much. We now need to savor each moment with friends and family, we need to conserve and not be wasteful, and we need to live more passionately and not take everything for granted.”
We each need to care more deeply for others and take a more concerted approach to taking care of ourselves. Exercise with a friend (aerobic exercise helps us to fight Covid). Eat more responsibly (obesity makes us more vulnerable to Covid). Volunteer at a shelter or soup kitchen; it may not help you ward off the pandemic, but it’ll do wonders for your heart and spirit!
The Pfister clan zoomed our Easter dinner this year and we will be zooming again this Thanksgiving. I agree it’s not the same as being in person, but attitude is everything. Make a game out of it. Dress up as a Pilgrim or turkey. Humor is a great medicine and we will get through. As was the case with our grandparents, who lived through several World Wars or Vietnam or the Depression, we will have plenty of conversation material in the years to come to bore our grandchildren with once we all get back together for the holidays. I can hear it now, “Boy, you should have seen the masks we had to wear back in 2020.” Or, “You should have seen what we used for bathroom tissues during the old pandemic.”
On behalf of the Pfister family and my Office family, we all wish you and yours an extra warm and meaningful Thanksgiving celebration. May this year’s celebration be a genuine giving of thanks for the few things in life that truly nurture our souls and make us better people - namely, the love and kindness we share with each other each and every day of the year!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dr. Pfister