As a child, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday. Mashed potatoes were my favorite food and there were always copious amounts of all kinds of yummy things but the thing I loved most was the gathering of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. While the turkey cooked, we played two touch football, the kids against the dads. One year, to add a little spice, the dads bought matching uniforms and a trophy with their names already inscribed as the winners. We were serious about our games. We played, we ate and we shared the gratitude we felt for the blessings of the year. Over time, it has remained my favorite holiday.
Then came Thanksgiving 2020 and Covid. It was a year unlike any we had ever known, everything turned upside down. Though we didn’t really know how to cook all our favorite traditional staples for just the five of us living at home, we all spent time cooking and preparing a lovely meal. We went outside and played two touch football that only lasted about fifteen minutes. It wasn’t quite the same. In the afternoon we gathered with extended family on Zoom for a Kahoots Thanksgiving trivia game, talked to our missionary who was serving in Minnesota and shared our gratitude for the blessings of the year. It was different in so many ways, still our blessings were many.