Ninapearl - that's precious day you have planned. And I have to say, as a retired audiologist, I am happy to see ear protection on that child.

Thanksgiving for us was last month, but Christmas is coming up as well.

We will get “custody” of my son and his SO at Christmas. She’s from Afghanistan and her family is Muslim, so they don’t celebrate.

The stepchildren will be with their mother this year.

I find it very difficult to cook a traditional meal for even just me and hubby, let alone just one person. Having four people makes it a bit easier, but every turkey is big enough to feed 30 people! Even the leftovers are overwhelming.

Years back, we started doing the “A Christmas Story” meal....Mandarin buffet for Christmas. No buffet this year so we will have to cook.

It will be just me and my elderly mom for Thanksgiving. #1 Daughter lives just blocks away, but she is driving to another state to be with #2 Daughter, so I am glad those two will be together for a long weekend. Mom and I will do all the traditional foods and freeze individual meals for her for later.

Christmas bothers me more. Daughter @2 is driving from Texas to Kansas to be here with me, and that's ok, she is working from home and more quarantined than I. #1 Daughter goes to court several times a week in ratty areas, so I worry about being around her too much. Her husband does not get around too many people, but his brother works retail and around lots of people. I need to have all three of them or none . Hard decisions. Pretty hard to do 6 feet apart all gathered around the table. Each person you add, adds a whole nuther circle of people.

I would like to repeat Annie's statement. "And that's perhaps what bothers me the most. If I thought in any way that something I did led to the death of another, I don't think I'd ever get over it. Especially if I were responsible for the death of someone I loved."

Not only is there guilt it can also isolate a person from the rest of the family and friends. While I will never know if my remembrance of insisting on getting in bed with my parents and my mom putting my brother between them actually caused his death. Because no one wanted me to blame myself it was never talked about. I only know that I was treated differently. I suspect that in families across the world that drawing away from the person or persons who may have caused the death of a loved one is happening right now. If you do not want to live with that tiny thought of "did I" or "I did" take all the precautions that you can so that thought never has to cross your mind.

I'm not leaving my house between now and New Year's! I'm in an area where cases are exploding and no one is wearing masks. Hospitals are near capacity and it's going to be a disaster with so many people thinking they are entitled to gather with their families like it's a normal holiday season. That's where this spreads the most - people are not going to be staying 6 feet apart and wearing masks. They are going to be hugging and talking and sharing meals and it's going to be bad.

I'm okay with people thinking I'm scared of the virus. I am! I think a little healthy fear would be a great remedy for this country. If everyone had just followed recommendations from the beginning, we could be on our way out of this already instead of smashing records each and every day.

My uncle shared an article about California hitting 1 million cases, and saying "Not here in Florida!" and I pointed out that when you consider Florida is at almost 900k cases with nearly half the population, their rate is much worse. And his reply? That those are just liberal fake Miami cases and no one wears masks where he lives, and no one is sick and it's all a hoax.

Sephia, no, I have four young people moving into my house. I'm hoping the two exchange students get cancelled. I feel bad for them but I don't know how long in person classes will be happening here the way things are going anyway. I've e-mailed them both but haven't heard a thing from either one of them so I wonder if their parents are rethinking coming here.

WA state residents are waiting for an unprecedented Sunday press conference by our governor outlining increased restrictions for the next 4 weeks. While the details are still to be revealed, they include limiting/eliminating ANY gatherings, public and private (including family gatherings), no more inside dining, restricted outside dining, 14 day quarantining for any interstate travel, closure of museums, cinemas and gyms and limiting access to any essential business to no more than 25% capacity. I believe he will also address enforcement policies for our already existing statewide masking mandate.

While I am not liking any of this, the increase in COVID cases has spiked alarmingly in the past week with both Friday and Saturday reporting record breaking numbers of new cases........far higher - like more than double - than what we saw in spring when this first hit. Prudence and additional cautions are only a logical response.

Amen, Chi! This virus is most definitely something to be afraid of, and chiding people for taking precautions against spreading it is beyond irresponsible. So many of these oft-repeated anti-safety arguments are just dumb, IMO.

We have a tiny bubble of 2 households - myself & hubby, my mom & my son - all of us isolating and distancing as much as possible. Hubby, my son and I go to work, but we are masked, have limited hours & have no close contact with others, thank goodness. I imagine we'll have a meal together, and likely zoom with distant family members.

We plan to go to our daughters who lives nearby with her husband who is housebound. She is tested three times a week for the virus, her daughter does also. I had the virus in March and I was high risk as I have stage 4 kidney disease. My husband is negative and our four-year-old great grand will be there. We have been visiting on the days after they get the results and it's working for us. On the other hand, my niece, her husband, and four boys all have it right now and they have taken no risks.

We're all being advised to not hold events / activities with people that are not in our direct bubble.

Who is advising that?

"Who is advising that?"

The CDC for one. And many states have instituted temporary restrictions (at the very least) that echo that same suggestion. Here in WA, we have just now received notification that ANY gatherings that include persons not in your immediate household - meaning only those that currently live with you - are prohibited and any outdoor gatherings be limited to a maximum of 5 people.

Obviously this will be impossible to enforce but hopefully common sense and a concern for the safety and well being of others - as well as yourself - will override what is really a somewhat inconsequential need for unnecessary large gatherings to celebrate an arbitrary day in the calendar.

Gee desertsteph, I suggest you start with the Johns Hopkins COVID information site. Easy to find. Doesn’t everyone already know how to find information?

People who don't want to consider real information don't look for it and ignore what they inadvertently learn.

Well, looks like I'll be eating T-day dinner alone.

That's okay, it hasn't been with family for years - everyone lives elsewhere and Thanksgiving has never been a time for travel. Besides if I am off to visit my brother like that, I'd rather do it when we can have quality time together, rather than him being around the stupid television watching football, or hosting a herd of strangers. So in past years it's been with one set of friends on the day itself and a follow up on the Saturday after, with another set of friends.

But this year...

I'm getting a turkey thigh, and cooking up some delicata squash, and maybe some mashed potatoes or such. No desserts needed. No candied anything. Just good solid food with my cat and the chickens and the quail.

And yes, I'll be on the phone with family and friends, and will avoid calling my brother during those games.

I may have a small heirloom turkey hen, however, on that Saturday, with a local friend - a local farmer has a turkey who hurt her leg, and I may be getting this one, as it will have to be put down due to the injury. If so, I am sure my cat will want to share some of the breast meat. I will also attempt to re-create Mom's old stuffing and gravy recipes. There will be leftovers - but that happens because... Thanksgiving.

For crying out loud. Of course people die from all sorts of things beside COVID every year. But this year, there have been over 300,000 excess deaths, most of them related to COVID19. Enough with the downplaying of the numbers. You've got a raging epidemic, no national plan to fight it and hospitals are being overwhelmed. Stay home.

Did you ever think they are trying to block our 1st amendment right to assembly so we can't exchange info as a group?

Big tech's been doing that. FB, Twitter, Google. and many of those top dogs seem to be on a list to get high positions in government ... payback for the recent help of big tech.

no national plan to fight it and hospitals are being overwhelmed

what country are you in? doesn't sound like the US. If US, I haven't seen news of hospitals being overwhelmed at this time because of COVID. They are busy and full taking care of all of the people that had to be put off surgery for many months. Putting some of those surgeries off could be the cause of their death / shortened life span, like in delayed cancer / heart surgeries.

I do remember NYC telling Samaritan's Purse to get their hospital out of there. It was set up and in operation for use but the leaders there didn't want the help.

National plan? read the constitution regarding states rights. Some states have refused help. So look to your local leaders.

The CDC for one. And many states have instituted temporary restrictions (at the very least) that echo that same suggestion.

Who is speaking for the CDC? What I hear is conflicting guidelines - depending on who is giving the info and what part of the country one is in.

Here in WA, we have just now received notification that ANY gatherings that include persons not in your immediate household - meaning only those that currently live with you - are prohibited and any outdoor gatherings be limited to a maximum of 5 people.

From whom (or what) have you received this notification?

HamiltonGardener

...

but every turkey is big enough to feed 30 people! Even the leftovers are overwhelming.

yes they are! I picked up a turkey breast (not a turkey breast roll) last year for Christmas and cooked that and then froze most of it in individual meal sizes. it lasted a long time for me as just a piece of turkey for dinner, in soup, mixed with rice and veggies and chopped for 'turkey salad'. my pup enjoyed some of it also.

Wow, El Paso hospitals overflowing, the Dakotas...even here in Ky we are surging in cases and I think we are pretty near the bottom of the covid 19 cases in the U.S. and still we are nearly completely in the red zone. Over 1 million cases now in Tx and Ca. Wonder what news some of these people are watching or reading, if any at all. They've okay'd North Dakota healthcare workers to keep working even if they are positive for Covid 19! Soon those workers will either be too sick to work or will just quit out of exhaustion.

"Did you ever think they are trying to block our 1st amendment right to assembly so we can't exchange info as a group?"

This is a health crisis, a pandemic. It's not about your rights. You have NO right to infect me and the people I love.

________________________________________________________________

"I haven't seen news of hospitals being overwhelmed at this time because of COVID."

desertsteph, again, do some research. Do you live under a rock? El Paso is using inmates to move bodes to the medical examiner's office. Their morgues are overwhelmed. The inmates are moving the bodies to huge refrigerated trucks.

(If you access the link I provided, there is a video - viewer discretion advised).

kathsgrdn, I too wonder which news source some people watch or read to get their news. Probably some conspiracy website.

Well, to be fair, if I didn't pay attention to news about this pandemic, I wouldn't know anything either...

(& yeesh - not gathering in groups prevents exchanging information? Has nobody heard of phones, email or text messages?)

"Did you ever think they are trying to block our 1st amendment right to assembly so we can't exchange info as a group?"

Yes, you first amendment rights are at risk. Too bad no one has come up with an alternate to face-to-face conversations for sharing information. Perhaps, someday, we'll have telephones and email and Twitter and Instagram and Facebook...Oh, wait...

Ordered my TG dinner from the market and will pick it up next Wednesday at 10:30am. It includes pumpkin pie but I'm not sure if it's just two pieces or a whole pie. Anyway, I'll have leftovers!

ETA: I saw the ad in the paper this morning - only two slices of pie. :(

One of the things that I wish had been handled differently, although other areas may have done it differently, were health directives including closure of businesses and keeping people at home issued directly by the various Health Departments and not by other various government officials. Health Departments because they deal with public health have always had more power than a governor or mayor. People tend to dismiss those who were elected because of the thought the elected were trying to show their power.

Our major hospitals are nearing max capacity because the out state regional hospitals no longer can treat the people who need specialized care. Most of what were called community hospitals if they are still open act primarily to stabilize patients to either send home or to one of the regional centers.

The hospitals in Milwaukee county have overflowed. There are 14 patients (and growing) at State Fair Park in a provisional field hospital that was set up last month.

Well, I certainly didn't expect this thread to turn into name calling and nastiness. I really truly just wanted to hear what other sing' les are doing to find some happiness in the holidays. I realize that everyone is on edge, everyone has their own way of looking at things etc but really just wanted others to share how they will celebrate. I hope everyone is able to have a pleasant holiday whether alone or with others.

I have never been a big fan of the big Thanksgiving dinner in the first place. I always just wanted to just go off on a lone road trip and go shopping, LOL. My parents passed away this summer, so it will be different this year for sure. My family has always done the big (HUGE) dinner at one of my cousin's house (I did not always go but my parents did - and last year I had to go with them as they needed assistance).

I am not sure what the family is doing this year but I will not be attending. My BF's mother wanted to go to a restaurant that is PACKED - but I don't think I will be doing that either. I think a nice dinner at home is in order. My son will be coming home but he eats with his dad so I don't have any pressure to cook thank goodness. :-)

Well, I certainly didn't expect this thread to turn into name calling and nastiness.

I think that the danger is so great, that when the same people say the same dangerous things in the face of overwhelming facts, people tend to use sterner language. The danger is greater now that the holidays are approaching.

Remember the Odyssey? On his way home, Odysseus was to pass the island of the Sirens, who tempted many sailors to their deaths. Circe advised Odysseus on ways to protect himself and his men. He followed her instructions, and did not die when he passed the Sirens.

Like Odysseus, many of us are facing temptation in the guise of longing to see family and friends, which during the pandemic, like a meet up with the Sirens, could be fatal. Like Circe, the good advice given on this thread will help assure a safe voyage through the holidays.

I love your thread Satine. I think people are frustrated that they are genuinely trying to help, and it doesn't always work even though the stakes are high.

Something to contemplate was mentioned by the local health director just now. Earlier this year there were plans to set up field hospitals. However unlike then because the virus is so wide spread there are not enough medical personnel to cover the field hospitals. Earlier this year medical people flew to the hotspots to provide care increasing the number available. Now that is no longer possible.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect this thread to turn into name calling and nastiness."

I'm guilty of joining in on the negative tone of this thread. You're right satine, your post was intended to learn what other single people were going to do to find happiness during the holiday. I apologize for engaging in the negativity. I've gotten into typically scrolling on by controversial threads because the same people post the same inflammatory comments. Inflammatory meaning comments extremely contrary to scientific research findings or what health experts are saying.

I'm just really angry and frustrated that we are still dealing with this pandemic. It didn't need to get this bad. I retired in Dec. 2019 with lots of fun activities and travel planned, and everything has evaporated. I was supposed to be in Spain right now. I had a trip to Germany and Poland planned for May. I was doing several volunteer activities - a docent at the WA State Museum of History, I love live theater so I was ushering at a local community theater, and a couple of other activities, and everything has gone "poof." When I read comments from individuals who don't keep up, or who post comments that come from I don't know where, or who ridicule others who are not living in fear but are trying to be careful, I think because I'm so angry and frustrated, and being anonymous behind a keyboard, I've found it easy to vent that anger and frustration. Washington state just went under another lockdown for four weeks. My state is now worse than it was at the peak of the pandemic. People are going to lose their businesses, children aren't learning like they should, etc. It didn't need to get this bad.

Again, I apologize for contributing to derailing your thread.

Communicating with relatives will be via phone. Why risk anyone's health over a selfish need to gather together now. There will be time later, if people take this seriously. My meal will consist of thickly sliced, roasted turkey breast, placing stuffing lengthwise down the center, rolling these up and securing with toothpicks. These will then be baked in some chicken/turkey broth and served with mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, homemade bread and a very small pie. I wish all a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. Look out for one another and be kind to each other.

It will be DH and I for Thanksgiving dinner. I have plenty of family and friends to be thankful for but they don't need to be sitting at my table for me to appreciate them.

Since my family all had Covid recently, we will have a dinner at our home. Including my Mother, sister, DS,DD, hubby and a close friend. All of us are safe to be around each other. Thank goodness. My extended family will not be coming this year due to the virus.

I may live alone except for my furkids but I at least know that any actions I take can affect others. Something that apparently others have either never known or are simply too caught up in the idea that "me" is the most important thing on this planet.

My husband and I will just be together, oh and the dog too! His family isn't too far away, but they have their own family now with the grandkids etc. His parents have been gone for many years. My family is many miles away from us. We will have tenderloin steaks for our meal. Neither of us is really crazy about eating turkey.

The latest covid case that is from my small circle is my brother and his wife, they went to a party at her kid's house and their in laws brought it to the party from out of state. Then a while back, my sister caught it probably from a Fourth of July party with all my family there. She had not done anything else that was high risk, but no one else at the party was sick or became sick later. No other people(namely her boyfriend) that she was in contact outside of that party got sick either.

Well, as the world burns let us get back to that turkey.

You don't have to buy a turkey breast to have a small piece. Many markets will sell turkey pieces at this time of year. I recommend that you buy a couple of turkey thighs instead of breast meat. It is so much better. Breast meat is so tasteless and dry.

I am making a gumbo this year. It will be just the two of us.

I like the breast meat for that very reason. It allows for additions like cranberry sauce (and all its variants) or gravy to offset the dryness.

or cooking it in ginger ale. I don’t know what it is, but turkey cooked in ginger ale is never dry.

I feel a little bit sorry for people who say they don't like turkey. Maybe they've never had it properly cooked? Maybe they've only had it cooked according to the basic instructions?

We always enjoy my own roast turkey, which I coat in a home made spice blend, and home smoked turkey is delicious!

Looking forward to leftovers...

Have you ever tried the Turkey Tenderloin? My son buys that for Thanksgiving since none of us eat the legs or wings anyway. Check this out: Turkey Tenderloin I don't think it's very expensive either

I had a turkey breast in the freezer so I cooked it a few weeks back. There are only the 2 of us, but we got a bunch of meals out of it, we froze a bunch of slices in individual portions for nights when I don't want to cook, and then I froze a couple of bags of 2 cups each chopped up pieces that will end up in a soup or casserole eventually. So even though it made a lot, it all went.

Thanksgiving content -

Over the years, we've done a variety of things on Thanksgiving. Family at our house, us at an immediate family member's or relative's house, us at a friend's house with our family and theirs, at a friend's house or friends at our house, and sometimes nothing at all. This year it will be just my wife and I. Because we're not all that keen about turkey, it's likely we'll have something else.

Sort of off topic but I do not know if I should applaud or feel sorry for people who have the willpower or desire to only eat a portion of roast turkey. I always ate as much as I wanted at the late afternoon dinner then for evening snack for a couple of days a very thick multi serving on white bread sandwich with real mayo. Thanksgiving was the only time I ever used the white bread in the house for my husband's sandwiches. For whatever reason most January's I was a couple of pounds lighter after eating all the seasonal stuff. Not patting myself on the back but heading off those who would mention over eating.

My son was carrying large plants to my basement greenhouse today and I asked if he was coming to his sister's thanksgiving. He said no, and I called her and she's thinking of not having it even if it would now only be the five of us since SIL's

mother won't come either. I see these three every week and now she said that I need to wear mask the next time I come over. So looks like there will be no thanksgiving for the first time in my life. I won't be getting any traditional food in if that's the case. I'll have my usual grilled salmon.

"I feel a little bit sorry for people who say they don't like turkey. Maybe they've never had it properly cooked? Maybe they've only had it cooked according to the basic instructions?"

Eh...I have had it properly cooked. For years and years and years. I just find it to be nothing to get excited over. I feel the same away about most hams. Sure I like some deli turkey sandwiches, and ham/swiss sliders...etc....but a big ol roast turkey or ham...*yawn*. Now, a Honey-Baked ham is to die for...I will agree to that. And last year, we ate at a Thanksgiving buffet at a restaurant, and that was probably the best turkey I have ever eaten in my life. But generally, it's just nothing to get excited about, for me.

Turkey tenderloins here are around $7/lb. and rather small - maybe a pound or so.

I use to buy them often before the price jumped. I would season and pound them and saute in butter.

Lucille, yes a smoked turkey is already cooked.

I quite like turkey schnitzel.

I asked my son about that Turkey tenderloin, its not a Tenderloin its a rolled boneless turkey breast. Not expensive at all and very good. sorry for the wrong info. Boneless Turkey breast

I am the exact opposite of Chessie. I have a strong dislike for deli turkey or ham. I can eat deli turkey but only if it's on a sub with lots of cold crisp vegetables to overcome it's texture. There is nothing to beat real roast turkey, ham or roast beef for sandwiches. Yes, to the white bread. Forget the deli meats, bring on the hofbrau carving station. Honey Baked Ham I can't even pretend to eat. No way, no how.