I received a huge number of questions this year in my inbox about what Thanksgiving was like before the year 2020. It seems people are having a hard time remembering why this is a national holiday. So we asked different families why they are celebrating – a reason for the season if you will. Here are some of the best answers we received.
The Stewarts:
Stephanie
I am celebrating Thanksgiving this year in person because we couldn’t celebrate it last year. Which was both good and bad. Thanksgiving is a time to gather and celebrate all the good things in life. I enjoy seeing everyone…mostly. I obviously don’t get along with Ron because 4 years ago he sat next to me, and his jaw clicked the entire meal. So, I put my air pods in at the table to cancel it out. Well Ron made a joke about it and now everyone in the family thinks I’m pretentious. Now when it’s time to start eating everyone asks if I have my air pods. Thanks Ron. Still, it will be good to see everyone and catch up.
Ron
I am celebrating in person this year because my family is awesome. In particular, I cannot wait to see my cousin Stephanie. She is smart and hilarious. 4 years ago, she wore air pods to the dinner table and I asked her if the Pilgrims wore those or if that was to honor the Indians. She said it was because I am a loud eater and that they are not called Indians anymore – I think the word she used was Indigenous people. I didn’t know what that meant so I asked if those air pods were “IN DA GENIUS” and everyone started laughing, even Stephanie. So fun.
The Trimbles
Grandma
I just cannot wait to see my grandchildren in person this Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to honor the harvest and abundant bounty of joy in our lives. We have a long Trimble tradition of standing in a circle and holding hands and saying what we are thankful for one by one. Last year we had to say what we are thankful for over the Zoom and that was just terrible. There were 45 people on the call and it took 2 hours for us to go around the screen and get everybody. I only had the free version of Zoom, so we had to log off and back on after 30 minutes 4 times. I didn’t even see Bobby and his kids. He had to turn off his video because of bandwidth issues. I am just so thankful everyone will be here in person this year. We are blessed.
Bobby – Sarah’s Bobby not John’s stepson
I am not going to lie, Thanksgiving this year is going to be hard. It isn’t that I am not thankful for everything and everyone. We are healthy for the most part and have been very lucky comparatively. But last year, we didn’t even get out of bed. I told Grandma we had to have our video off on Zoom because of bandwidth issues. The truth is I was in my pajamas until 3 in the afternoon playing video games and watching Netflix. That was every day in 2020. It isn’t much different this year. My wife and I are both still working from home. My kids have been quarantined for a month each already in 2021 because their school doesn’t wear masks. Do you think we won’t get Covid at this 45-person family gathering? I don’t know. It just seems hard to gather safely these days. At least the circle of thanks won’t take 2 hours again.
The Swinneys
Dabo
I am thankful for the opportunity to see my family and spend some quality time with them. The previous years I was unavailable because of work, but it wasn’t all bad. We had a great team and we were focused on making a successful run into the new year. That is not the case this year because we don’t have an NFL caliber quarterback. I am working on that for next year. `I will be home for Thanksgiving and get to enjoy my wife’s fantastic turkey and dumplins It is a Swinney tradition. Go Tigers.
Kathleen
I am just tickled to death that we are all going to be together this year for Thanksgiving. It has been ages. I even get to cook turkey and dumplins for the first time since God knows how long. The boys will really enjoy that. In the previous years no one was home because we had to get ready for the college football playoffs. We aren’t even going to the ACC championship game this year. The last game is this Saturday against South Carolina and they aren’t even in the same conference as us. Oh well, I am truly thankful for my family and for everything we have been blessed with. In addition to the turkey this year, I think I am going to carve out some time for some recruiting calls because things need to get back to normal around here. This cooking stuff is for the birds.
