What are your holiday plans?

[PaulaO]

I have a very small family—one sister. She has a grown son and daughter, a daughter-in-law, and a granddaughter. My niece and nephew live out of state, but will be at my sister’s for TDay. Sis lives about an hour from me. We will gather on TDay and go to my BIL’s sister’s. I haven’t seen my niece and nephew in over a year, so come hell or high water I will see them on TDay. I’ll drive home TDay night to feed Kitteh and sleep in my own bed, then go back to my sister’s on Friday.

Christmas Eve I always have dinner with my friends but they are very COVID aware and aren’t letting people into their house. So who knows. I’ll have a quiet Christmas Day with my sister and BIL.

[Moutaineer]

My husband is super high risk,, so it's just as well we still enjoy each other's company. It will be just the two of us, good food, good wine, a fire in the grate and a couple of books. And no doubt a Zoom meeting with the kids, and a long chat with my dear stepmother..

They are all in England, so who knows when we will get to meet in person again. We now have two additional grandchildren we haven't met yet.

[Ryeissa]

Not seeing any relatives, just parents who I see often as it is. We cancelled everything for thanksgiving and christmas back in Sept.

[heddylamar]

Thanksgiving will be just us at home. DH's family is all local, and we normally go to the big family potluck at BIL/SIL's house ... but we're not interested in being part of a super spreader event, nor are SIL's parents. So we're trading some dishes with the SIL's parents who have stayed home through all of this. SIL is contemplating cancelling altogether to avoid our crazy in-laws (my DH's parents, who are also her DH's parents) who are busy hosting dinner parties, dining out with friends, etc.

For us, I'm planning to make a mini vegan Wellington. Plus, I'm attempting a vegan version of our favorite onion custard pie (caramelized onions ... gruyere), then Brussels slaw, rosemary and garlic roasted sweet/potatoes, jalapeño-lime-mezcal cranberry sauce, and pecan pie. I'm trading a vegetarian onion custard pie for pecan pie, with SIL's parents ... and probably giving them some other goodies too, because we won't see them at Christmas either.

We've got a tiny cabin reserved for Christmas in the Shenandoah. Maybe snow? Lol. Definitely cool hiking weather! And a fire pit

[khall]

All of our close family lives near us so we are thinking outdoors. We just hosted my niece’s baby shower and we’re all out doors in family pods. We have several high risk relatives so are super careful.

[piaffe at x]

I don’t know. We were all going to rent a house in Tahoe over Thanksgiving but it just didn’t seem safe. “We” are five separate households - me, my sis and her hubby, two nieces and a nephew and their spouses and kids. One of my nieces and a nephew live nearby, as does my sister and she is planning Thanksgiving at her house. I’ve gone to her house for a few family occasions and either sat outside or stayed at least six feet from anyone and basically ate and left. Everyone is fine with that - I have asthma and am fairly high risk. So I’ll probably eat and run yet again. The kids know there’s no hugging which is sad. What we know about spread seems to evolve so I think a quick hug should be fine. Right?

Christmas will be similar.

[Rockabilly]

It will just be my husband and myself. I am extremely high risk and have only been off the farm to go to the doctor. We live on 100 acres so we have no one close to us and my husband will not let me do the shopping.

[Aleuronx]

Per the CDC we will be celebrating at home just me and hubby cooking some amount of goodies and virtually 'ching-ching' with family. It was a bit tough convincing my parents as this was their year to host Thanksgiving for my brother/SIL and kiddos. My mom was sufficiently bummed about it but my SIL is still going to the gym and doing other such activities I would consider high risk so I said it was up to her but we would not be attending.

I don't have regrets as infection #'s and rates are increasing and indoor meals are not a good way of distancing or protecting oneself or others.

[goldhorse]

Thinking about getting an outdoor heater and then we can eat on the patio. It will be DH, me, DD#1 and her BF. She's in public health and super anal about Covid precautions and she's the one who suggested that we get together. I think all the dishes will be prepared by DH and I wearing gloves and masks and have been subjected to a fair amount of heat before serving. I just have to say, this sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks!

[Flight]

If Australia keeps going well with controlling covid infections we might have more of a family catchup this year, but time will tell. I think I have some leave over christmas - we are a bit short staffed so I'm hoping it wont be taken off me.

[blob]

I'm getting married the weekend before Thanksgiving (immediate family only--parents and one sibling each). So, we'll continue to keep those members in our 'bubble' for the holiday. Thanksgiving with my parents who live in the same city, so just dinner and then back home. And then Christmas with his folks--out of town but within a 5hr drive, we will stay overnight at his parents' house.

[Flight]

Congrats blob!

[goldhorse]

Wow! Congrats blob! Pictures of the big event are required.

[Kyra's Mom]

Doing as we have been doing. Also a small family. I moved my Mother (90 yrs young) in with me last month. I go shopping with the appropriate precautions (mask and distancing) and I work an occasional shift...again, masked for the whole shift. I am not taking chances with her.

We (Mother, Sister and I) will have an nice quiet day and a nice dinner at home (for both TG and X-mas).

Edited to add...Congrats Blob.

Susan

[piedmontfields]

Congratulations, Blob!

We frequently host for Thanksgiving, but it will just be us this year. Yes, I ordered a small turkey back in September. We celebrate Chanukah (not a big deal) and generally don't do December gatherings because others are so busy with their holidays and families.

I'm most excited about taking some time off! I have so much holiday in the bank from working too much this year that I'm going to take a few weeks off and just enjoy home and day trips.

[exvet]

Well I thought we weren't going to do Thanksgiving this year. Then last week I find out that my SO's sister and her husband have come down for the winter (very early for them) and my SO's oldest daughter and her boyfriend are flying in that morning and staying for the weekend. His son lives with us (adult son) and my daughter lives next door. She has to work the overnight shift that night; but, they all want 'us' to do Thanksgiving. My son and his fiance who live just 30 minutes away are hosting her family's Thanksgiving at their house. They expect us to come over at some point just to say, "Hi."

Now to try to make this as safe as possible we're doing as much as we can out on the patio as is my son. We'll see if we all stay healthy. We do have a few high risk people in both groups; so, we're trying to take reasonable precautions but we also have one relative with terminal cancer and this will most likely be his last Thanksgiving. He wants the show to go on. Kind of tough but we feel if he wants to risk it to the extent that he can enjoy at least one more family gathering then so-be-it.

[VBOpie]

If it is warm enough, we will get together with our kids' families if we can be outside. We did this for our annual Pumpkin Carving, and it worked out well. We did a temperature check before, wore masks, and were socially distanced (each family had their own table) outside. If the weather doesn't cooperate, it'll just be the two of us. No idea what will happen for Christmas.

My sister and brother-in-law were going to come for Florida, but I am high-risk, so we decided not to take any chances.

[texsuze]

Congrats, Blob! Any honeymoon plans for 2020?

For TDay we still plan to go to a favorite restaurant (planning on outdoor seating) that serves a 4-course traditional dinner. They are observing cootie distancing and masks. Brother and SIL will be with us. Mom wants to stay at home. We'll bring her dessert from their bakery.

Christmas-- We traditionally go down the road to our friends' house for a potluck Christmas Eve gathering, usually the same 6 people each year, plus lots of dogs! Presuming this will still take place. Christmas day is the usual, at home with DH and 4 cats and holiday music in the background

[PaulaO]

I decided not to go to TDay dinner. 13 in a small house? Nope. The day after TDay I will spend with with my nieces and nephew. I feel safer that there will be 6 of us in a bigger house.

[StraightForward]

Congratulations Blob!

Covid Event Risk Assessment Interactive Map Note that this map defaults to gathering sizes of 50, so it doesn't look quite as bad when adjusted down to more average family gathering sizes. But still.

My dad was here week before last, and that is the extent of family socializing for us for the foreseeable future. My brother was talking about bringing his family up at the same time, but decided against it. The couple times he called with is 5 and 2 year old boys on video chat I think a virtual visit was the better way to go.

[Tarlo Farm]

Congrats Blob! This will be one to remember for sure!

Usually I drive 250 miles to my Bro and SIL for Thanksgiving and my sister flies in from Canada. At Christmas, Bro and SIL join me for Christmas. This year is all up in the air, but I think I'm going to pull the plug on Thanksgiving and just stay home. With the exception of my sister, I've seen everyone fairly recently, so it's not much of a big deal.

[Baroque]

No holiday plans this year or next. We started planning to go to Spain again for mid year 2020, but just didn't get sorted and felt uneasy about making any bookings way back in January, then decided early in the year to have a local holiday and booked it all only to have it all cancelled because of COVID lockdowns here. Now planning to have a small local holiday to celebrate our anniversary next month...... I've been working from home since March and haven't been back in the office since then!

[texsuze]

Our TDay plans have now changed, partly cootie-related, but partly mom's control issues. Plan going forward, today anyway, is DH and I, plus my brother and SIL will meet at mom's for TDay potluck dinner. Mom is very excited that she's managed to finagle this arrangement. She'll be 89 in a couple of months, so I'm trying to be cognizant of her situation. Tradition seems to switch gears this year for nearly everyone.

[piaffe at x]

Congratulations Blob!

Covid Event Risk Assessment Interactive Map Note that this map defaults to gathering sizes of 50, so it doesn't look quite as bad when adjusted down to more average family gathering sizes. But still.

My dad was here week before last, and that is the extent of family socializing for us for the foreseeable future. My brother was talking about bringing his family up at the same time, but decided against it. The couple times he called with is 5 and 2 year old boys on video chat I think a virtual visit was the better way to go.

I love this risk assessment tool. The risk assessment for our planned gathering of 10 people is 10%, and that's with an ascertainment bias of 10. So, I'll stay outside as much as possible, no hugs, stay at least 6' feet away from everyone, and basically "eat and run". I've been extremely cautious and that feels safe to me.