THANKSGIVING--Quarantine Style

Intro

Due to my coming surgery (Dec 2nd) and the rising COVID risk, Pete and I were alone this Thanksgiving, maybe for the first time ever. We both come from large families so usually we are celebrating with others on Thanksgiving. I thought it would be really hard and lonely for parts of it, but overall, it was much more fun than I expected. It went something like this...

November 26th--Thanksgiving Day

We slept in and had late breakfast. Then late morning we signed on to a Zoom with Luke and Karl & Erica (& Wendell (5) & Sophie (2)). Karl and Erica had arranged games we could play online and once we got started, the time just zoomed by (no pun intended). We played games, each from our own home and computer, for nearly 3 hours. We played Mad Takes, scavenger hunt, Boggle, Lie Swatter and Drawful. It really was amazing how much fun we could have playing together virtually and not in person. I recommend giving it a try. There are a lot of choices online.

Jules' Lefse!

We had a feast of leftovers for lunch, which sounds sad but it truly was delicious! Then later, we had a Zoom call with Pete's mom and our son Luke. It was nice to connect and Luke even provided some live music for us. We touched based with a few others during the day via phone and had a nice walk around the neighborhood. 

Lefse Time:  For nearly 40 years, it has been my habit to make lefse for the whole Bonde clan at Thanksgiving, about 30 or 40 lefse. I grew up making lefse with my mom and I LOVE this tradition. So even though we didn't have a big dinner on Thanksgiving Day, I made lefse for supper. We supplemented it with fruit and were quite satisfied with our dinner. We went to sleep grateful for each other and for the virtual family connections.

November 27th--Thanksgiving Day #2

We slept in again. But with the day wide open and no contacts with others, it started out feeling excessively lonely to me. I'm used to having more contact with family the next day, sometimes playing games or doing puzzles together and eating leftovers of course. 

Our Gifted Thanksgiving Feast

Lucky for us, someone had planned to deliver us a treat. Around 3:30pm, our sweet friends, Mike & Judi, delivered an entire Thanksgiving dinner to us that included a whole turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and even 3 kinds of pies! I am quite certain we will get 4 or 5 meals out of it. It was delicious and definitely changed the feeling of the day for me. After that, Pete and I had a lovely evening cozying up on the couch and watching a show and relaxing together.  Thanks again Mike and Judi (Erica's parents).

Something else new...

Jules' rainbow turkey--2020

After years of wanting to do this, I finally took the time this Thanksgiving to color the turkey provided in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper each year. I chose to go with rainbow colors. This felt like the best expression of hope I could offer this year...a rainbow of colors representing a promise given by God to God's people thousands of years ago at the end of the massive flood. On behalf of frustrated people everywhere I am embracing this promise, that we will survive all that 2020 has brought and find a new beginning at the end of it and in the new year.

Conclusion

Traditions are wonderful things. We can build great connections with family and friends around our tradition but sometimes life calls us to be flexible, to let go and just be with what is. 2020 has been full of the practice of being flexible, sometimes frustrating us. But I am happy to say Thanksgiving was quite delightful this year. I am grateful for what we had. Thanks be to God!

Looking Ahead

Three days from now, Wednesday, December 2nd, I will have my lumpectomy surgery. So now we make the last prepartions for that. It will be outpatient surgery so I'll be able to go home afterard, for which I am grateful. I am confident it will go well even as I acknowledge that I won't really know what it is like until I get through it. I am glad it will soon be over.

Thanks again for all your prayers for my healing from cancer and all the kindness offered through cards and gifts and conversations and messages. I am so grateful for all of you! May your kindness come back to you tenfold!

With deep gratitude, Jules

A Life of Gratitude Creates a Life of Abundance --Jules