By Caitlin Kelly
Not for me!
I haven’t been back to my native Canada since summer 2019, when I was reporting a major story and attended a northern Ontario conference.
My father lives alone in rural Ontario; at 91 he has to be very careful about exposure to the virus, even though he’s in pretty good health. If I tried to go up, I’d face a two-week quarantine, so I’ve chosen not to.
The pandemic has killed almost 250,000 Americans and infected millions worldwide.
In the U.S. Thanksgiving is a huge event for many people, the one holiday that gets people to travel far and wide to celebrate with family or friends.
This year?
It’s just too dangerous!
We’ll be at home, just the two of us, but that’s been our norm for many years, as Jose’s family all live very long drives away from us and his closest sister heads further south to visit her own adult children.
Yet many Americans — as usual — insist they’ll host as many people as they like and the virus is a hoax and all those morgue trucks full of COVID corpses are…some sort of illusion.
How about you?
Do you have Thanksgiving plans?
What about Hannukah or Eid or Kwanzaa or Christmas?
Broadside 
Seriously, what’s WRONG with those people? That behaviour is idiotic and selfish (a natural pair-bond).
We have had Thanksgiving already and the covid case counts rose afterwards. We won’t be doing anything much over winter break but staying in our NWT bubble.
I just give up on the wilful stupidity. People are dying and saying “ooohhhhh it isn’t a hoax.” You can’t fix idiotic and selfish — and there are millions of people behaving this way.
Glad you are staying safe!
My Mom is making Thanksgiving dinner, but she’s not hosting us in her house. Instead, she’s having us drive by, pick up food, and then go back to our own homes. We’ll log onto Zoom and have Thanksgiving that way.
As for Hanukkah, I already spend a good chunk of that holiday at home by myself, so no change there. And Christmas, I plan to do the usual Jewish tradition of ordering Asian and watching a movie.
So, except for Thanksgiving, not much change. But I understand what some people are going through. For a lot of people, their friends and family are how they get through the holidays. And acknowledging the dangers of COVID-19 can make things really difficult for people.
I wish there was an easy solution. But as 2020 has shown us, there’s not. No matter how much we want to think there is one.
This all sounds sensible and low stress!
Strange times. You have to do what you can. Even the top brass at work found a way to meet with those below and say thank you before the holidays while still staying safe.
That sounds. nice…
And from what I’ve been told, it’s going to be a lot of fun.
each of us staying with our mini pod for thanksgiving, and we will gather outside the day after for a bonfire.
I love the bonfire!
Heey, i’m from Kenya, my motherland. I’m lucky because i stay with my family members, so no travelling for us.
The pandemic is not a hoax. Corona Virus, Covid-19 is real and everyone all over the world should take preventive measures so as to reduce the spread.
I just hope that by Christmas it will get better or be over and that we’ll get back to our normal routine.
Kenya is so gorgeous!
I think Christmas 2021…maybe by then we will all be vaccinated.