As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, households across the country are bracing themselves for a much quieter holiday season.
In Saugus, Ryan Fisher said he and his wife, Danielle, sat down a week in advance of Thanksgiving to talk about what they planned to do for the big day, which would normally be celebrated with her side of the family.
Because Danielle’s job as a pastry chef has her working long hours ahead of every holiday (even in the midst of a pandemic), Fisher said the two and their young daughter Ella, 5, usually rely on Danielle’s family’s home-cooking skills to make it through Thanksgiving each year.
“Basically every holiday is a tough time for her because of all the hours (she works),” Fisher said. “She usually is dragging herself in the door by Thanksgiving, and the best thing about Thanksgiving is that her entire family comes over because they’re all great cooks, too.”
Unfortunately, social distancing has rendered their typical Thanksgiving nearly impossible, and the family has decided to settle for a virtual hangout this year, which Fisher said would be difficult for a number of reasons.
“This one’s hard,” he said. “We haven’t seen her brother or my nephews since March, and we’ve seen her grandmother maybe two times.
“We’re going to set up iPads and try to have a virtual Thanksgiving, but it’s different. It’s definitely not going to be the same this year.”
Like the Fishers, plenty of other families are emotionally preparing themselves for a holiday without their loved ones — and without their loved ones’ signature dishes.
“We’ve changed radically,” said Peabody resident Ted Neary. “This is the first time in 66 years that my mother has not hosted Thanksgiving, and this is the first time the family is not getting together. I know (my mother) is disappointed, but we just can’t do it.”
He said that his mother, a former nurse at Union Hospital, takes the day so seriously, she used to volunteer to work Christmas so that she could take Thanksgiving off.
During more normal years, Neary said up to 22 family members will typically gather at his mother’s condo to enjoy an extensive list of homemade Thanksgiving dishes. For his family, he said, Thanksgiving ultimately becomes a two-day ordeal as relatives make their way back the following day to enjoy an equally large supply of leftovers.
This year, however, Neary will be the one to take up the task of feeding a much smaller crew: his wife, two daughters, and one daughter’s fiancé.
“We’re bringing it to my house this year,” he said. “I’ll cook the turkey and try to do the same stuffing, but we’re going to trim it down a lot.”
Families’ unusual 2020 Thanksgiving plans have also been reflected in customer food buying habits, said Stop and Shop’s Director of External Communications, Jennifer Brogan.
With households cutting down significantly on guests this season, it appears that, naturally, they’ve also been seeking out less robust birds for their Thanksgiving feasts.
“Shoppers are certainly looking for smaller turkeys this year,” Brogan said, adding that this was something the chain expected and planned for months in advance. “Our turkey orders are placed much earlier in the year, so they’ve been in cold storage for a while, and we actually increased our buy of both small birds and turkey breasts to accommodate for this.”
Grocery stores in general saw a prosperous year as food sales soared throughout the pandemic, but even with countless families planning to keep their gatherings small this holiday season, however, Brogan said her company still witnessed the usual dramatic spike in sales for this time of year — proving that by no means are families planning to forgo their usual Thanksgiving menus.
“It’s certainly been a busy holiday week,” Brogan said. “People are clearly still celebrating Thanksgiving this year in whatever capacity that might look like.”
