Thanksgiving of 21'

You may know from many moons ago, my mom and I were caregivers for my grandparents. My nana passed in 2019 and my grandad in 2021. As many people who have been caregivers, lost a family member (pets included) can attest to, the holidays can be very difficult when you are going through the grieving process. I'm here to share how my mom and I got through these times after major losses.

Thanksgiving Day before:

As a lot of Thanksgiving's are filled with, ours consisted of cooking, baking, games, music, and Christmas decorating. All the classics of course, green bean casserole, sweet potato pie, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and turkey. Our mornings would start gathered around the TV in my grandparents living room watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (usually with a slice of pumpkin pie we'd baked the night before.) We'd make the finishing touches to food, have our massive spread on the counter and stove, and eat around 1:00 with the dog pageant on in the background. Even with food comas setting in, we'd play games, turn on Christmas music, and laugh our way through the rest of the day. These were some of the best times of my childhood. Now that you understand our traditions, let's get into the turkey and potatoes.

How my mom and I coped:

So, with all that happened from 2019 to 2021, my mom and I decided to switch up our traditions, as it was too hard to imagine ourselves cooking all our Thanksgiving favorites without my grandparents. Our Christmas's looked very different from our Thanksgiving's though, less traditional. We usually made lasagna, stacked enchiladas, etc. Instead of our signature foods for Thanksgiving we decided to make them at Christmas. At Thanksgiving, we ordered in Cracker Barrel's Thanksgiving feast. I will say, it was actually pretty good and got us through this time without too many tears. Now we can cook up all our favorites without crying.

In conclusion:

What I'm trying to convey with this post is, there are different times of our lives. Holidays may not look the same as they once did but, that doesn't mean you can't get through them. Switch up traditions, put up Christmas decorations early because they make you happy, release lanterns in honor of your loved ones. What matters is not running away from a holiday or day because the past makes you sad. Try to get through your holiday blues the best you can and in a way, conquer these times. Of course, give yourself ample time to mourn and recover but don't sit in your grief for too long. I wish you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving, whatever it may look like. Until next time. Bye!