A Recipe for a Happy Thanksgiving
Tomorrow many families and friends around the country will celebrate Thanksgiving together. There will be plenty of food and drinks, football, parades, and merriment. We plan to have 11 people at our house for dinner tomorrow. There will be turkey, despite the fact that we are vegetarians (except for my son, who loves meat). The vegetarians will feast on a celery shrimp dish my husband created years ago. We will be sipping on cranberry shrubs. And there will be homemade ice cream (my only contribution to the meal; I do not cook).
Truth be told — Thanksgiving is NOT the main event this week for our family.
(If you’ve been following me on social media, you know —) This week is all about
The Nutcracker.
My daughter is performing in the show for the first time, as one of the Spanish dolls and in the Waltz of the Snowflakes. If you are within 100 miles of Meadville, please come to the ballet this weekend. It is a magical performance. Get your tickets here.
For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving, here is a quick list of things to do and NOT to do to ensure your family has a safe and healthy Thanksgiving.
✅ Food Safety — CDC estimates that 1 in 6 Americans will get food poisoning each year. And many of those cases occur during the holidays. Here are three steps you can take to prevent food poisoning at your Thanksgiving dinner —
Wash your hands. Make everyone wash their hands before you eat. Seriously, line people up in that bathroom or kitchen sink and make them wash their hands.
Use forks, not fingers. Most of us share food family-style at Thanksgiving. To avoid sharing germs — like E. coli or salmonella — use serving spoons. Do not allow folks to use their fingers to grab food at the table.
Cook your turkey thoroughly. Instructions for properly cooking your turkey are available from the USDA. It can take hours to cook a large turkey and even longer if you are stuffing it. Set aside enough time to thoroughly cook that turkey. And please, please, please cook your giblets outside of the turkey, to ensure they are cooked all the way through.
✅ Prevent the spread of other illnesses, like flu, COVID, RSV, or strep throat. When we gather together in large groups to celebrate Thanksgiving, there is a risk that we will share our germs (as well as our time together). To avoid sharing germs at your celebration — make an agreement with your friends and family that individuals who are sick are not welcome at the table. If someone is running a fever or has a sore throat, they should stay home, rest, and get better before celebrating.
Sick individuals stay home.
I know it sucks, especially if you are the one who has to stay home, but we all must agree that staying home while we are sick allows us to get better and protects others from getting sick.
Sick individuals stay home.
✅ If you are driving — (no questions, exceptions, or discussion needed) you MUST wear a seat belt. And a friendly reminder that alcohol and driving do NOT mix. If you plan to enjoy a glass of wine (or cranberry shrub) tomorrow, be sure there is a designated driver.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration —
“During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, from 2017-2021, over 830 people died in crashes involving a drunk driver. The holiday period begins on Thanksgiving Eve when we typically see people begin to gather with family and friends.”
✅ (And last but not least) Put your phones/screens away tomorrow.
Be present with your friends and family.
Play games, go out for a walk, share stories, create traditions, snuggle on the couch and watch a movie together, or gather together in the kitchen and cook together.
Be present with each other.
May you all have a healthy & safe Thanksgiving…
Cheers.
Questions about food safety? or how to prevent the spread of diseases during the holidays? Please ask…
And be sure to share this with everyone who will be celebrating Thanksgiving with you tomorrow —
I agree Joyce. Becky dawson is a disgrace with her anti science rhetoric.
Nothing about testing for Covid before visiting older relatives or, if you are older, asking your family and friends to test. Nothing about ventilation to protect vulnerable people. Nothing about the fact that a Covid infection is often asymptomatic, so "stay home if you're unwell" is laughable advice.
As reported two days ago in the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/science/covid-omicron-variant.html), "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between October 2022 and September 2023, more than 80,000 people died of Covid, more than eight times as many as those who died of influenza." Eight times! Eighty thousand people!
We might like to wish it away but it hasn't done so yet. Your moral and professional failure to note the outsize lethality of the ever-mutating Covid 19 virus and to caution readers before large family gatherings is irresponsible. I will be unsubscribing.