This Thanksgiving, Ignore Tradition
This Thanksgiving Day will be different from anything we’ve ever experienced. There is no “hack” here: we will have to make real, significant changes to the way we celebrate this day, which means that we will be celebrating with much fewer friends and family members. Unless you belong to a certain family of absurd wealth, you probably don’t have the resources to require everyone to go through “multiple health screens” before flying on a private jet to a private island to “ pretend for a short time that everyone is in okay. … “
Instead of trying to force a large (or even medium) potentially dangerous gathering, you should throw away the set of rules that dictate what the holiday “should” be. Appreciate the smallness of all this. Be as selfish as possible. As I mentioned during our last Angry Week, the pandemic can serve as a built-in excuse to not see anyone or visit something you don’t want. I like it, but we can go further.
Since you will most likely be celebrating with people who already live in your home, the menu can be much smaller and tailored to what you really want to eat. Do you hate turkey like me? Make it the year you finally baked the duck. Or ditch the birds altogether and buy some really tasty steaks. Do you know what steak you can buy for the price of a turkey? Really nice view. Do you know how many meats you could buy for the price of a turkey? Pounds are literally pounds. Do you know how much champagne you can buy for the price of a turkey? Well, just one bottle, but it’s a bottle that doesn’t need to be shared.
You can change the menu and ignore traditions. If you’ve never cared too much about meat, focus all your efforts on side dishes and prepare a meal with potatoes and casseroles. Or ditch the Thanksgiving aesthetic entirely and use the day to tackle a big culinary project that has nothing to do with turkey, stuffing, or anything like that. Prepare carnitas and eat tacos. Make ramen broth from scratch. Make a lasagne.
However you choose to have a selfish Thanksgiving, make sure you enjoy it. Dine at noon or two, or try tapas at 10:00 pm. Dress with the finest thread or pajamas. Play Christmas music or Warren Zewon, or enjoy the silence that comes from the fact that your home is not crowded.
However, you should not change the amount of cake baked. You can’t eat too much pie, and – after a year we’ve gone through – I think that each of us deserves our pie. In fact, I demand it.