Holiday family gatherings... or not?

[JDinVirginia]

NOT. We both are seniors and at high risk. Meanwhile, the pandemic is the worst it has been so far.

Although we have family locally, we decided on no Thanksgiving gathering and probably not at Christmas.

We shall be saddened, but safe.

--John
(double incontinent)

[justej]

I will be flying solo for both holidays and honestly I’m pretty damn upset about it. I haven’t seen my family in almost a year and had to cancel my plans earlier this month because cases were so bad in Colorado where my family is. If I caught it I would not survive. And my sister has ms and my parents are older and I don’t think I could live with myself if I brought it to them. It all sucks.

[bobcooper]

I live in Belgium and my sisters live in the Netherlands. At the start of COVID-19 we lost our father and that was the start of a stressful lock-down situation. I was allowed to organize the funeral (family only) and empty his apartment, but each time I was stopped at the border and questioned about my trip between the Netherlands and Belgium. I could not visit his grave afterwards for at least three months. As the numbers spiked in Europe again we went back into lock-down (cases dropped now by 85% since the peak due to strict lock-down). I informed my sisters (who I had seen only once since march) that I would not see them anymore in 2020 and that we would meet again in 2021. It was an emotional shock for them, but they knew and understood this was the only and realistic option. Emotion and ratio do not always line up. We limit our contact to a minimum. COVID-19 does not negotiate, it does not wind down in the holiday period, it's not political and will continue until we beat it. I would say - be careful, don't do stupid things - it's not about YOU getting COVID, but it is about you infecting OTHERS with COVID. Stay healthy, stay safe. As the queen of England said perfectly in her speech a few months ago: "We will meet again, don't know where - don't know when", a perfect reference to Vera Lynn in the second world war. Stay Safe !!

[Stan]

We finally got fed up not seeing family in person. So we hosted a daughter and her husband for Thanksgiving. So far no one has any symptoms even though AZ is panicking about the rise in "cases".

[Porkchop]

We finally got fed up not seeing family in person. So we hosted a daughter and her husband for Thanksgiving. So far no one has any symptoms even though AZ is panicking about the rise in "cases".

Glad you had a good holiday!

[RoadPirate]

We have, since March 17, had a circle of family and friends totaling 12. Though our get togethers have been more infrequent than in previous years, we have continued to meet in various numbers of that 12 every month or so. Other than that we have stayed isolated with only one of that group testing positive, with mild, more flu like symptoms. The same members of that group gathered for Thanksgiving and we may have 7 to 10 of us getting together on Christmas Day. Everything is dependent on how things go and we have already cancelled one regular seasonal event. We will take all this in stride knowing that we all just have to be smart and careful.