Relax.

It seems disingenuous to post something about gratitude during Thanksgiving week, but with the way this year has gone, it’s more important than ever to take stock of our blessings.

This will be the quietest Thanksgiving on record for our family. When just my husband and kids are home, we’re a group of seven. COVID is knocking that number down to the four in our household and maybe a third as one daughter will come by but stay outside since her job doesn’t allow for isolation.

I’m torn. I miss my extended family, but I’m grateful for less stress. We do not have to decide between venues and leave a group of important people out. My holiday stress usually starts in mid-October, worrying about which family members I might insult with my lack of attendance, or which I may aggravate with my presence. This year the choice has been made for me. I love my family and friends enough to stay away completely.

I’m grateful for the people who have taken this pandemic seriously and have been isolating as much as they can for the past eight or nine months. Not everyone can. There are friends who work in manufacturing or other jobs deemed essential. There are people who cannot work from home and whose finances do not permit the lack of a paycheck. No one can live on the single, insignificant payout the federal government has begrudgingly sent, and unemployment insurance has its limits.

My disgust is directed at the government. So many other countries offered financial relief to their people. The United States has been more shameful in its governance this year than in recent memory. We continue to put money over morals, and as a result, the body count continues to grow.

Experts said we needed three months of sacrifice. Three months of a complete shutdown. Three months of helping each other out. Three months of being selfless. Three months of saying rent isn’t due all the way up the chain until the only thing affected was some bank’s interest income. Three months to starve the virus down to something less widespread. But no. Close to nine months later, the country is still at the mercy of a merciless disease and many of us are still doing our part alone. But maybe I’m asking too much. After all, what could one expect from a country that responds to the mass shooting of 5- and 6-year-olds with shrugging shoulders and offering “Thoughts & Prayers”?

But I digress; it’s so easy to fall into a rant.

I plan to use the quieter holiday to truly reflect on what I have rather than what I’m missing. I may be isolated, but I’m with people I love. My husband and I haven’t been affected financially during the pandemic and so we’re able to help those who have. The extra time at home has been wonderful for our senior pup, who needs assistance with walking more than ever. Each of us has someone to lean on when the depression becomes too much. There are too many people who do not have this kind of comfort and support.

Take this time to rest if you can. Read. Play a board game or cards with the kids. You don’t have to feed a cast of people at your table this year. You don’t even need a turkey. It’s a non-traditional Thanksgiving anyway, so why not break all the rules? (Except for the masks-wearing and social distancing. Those rules still apply.)

If your holiday table is to include people who are not in your immediate household, I beg you to reconsider. The more we’re in contact with each other, the longer the pandemic will last. You may be fine, and your family may not contract the virus, but if you are asymptomatic carriers, you risk infecting others.

Thank you to everyone doing their part. Thank you for staying home so that we can be together again at some point. Thank you for the pain you’re dealing with, the sorrow you feel, the loneliness that is so difficult to bear. I wish you strength and perseverance. I hope your internet connection keeps you as close to loved ones as possible.

Thank you to my family who has chosen to stay home this year and to my friends who I desperately miss, be you local or distant. Thank you to those who are caring enough to shoulder the burden while too many ignore it.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. We’ll get there.