A letter to the LPJ Community - Emotions surrounding Thanksgiving 2020
As we approach Thanksgiving tomorrow I wanted to jot down a note expressing how much I appreciate you all, my LPJ community, and that I am thinking of you, your sweet children and your beautiful families. We (the Smith-Lopatas) are accustomed to hosting a HUGE Thanksgiving here at our house feeding many friends and families that are in California and have extended family either out-of-state or out-of-country. The kids' table grossly outweighing the grown-ups table, the day is a chaotic melody of laughter, clanging pots and dishes, and playful football cheers and jeers.
Before this 'main event' begins however, we start the day with a pre-Thanksgiving tradition! Started many years ago in Marin and now transferred to our community here in Sonoma after our move, we hold a Community Soup the morning through early afternoon on Thanksgiving day. My husband works for many hours leading up to Thanksgiving morning preparing two HUGE pots of soup - one French Onion and the other a Seafood Chowder. We set up an outdoor dining area in our front yard, the two large pots of hot soup simmering on gas burners, heaping baskets of toasted baguette and gruyere on the side, and we offer fresh, hot, delicious soup and warm conversation to anyone who comes along! Neighbors come out to chat, passers-by introduce us to their puppies or visiting family members, friends young and old from our boys' sporting teams, our church, my preschool (that's YOU!), and our inner AND outer social circles all stop-by to say hello and share a moment with us before rolling up their sleeves and starting their own productions of the Thanksgiving Meal in their homes. It's a lot of hard work and it is SO magical!
This year, of course, looks VERY different. No Community Soup, no delightfully giant or chaotic meal. We are spending the time here at home with our immediate family and tiny 'bubble' (of which I am SO grateful for), but I can't help but a bit sad. I imagine many of you are having the same types of emotions as certain people and usual routines are stripped away from your regular ways of Giving Thanks.
So today, although I am inclined to sulk a bit, I am intentionally psyching myself up for a wonderfully different type of Thanksgiving. One that is slower, quieter and more intimate. I will try to savor the moments of rest that usually give way to stressful hurry. I will appreciate the lighter 'clean up' and the shorter grocery receipt. I will take time to be IN the photos with my family instead of only trying to run around and record and document everyone else's activities and toasts. I will really tune in and HEAR the prayer as we sit down to eat together and soak up how thankful I am to be right where I am- safe and healthy, and with this small nuclear group of people I love so much. I encourage you to do the same. Perhaps you already are well settled in to this notion and could offer ME a few pointers on how to really embrace the change! If so, please reach out! LOL!
Wherever you find yourself today and tomorrow and the rest of the holiday season, know that I am so THANKFUL for you and your families and all of your support throughout this crazy year (and always). Though I will not see you this year, my identity and purpose is very much wrapped up in YOU and I am grateful that it is a part of me that I am very proud of and touched by on a daily basis. It is my 'work', but it is infinitely more to me. Thank you for being in my life. Cheers to 'savoring the slower' this week, and cheers again to the celebration that WILL BE upon returning to many of our beloved traditions in the future.
In love and gratitude,
Ambi