Pets are the new grandchildren
My parent’s generation thought of dogs as animals. In my generation, they were elevated to family pets. And now, in the homes of millennials, they are treated as children.
So, this Thanksgiving (instead of having babies and toddlers running around the house) we had dogs; dogs in clothes with toys. A total of six dogs between my four children.
A CDC compliant Thanksgiving
To a passerby, our family’s Thanksgiving dinner appears to be disobeying the CDC’s holiday rules, but it is not. Our family lives in a neighborly pod and we all work together on a weekly basis at FlagandBanner.com. The exception is my youngest son and PHD student, Jack, who drove in from Ohio – but not before getting his COVID test.
Keeping Our Distance
Even though our family is always close and routinely in each other’s lives, we still took precautions. Our buffet style serving was spread out indoors across 3 rooms to prevent a line from forming and to keep each other’s potluck food from co-mingling. Instead of crowding around the dining room table, we ate on trays that we carried outside to temporary tables spaced out in the yard.
Family Fun
With son Jack in town and not knowing when we’d see him and his new girlfriend again, we took advantage of the time together and had a marathon weekend. Our family built bonfires, toured new developments in the City of Little Rock by car, visited with grandparents, spent a day in the country on four wheelers, watched Razorback basketball, and played Mexican train dominos.
The dishwasher ran 3 times a day for 3 days straight. Dogs ate scraps of table food and socialized with each other and humans alike, all while my cat hid upstairs on the bathroom floor.
So Long… Farewell
Sunday, it all came to an end. As I have done so many times before, I hugged and kissed Jack goodbye, loaded him up with snacks for the 10 hour drive back to Ohio, and watched as he drove away with his new girlfriend and exhausted dog/child safely secured in the back seat. Just before leaving, Jack told me he would be spending Christmas at his new girlfriend’s family home. Hmmm, splitting holidays between their two families. The days of dogs as children may be replaced sooner than I thought. Tune back in for Thanksgiving 2021.
