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A2 UP FRONT
Friday 27 November 2020

Continued from Front petizers for the early after-
But this holiday has been noon meal. The sons are
utterly altered after months bringing side dishes. Tur-
filled with sorrows and key and the fixings are the
hardships: Many feasts are main course. Champagne
weighed down by the loss may be cracked.
of loved ones; others have Forsyth hasn't seen his fam-
been canceled or scaled ily much during the pan-
back with the virus surging. demic but wanted to save
Zoom and FaceTime calls the holiday.
have become a fixture "People are trying to live a
at dinner tables to con- normal life," he said. "And,
nect with family members you know, with the second
who don't want to travel. wave coming now, it's not a
Far fewer volunteers are bad idea to be prepared."
helping at soup kitchens Kerry Osaki longs to see his
or community centers. A now-grown children, with-
Utah health department out masks, and hug them.
has been delivering boxes But instead he and his wife
of food to residents who are celebrating just the two
are infected with the virus of them after their traditions
and can't go to the store. were upended.
A New York nursing home Osaki's 93-year-old mother,
is offering drive-up visits for Nursing home residents hold signs as staff members walk by during a Thanksgiving celebration at Rose, who lived with the
families of residents strug- the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020, in New York. couple in Orange County
gling with celebrating the Associated Press in California, died from the
holiday alone. virus after all three got sick.
"The holidays make it a little ed to do something unique ments, a side potato salad, tion that was, 'This year may With his mother gone, Osa-
harder," said Harriet Kra- to mark this unusual holiday a cookie and utensils. be different, and that's OK. ki, 67, and his cousin de-
kowsky, an 85-year-old resi- — something to let every- From start to finish, Thanks- It is one year. If things are cided to pass on the fam-
dent of the Hebrew Home one know that she and her giving is different this year different this year and that ily's annual Thanksgiving
at Riverdale in New York husband still feel blessed for Jessica Franz, a nurse means we get to see all get-together. His wife, Lena
who misses the big Thanks- this year. who works the graveyard the rest of our family next Adame, typically spent the
giving celebrations of years So, a week before Thanks- shift at Olathe Medical year, it is OK,'" said Franz, holiday cooking a spread
past and has lost neighbors giving, armed with colored Center, in a Kansas City who has personally cared of turkey and stuffing with
and friends to the virus. "I pens and stickers of owls suburb. for patients dying of coro- her relatives — but some
cry, but I get over it. We with scarves, she hand For one, Franz, 39, is cel- navirus. had seen virus cases at their
have to go on." wrote notes of gratitude to ebrating without her moth- The Thanksgiving gathering workplaces, so the couple
On any normal Thanksgiv- every member of the fam- er-in-law, Elaine Franz, who at David Forsyth's home in decided to skip that, too.
ing Day, Kara McKlemurry ily. died of the coronavirus on Southern California, mean- "It's just been a long, rough
and her husband would "We're so grateful to have Nov. 10, just one day be- while, comes with a unique- and sometimes sad year,"
drive from their Clearwater, you in our lives," she wrote fore her 78th birthday. In ly 2020 feel: rapid virus tests he said.
Florida, home to one of two on a card with a cartoon previous years, her moth- at the door to decide who In Ogden, Utah, Evelyn
places: his family's home in fox, "even if we can't actu- er-in-law, who was Men- gets inside. Maysonet stepped out of
another part of the state ally be together this year nonite, would lay out a The kit costs about $1,000 her home Tuesday morn-
or her family's house in Ala- for the holidays." spread for her children and for 20 tests, each of which ing to find boxes overflow-
bama. This year, McKlemur- In the nation's capital, the grandchildren. At Franz's involve pricking a finger ing with canned goods,
ry informed her family there convention center is emp- work, in a typical year, co- and putting a drop of desserts and a turkey. She
would be no visits. When ty unlike in previous years, workers would bring food blood on a tray. Ten min- has been isolating with her
her in-laws offered to stop when volunteers have for a potluck. utes later the results either husband and son since all
by, the couple said no. worked together to serve None of that is happening show someone is negative, three tested positive for
She and her husband didn't a meal to about 5,000 this year. has antibodies or is positive. COVID-19.
want to risk infecting any- people. In the era of social The family is shifting the fes- Normally, about 15 to 20 None of them has been
one or getting the virus distancing, the sponsored tivities to Zoom and Face- people attend the fam- able to leave to buy gro-
themselves. event had to be reimag- Time. It's been hard for her ily's Thanksgiving dinner in ceries, so they were thrilled
Not everyone followed ined. daughters — ages, 2, 8 and Channel Islands Harbor. But to receive the health de-
McKlemurry's example. Mil- Ahead of the holiday, or- 11. Her middle daughter this year, it will only be eight partment's delivery — and
lions of Americans bought ganizers delivered to 20 was exposed to the coro- of them: Forsyth, his wife, the chance to cherish the
tickets to fly somewhere nonprofits 5,000 gift bags, navirus at school and is her four adult sons and the things that matter most.
for the holiday, crowding each with winter clothing quarantined until Dec. 3, partners of two of them. "As long as you have a life
airports despite pleas from accessories, hand sanitiz- and her oldest daughter is His wife started cooking and you're still alive, just
officials to avoid travel and er and a mask, and 5,000 struggling with the concept Tuesday. She's planning a make the best of it with you
gatherings. boxes that included a tur- of a scaled-back holiday. cold cucumber soup for a and your family," Maysonet
Still, McKlemurry, 27, want- key sandwich with condi- "We had a good conversa- starter and bunch of ap- said.q