COVID’s holiday season

Past

Thanksgiving during COVID has been different, to say the least. 

For as long as I can remember, my family has always done a Friendsgiving event on Thanksgiving. But this year, due to obvious reasons, we could not. We usually go over to our family friend’s house and eat with two other families. We go way back, as I went to preschool with the older siblings and my brother went to preschool with the younger ones. My dad cooks some food, they cook some food, and we all come together to eat and hang out. 

This has always been one of my favorite traditions because I don’t see them very often, and it’s a great way to catch up. We usually go over to their place a few hours before dinner to play hide-and-seek, video games and tag. The adults finish cooking and talk before dinner while we run around. Then we all sit down for dinner, kids at one table and adults at the other. Even though we don’t see each other, except for a few holiday parties, it’s like no time has passed at all. 

Another thing I missed out on was my uncle visiting. He stays at our house almost every year for Thanksgiving and his birthday, and I missed having him around this year. I also missed the grandma cookies that he always brings with him. 

This year was very different from our usual traditions. Our families felt that it wasn’t safe to have a big dinner, so we had Thanksgiving separately. This was a very odd experience. My dad had to cook all of the food, but he was committed to making almost every dish that we usually have so it took him hours and hours. We ended up having dinner at 10:30 pm, which seems very late, but I wasn’t even surprised. Compared to our usual dinner, it is only about an hour and a half later. Overall, the food was very delicious and we had a good time talking, but it felt like something was missing. 

I hope that next year everything will be back to normal. It will be my last Thanksgiving before I go to college, and I hope the tradition will continue for more years to come.

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Present

My family got our Christmas tree yesterday at Allendale Farms. Every year we go there and pick out a tree together, and this year was no different. 

Because of COVID, Allendale Farms now requires you to make a reservation before you come. It seemed like not many people knew about this because we kept seeing cars come into the lot and immediately leave. We kept laughing at how one car cut us off as we were trying to pull in, and then as karma, they had to leave immediately because they didn’t have a reservation. 

One bad thing about yesterday was the awful weather. It was pouring down rain and freezing when we were at Allendale. Most of the trees were waterlogged and the paths had huge puddles. Despite this, we still had a fun time picking out a tree. 

A rule in my family is that no Christmas music is allowed until we have our tree. I hate this rule because I love Christmas music. It always puts me in a good mood. When we got back in the car with the tree on the roof, we immediately put Christmas music on and sang the whole way home. That was the best part of my day.

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Future

For a couple of years now, it’s been my dream to become a veterinarian. I have the next few years of my life planned out to accomplish this dream. 

After I graduate high school in 2022, I want to go to a college pretty close to home. University of Maine and Tufts University are some of my top choices, and they are both in New England, so I would be able to visit my family a few times a year. 

I don’t know yet if I will graduate from college before I go to vet school. I will probably apply for vet school in my third and fourth year of college to see if I can get in earlier, and if not, I will complete college first. Some veterinary schools I am looking into are Tufts, Cornell, and the University of Minnesota. 

I want to practice veterinary medicine in a small town, but I don’t know exactly where yet. I want it to be a small town because I think there is a better sense of community when you know most of your patients. I want to mainly treat domestic animals such as dogs, cats, and birds, but I am also open to horses and other farm animals. 

Even though I have the next few years planned out, I am open to whatever changes that life throws at me, and I am excited to see where my career goes.