This time last year we were packing for an epic Christmas Market trip for my 40th birthday. I wanted to see crowded markets in Germany and London with twinkling lights and people holding Gluhwein, nibbling Raclette and drinking hot chocolate to keep warm. One of these days I’ll get to posting about these markets but I can’t imagine going to anywhere like this at all for the holidays right now. But seeing all the Christmas decor before Thanksgiving last year has warmed me up to the idea that it’s okay to put the tree up a little earlier this year. And for the first time in a long time, it feels like the best thing to do is to slow down and do almost nothing at all.
Ordering in Thanksgiving in Seattle this year
Metropolitan Market is usually my go to store when I pick up things for Thanksgiving dinner. We don’t have a lot of family in the United States so it’s usually just us or family who come visit from Canada for the weekend and I can find all the meal fixings there that I need. We also eat mostly vegetarian so I’m glad we have Field Roast in Seattle and I usually get a bit of real turkey for the kids too. This year I’ve seen really cool offerings for Thanksgiving from places like Junebaby, Wandering Goose, Zylberschteins, Savor Seattle and Cafe Flora (for a vegan and vegetarian Thanksgiving option as well). And it’s a great way to support businesses that we love by ordering in if we can’t go out.
And because we’re not traveling or hosting or seeing anyone, (remember this is Thanksgiving 2020) we might do a few Thanksgiving dinners as a family just to be able to try a few new things that we haven’t tried before. If you also want to help someone else have a Thanksgiving feast this year Seattle’s locally owned Gourmondo and 103.7 are collaborating together with meals for the Elizabeth Gregory Home, a place that helps women experiencing homelessness too.
And what will we do all Thanksgiving week?
We will make art
I ordered a bunch of painting canvases from Michaels when I went to visit my parents in Vancouver BC recently and it was really therapeutic for the kids and I (and grandma) to just sit and paint for a while. We used paints my sister convinced me to buy on a trip to Kroma at Granville Island where acrylic paints are actually made right there in the store. So I think we’ll order more canvases and spend an afternoon or two painting. We really like using acrylics and the kids like painting all things Mandalorian. (I think one of the kid’s teachers showed him this “how to draw Baby Yoda” video on Youtube and then he taught the rest of us.) If you don’t want to make your own painting kits, AR workshop in Seattle also has cool at home painting ideas and I want to try make their chunky wool blanket kit one day too.
We will bake and make foods for Thanksgiving 2020
Tristin Rieken who goes by @freshflavorful on Instagram posted a recipe for chocolate croissants and talked about how her kids help her make them as a family tradition. My kids and I love baking together so I think we’ll try to make these because they look heavenly. We also like to make pasta and I’ll look for more recipes that we might make in the next few days as well. I just noticed that Homegrown has a food delivery service that has fresh foods and things to stock our pantry so I am going to try them out next week for the ingredients we will need. I just don’t know if we’ll make our pumpkin pie this year or if we’ll end up getting ours from Costco.
We will play instruments
I bought the hubby a guitar for his birthday a couple years ago and finally with this slow-paced year he’s been able to play it a lot more. And then the kids ended up taking up guitar in band this year so we added an electric guitar to the mix. They all use the Fender app to help them learn and it’s been quite useful. I used to play the piano so maybe I’ll learn a new song on our keyboard too.
And we will get outdoors
This year will be Scout’s first big snow in the mountains so I have no idea how he’s going to feel about it. I’d like to try to take him to Gold Creek Pond, a place he usually likes to walk around, but there is quite a long trek in through the snow in the winter so I’m not sure if he’ll be able to make it.
We’re continuing his Fresh Patch grass because there will be no visible grass at all at the cabin now that the snow has arrived. We will also work on leaving Scout indoors alone for short times which we have never done before so that will probably take a lot of effort over the Thanksgiving week as well. If you have any tips on how to get your pup used to being on their own, please feel free to write them in the comments below. I think we’re going to need all the help we can.
Are you staying this year too? I’d love to hear how you’re doing Thanksgiving 2020.
(PS. Thanksgiving 2020 is on November 26 and in Seattle it’s most likely going to be a bit rainy.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
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