The Welcome Table: An Annual Online Thanksgiving Meal
[Melissa stands up, taps her fork against her glass, and clears her throat. The conversation around the table dies down. She looks at everyone at the table.]
We do this every year: Come together as a community and have a virtual meal before we scatter to our actual meals. Unless, that is, you do not celebrate Thanksgiving. But I hope that you’ll join the table for virtual food and company even if you don’t follow this tradition offline.
We’ve virtually eaten together since 2009. That’s when this tradition began. There are some people hurting at this table. For some people, this pre-meal is what gets them through their real meal later in the week. People have written that they’ve printed out this yearly post and comments and left the paper in their purse because it helped to have a tangible reminder that there were people out there who got it. Who weren’t going to ask them when they were going to hurry up and have children. Who weren’t going to cringe when someone spoke the name of a child they lost.
We are all so different. All of us. Around this table. But we have this one facet of our lives — and yes, even though it may be a big, overpowering one for you right now, it is only one facet of who you are — where we overlap: infertility or adoption or loss. And I am so thankful, so grateful, that I found all of you. Everyone needs a You-shaped space where they can be themselves. And that’s what I have here.
So every year, I ask people to bring a virtual dish to our meal. Place it in the comment section, explaining what you brought and why. And say anything else you need to say before sitting back down to enjoy the company. Update about where you are; your emotional state.
We’re an international group, hailing from countries all around the world. So while Thanksgiving is an American tradition, I hope that everyone around the world feels as if they can participate. (Especially our Canadian neighbours who celebrated Thanksgiving weeks ago.) I’d love for your dish to come from your culture or country. Don’t worry about the contents on the table clashing.
As always, I am bringing stuffing. It’s comfort food; mushy and soggy and warm.
So what did you bring and what do you want to say to the community?
And please, start eating as everyone is introducing their dish. We don’t want the food to get cold and there are so many of us at this table. Thank you so much for coming, and I’m going to carry the warmth of this meal with me for the rest of this week.
6 comments
I’m bringing some dessert, because that’s what I want to eat right now. Brownies, probably, because they’re easy and delicious.
I hope everyone has the chance to spend this year with friends and/or relatives who make you happy and thankful.
Glad you’ve got the stuffing covered — that’s one of my favorite and essential side dishes for Thanksgiving!
Gotta go with cranberry marshmallow salad. It’s a tradition in my family, and Thanksgiving dinner feels incomplete to me without it.
I’m bringing my late dad’s baklava (veganized). It’s the last thing I made my dad, for his last birthday shortly before he died. I hope everyone who has lost a/both parent(s) gets through this holiday relatively unscathed.
Love the virtual Thanksgiving table! I’m going to bring Bryce’s potatoes au gratin, with lots of oooey gooey gruyere and fresh thyme. Definitely not the healthiest, but so delicious and warming.
I want to let people know it’s okay to have an “out.” To have to go to the bathroom for a deep breath, to say you need to get some air and go for a walk, to have something, ANYTHING that makes it so you have to make an exit if you need to. Holidays can be tough, and there’s so many layers now with pandemic fatigue and all the ripple effects from that, so take a break. Sometimes even a short one is enough to give you strength to finish out a gathering. Take care of you if you’re in the raw place.
Poffertjes! the traditional dutch mini-pancakes that match my infertility diagnosis and my blog name. We actually made them with my English nephews (10 y & 12 y) this weekend at their request. They loved practicing to flip them over and learned it is a lot easier when the temperature of the poffertjespan (a cast iron disk with 15 ‘dimples’) is just right. Still not sure how to feel like an aunt, but also feeling a little less alien around them. Maybe it helps that they are less negative towards the dutch language. (and i am more patient realising it is their fourth language that does not surround them in daily life. And their school demands are crazy compared to ours.) Proud of my 8y DE girl who mixes English words into her sentences to try to get them to understand her, proud of them for trying to understand her. They were actually getting along…
Since I’m somewhat late to the party (*cough!*) I’ve brought some apple pie for dessert. (Sorry, I’m not a fan of pumpkin!) Thankful for you, Mel, and for the many wonderful friends I’ve made through this blogging community. <3