THANKS -- DANCIN' -- CHILDREN'S CHALLENGE

Thanksgiving has passed -- another day home alone for many of us, but I have much for which I give thanks.    I enjoyed a delicious traditional turkey dinner delivered a couple days earlier that required my only re-heating the food in my microwave oven.  I ordered small quantities of turkey, dressing, gravy, yams with pineapple, various vegetables, cranberries and two pieces of my favorite pumpkin pie.  

I intentionally wanted to have leftovers from this nearby family-owned deli.   I was glad they had  decided to keep  their deli open after having to close their long-time independent grocery a few years ago.  They always featured quality meat and fresh seasonal locally produced fruits and vegetables but couldn't survive the competition from newly opened Sprouts and Trader Joe's just a few blocks down Route 66 from their city location.  Farmer's markets are the sole source of such produce now.  Wolfe's deli has thrived and I've occasionally purchased select items there before but only a full dinner once before.    I think I will order meals for Christmas, later New Year's Day, some different food items from their varied menu offerings since everything was so tasty.  

FaceTime calls with my children and grandchildren interspersed with videos of them preparing  food highlighted my day.  Other times internet videos of their playing games and crazy antics came across the miles as they enjoyed time together in pleasantly warm outdoor weather.  They took care to maintain distance from each other, wore masks.  I felt almost as if I was there in person for a long overdue family gathering -- maybe another time after this coronavirus is relegated to history.  

Then, to bring me even more pleasure one of my PBS stations aired the most entertaining, exciting, colorful, energy-filled showing of the 1981 Tony award-winning Broadway musical "42nd Street" filmed at London's Drury Theatre.  The next day this spectacular tap dancing production aired an encore for me to view once more to my great delight.  The show apparently is only available in SoCal streaming on PBS Passport as part of their membership benefits but was aired specially for all this holiday.  There are numerous YouTube video excerpts and here are a few for any tap aficionados like me.

Here's another excerpt.....

A final excerpt.....

Our city's restaurants are expected to contest, possibly even violate, despite $$$ fines, the recent admonition they've been given to reduce even further to 20% occupancy outdoor customer seating capacity continuing with daily closing hours recently set at 10 p.m.  Owners believe these new requirements shouldn't apply to our town since Covid19 infection percentages are below the overall level of our County, Los Angeles, that dictated the criteria specified to have necessitated this change.

However, the total numbers of people with the coronavirus in our county have increased in alarming numbers.  We haven't even seen what may occur in a couple weeks following this holiday, since many people travelled rather than staying at home as recommended.  Small businesses income in our town has been severely impacted.  Local Claremont Colleges (5 undergraduate, 2 graduate) have been offering virtual classes only, so most students are not presently living on campus or in our city to patronize them either.

Pity the children told Santa's coming but are having to wait for what must seem like an eternity, since advertisers started talking about Christmas in October this year, the earliest ever, I think. When I was a child Christmas wasn't promoted until after Thanksgiving.  Those weeks until Christmas seemed to me to last forever, but the time has been much longer now for little ones to have to wait since advertising and promotion started even before Halloween this year.

Ordinarily I would rail about this commercialization starting so early, but it may make sense this year given the pandemic.  Predictions have been there would be so much shipping of items as to overload our system so we should start early.  So kiddies ..... delayed satisfaction has likely stressed the patience of all adults in our culture even more, since so many expect instant gratification under the most ordinary circumstances.  

Our little ones may not understand at all and will just have to accept this seemingly never-ending wait for Santa in their world.   I appreciate the adults have wanted something to feel happy about so decided to rush Christmas.  Maybe it's just a matter of how all is presented to the wee ones.  My children adjusted to what they thought were lucky neighbor friends celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah.   Now, more outdoor lights and decorations are going up in my neighborhood which all ages can enjoy, though some elsewhere started decorating before Thanksgiving -- but maybe avoiding mentioning Santa until after Thanksgiving is a good idea any year.  

I hope all are having a pleasant long Thanksgiving weekend.  No doubt, you too, are making whatever preparations may be needed for our next upcoming holidays.  I don't think I'll write a holiday letter again this year to mail.  I have only a few greeting cards to address as the number of family and friends still living has continued to dwindle, so will likely restrict myself to just the personal messages I ordinarily write.   I don't expect to mail packages and will instead have items shipped directly to recipients from wherever I purchase them, or maybe I'll just send a check for them to select what they want.

How was your Thanksgiving?   

Are you making plans now for Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, other holidays?  

What do you remember about the wait for Christmas or other seasonal holidays when you were young?