Cover Photo: “Thanksgiving dinner” by Stacy Spensley
It’s that time of year again…the holidays. What comes to mind when you read those words? Perhaps you picture a living room or kitchen crowded with family members all grazing on turkey and cranberry sauce. Maybe you picture yourself feverishly shopping for those remaining Christmas gifts that sank to the bottom of your to-dos and are now screaming for attention.
What emotions do you feel? Maybe you feel excited to see loved ones you haven’t connected with in a while. Or maybe you feel some anxiety over all the preparations. When you hear “the holidays,” do you think about Thanksgiving or Christmas? Or are they so close together that a catch-all phrase is indeed most appropriate?
Whatever your thoughts and emotions about the holidays, they are upon us. But something tells us that, like everything in 2020, these holidays will be unique. Covid has impacted all of us in different ways. Almost every commercial we see incorporates virtual meetings into the plot of the script. People that would otherwise appear quite friendly look like they could be a character from Mortal Kombat when “masked up.” And many parents have had to learn to learn to work from home and take on the role of teacher as schools transitioned to online learning.
Despite the challenges, however, we keep moving forward. Companies have made some hilarious commercials using the virtual meetings trope. Companies have designed masks that we never imagined could exist. And parents, teachers, and school officials have adapted to the new normal of distance learning with some excellent outcomes.
Just as we have learned to adjust our lives around these factors due to Covid, we must also learn to rethink how we celebrate our holidays this year. Just as Covid has presented us with challenges, it also presents us with opportunity. After all, when life is sour like a lemon, it just needs some sugar, water, and TLC and it can become a refreshing and sweet lemonade. And just what is this lemonade we speak of? Read on.
While you might be one to lump Thanksgiving and Christmas together and call it “the holidays,” they are each unique. And with Thanksgiving right around the corner, it is essential to have a viable game plan for the big day (this is where that whole lemons and lemonade talk comes from). Why not celebrate Turkey Day garage-style this year?
Did they just suggest celebrating Thanksgiving in the garage, you might be asking yourself? Yes! Don’t believe me? Here are 9 reasons why Thanksgiving in the garage is a great example of making lemonade.
- Safety
While people believe different things about Covid, it seems that we all agree that you are safer in an open-air environment. Enter the garage. The garage is that one place in your home where you begin asking those harmless existential questions: “am I inside or outside?” The garage can offer a space that allows air to circulate more freely and thus keep all guests safer than a strictly enclosed environment. Even if you crack the door, or open it periodically, it still allows for more air flow.
“Dinner in the Garage” by macabrephotographer
- Space
Space does of course depend on the size of your garage, but have you seen your garage without your cars and stuff? It can be very spacious and host a larger group or give a smaller group more room to move around and provide that “social distance” we have heard about since March.
- Convenience
There are several reasons why garages are a convenient choice for your Thanksgiving celebration. The first is how easily you can access the outdoors. You are already at the same level with the ground so if little Mikey wants to toss around the pigskin, you don’t have to walk down 2 flights of stairs after feasting.
- Decorating
There are some creative and fun ways to decorate your garage for Thanksgiving. From full garage door decorations to decor that you can do with the kids. Many garages also have cork boards which make hanging decorations easy. Moreover, many garages also have limited decor on the walls making it a blank canvas for your decorating imagination to run wild.
5.Decluttering
The cluttered garage has become all too common. We all would like that nice, clean, and organized garage but for many of us, this is far from reality. Preparing your garage for a Thanksgiving gathering just might be the motivation we need to clean up, organize, and declutter that garage.
“In my garage,” by Elsie esq.
- Clean-up
We all have had it happen – Aunt Priscilla had one too many glasses of Cabernet and spilled some wine on the new carpet. Timmy and the cousins were wrestling and broke the head off your statue of Michael. But Thanksgiving in the garage means that you can take a deep breath. Aunt Priscilla can’t mess up the garage floor and it won’t matter if little Timmy knocks down a screwdriver. Nevertheless, with the outdoors so close, you can send Timmy and other young ones outside long before the rough play begins.
- Acoustics
There is hardly anything more awkward than talking to someone you don’t know that well and not being able to understand what they’re saying. I don’t mean intellectually, I mean practically. They are speaking too low, there is too much background noise, they mumble, etc. In the era of the mask, conversations in 2020 can bring about such a dilemma. Why waste those precious soundwaves in the open air of your house where sounds get lost in all the rooms. The garage is more closed and helps the acoustics which leads to a more clear and less awkward mask conversation.
- Memories
Maybe you celebrate Thanksgiving in the garage this year and it’s just goes okay. Or maybe it’s the best thing since Turkey. Whatever the outcome, it will be something your family and friends look on with fondness and laughter for years to come.
- Showing off
Perhaps none of the reasons stated matter to you. You don’t care about Aunt Priscilla and her careless consumption of alcohol. You don’t care how close the garage is to the outdoors. And decorating the garage is nowhere on your radar. Perhaps it all comes down to one simple desire: to show off your garage. Maybe it’s the new wall storage system, your new tough built garage cabinets, or maybe it’s the new wallscape you had installed. Go ahead! Show it off!
Like everything in 2020, this Thanksgiving and Christmas are bound to be different. But different doesn’t have to mean bad. Wonderful things can happen if we are willing to adapt to changes. Thanksgiving dinner in your garage might not have been your first thought, but with the right touches and perspective, it just might be the solution for your Thanksgiving gathering, 2020 style.