So this year’s Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone. It was quiet in our house. For the first time ever, I think, it was just my wife and me having dinner together. And you know, it wasn’t all bad.

As fun as the big family holiday dinners are, they can include a lot of stress. There’s a house to clean up. Food to make. Places to go. And things always take twice as long as what you plan.

None of that happened this year. Our turkey breast, stuffing, and sides all came out fine, with no deadlines to worry about. I had time to give loaves of pumpkin bread to some neighbors and friends. I even got a run in! And a large family Zoom meeting that evening meant we got to catch up with each other and show off our various cats, who, frankly, were not amused.

I enjoyed the low stress level. Call me a party pooper, but I wouldn’t mind overmuch if we turned the holiday frenzy level down low from now on. Not that I want some kind of health crisis to make it necessary. In fact, why not call it a health benefit? Blood pressures down all over the country, and time to interact with our close ones without everyone running around with tons of stuff to do.

It looks like Christmas will be handled the same way. My wife’s family big get-together in Texas last year was memorable and a lot of fun. But at the end, my sister-in-law (our host) said, “I’m not doing this again.” True for this year anyway.

And despite the immediacy of the current situation, there will come a day when this is all in the fast-receding past. What will life look like then? No idea. But I hope that things don’t go back entirely the way they were before. In this country, at least, I think being busy has been associated with being productive. Me included? Guilty as charged. No more. I’ve found I can be very productive at a lower level of activity. I’d like to keep that going forward.

Hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving!