The Upside to Pandemic Thanksgiving? I Don’t Have To Stuff Myself With Green Jell-o Salad

Thanksgiving 2020 is a big relief for “Snackers” like me.

This Thanksgiving will not be some large family affair with relatives that made a dish and nicely demand that you take “just a bite.” You know that aunt holding a fork to your jammed shut lips, insisting you taste her pearl onion and cream sauce yuck. “Try it. You have to try it. You can’t miss out on it.” I hate these nightmares of Thanksgivings past, because I am a Snacker. I don’t sit down on the nightly and shove meat, vegetables, potatoes and pie down my gullet and call that dinner.

I prefer snacking throughout the day. You know, yogurt or a few strawberries at eight in the morning. Half a poptart at ten-thirty or so. A banana with peanut butter on it around one. Tiny bites of things when I feel a bit low. I guess I have a small stomach or something, because I have never enjoyed what I refer to as a restaurant meal. Bread, butter, soup, main course, desert. It’s always too much food. I can’t do it.

Thanksgiving is nothing but pressure and anxiety for me as I sit at a table with 12–15 relatives and I’m completely full after two bites of turkey and a tablespoon of mashed potatoes. All the other stuff is painfully stuffed down. The macaroni and cheese, the green bean casserole, that dish someone always brings with red cabbage and sausages. (gack) You know the drill.