Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and a Side of Resilience

Our attitude can make the difference between a treasured day of new memories or a day of frustration that our Thanksgiving celebration isn’t what we’re used to.

With health officials warning against travel, large events, and even small family gatherings that extend beyond our COVID bubbles, Thanksgiving will be constrained.

We can see this in one of two ways. We can look at everything we’re missing and can’t do — or we can remember the intention of Thanksgiving and spend the day reflecting on our gratitude for all the blessings we have.

Adopting an optimistic — yet realistic — attitude is one way to develop resilience

We had a great conversation recently with our friend Dr. George S. Everly, Jr., who serves on the faculties of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. What I love about Dr. Everly is his brilliance and also his way of giving us practical tools to deal with very important things — like his psychological first aid kit and his identification of five attitudes to help us be more resilient — including that an optimistic — yet realistic — attitude is one way to develop resilience. The point that particularly strikes home for us is adopting the attitude that life is better shared through connection.

Physical distancing does not mean social distancing

Dr. Everly also notes that the single best predictor of human resilience is connection. He points out that physical distancing does not mean social distancing and encourages people to nurture, rekindle and create relationships. I encourage you to think about a Thanksgiving communication plan. Whom might you text, email or call on Thanksgiving to tell them you appreciate them as a business relationship, a friend or as a loved one? What should you share as the reason you’re grateful they’re in your life?

As Dr. Everly states, connection is essential because it “multiplies happiness yet divides sadness.” This desire to foster connection is what motivates us to offer classes like our  Alice’s Table + Harry & David Gourmet workshop collaboration and our Alice’s Table + 1-800-Flowers.com workshop collaboration.

Connection is essential because it multiplies happiness yet divides sadness

Connecting you to one another is also why we developed  Connection Communities — a digital community where you can connect with a supportive community for peer-to-peer support. We’ve, in fact, just launched a new holiday stress community that we hope you might find helpful.

Relationships and thankfulness are what this holiday is about. We have a Thanksgiving tradition that we share with many other families. With our sister Julie Mulligan as the leader, we go around the table, and each person names the one thing they’re most thankful for. This year, Chris’ daughter Jenna Messer is compiling clips of our gratitude statements and will share in one video.

Be A Part of Our Recipe Club

We were thinking about how you, our community, might continue family traditions and be with the people you love this Thanksgiving even if you can’t sit around the same table.

Will you miss your aunt’s pumpkin pie, your mother’s stuffing, and your uncle’s trip down memory lane about the time the turkey was undercooked? We thought we’d create a recipe club. You can as a family have each member of the family contribute the recipe for the dish they’d normally bring and compile those as a family cookbook. You also can share your favorite recipes with us and each other on our website. For those who submit recipes, three winners will be chosen and we’ll send them a holiday gift.

Join us for our virtual Thanksgiving roundtable

We also invite you to join us for our virtual roundtable the day before Thanksgiving to discuss the importance of connection and what gratitude means this year.

Our live event, streaming on Facebook at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 25, will bring together the voices of industry experts from Alice Lewis, founder of Alice’s Table, and fashion designer, Jason Wu to Liz Della Croce from The Lemon Bowl to share new recipes, décor ideas and other usable tips as you prepare to kick off your own celebrations.

Co-hosted by Juliet Scott-Croxford, CEO of Worth, and Diana Heather, founder of two start-ups, this event will also lean into the emotional side of the holidays by sharing the impact of community building to foster meaningful relationships with Director of Communities at Wisdo, AnnMarie Giannino. It will also feature a mindfulness segment with Chopra Chief Impact Officer and Certified Chopra Educator, Devi Brown. Feel free to share, and don’t forget to RSVP.

I hope to celebrate the holiday with you!

P.S. My friend and Board Member Larry Zarin has always said that Thanksgiving is a particularly good time to send holiday gifts because business associates can receive your gifts and messages before the holiday rush! We are so impressed by how many of you are reaching out in honor of Thanksgiving this year and are extending messages of good wishes and gifts. 

 Our entire family of brands, particularly Harry & David, have seen companies, financial institutions and law firms — large and small — turn to us to help connect around the holiday since many will not be holding traditional parties.  We’re honored that they are depending on our caring team to help them connect with their customers, clients and associates.