With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encouraging people to stay safe when celebrating the holidays due to the pandemic, it makes sense that Thanksgiving looked much different this year for many students of Jesuit High School Sacramento. 

One student whose Thanksgiving celebration was altered this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak was Gabriel De La Torre ’21.

“I had thanksgiving over at my aunt’s house,” Gabriel said. “We did not make it as huge as usual obviously because of COVID-19, but we still got a [small group] over to share how thankful we were for each other during these tough times.”

While he wasn’t able to see as much of his family for Thanksgiving as he has in previous years, Gabriel still believes it’s important to tell loved ones why you’re thankful for them.

“Thanksgiving is an important tradition to remember what you’re grateful for, which is why it was hard to simply completely refrain from gathering in any way,” Gabriel said.

While families were forced to alter their normal routines this Thanksgiving, others were able to maintain a certain level of normalcy with activities that didn’t require too much social interaction. 

Recently earning his private pilot’s license, Hudson Fahrenholz ’21 was able to treat his immediate family to a scenic plane ride since there wasn’t much risk considering the usual number of people that he saw this time of year was relatively low. 

“We made all the standard thanksgiving food and sides which were delicious,” Hudson said. “We finished off Thanksgiving with a flight around the Bay Area to get some good pictures and views.” 

Others in the community were also able to experience the Thanksgiving they love and cherish so dearly without much trouble. Only seeing immediate family and those that you are already exposed to on a normal basis is what is suggested by most officials at this time, and considering how student Hunter Cameron ’21 usually spends his Thanksgivings with only a tight-knit group of people, his family and friends were able to avoid any red flags and uphold their traditions.

“My immediate family had Thanksgiving dinner together,” Hunter said. “Later in the day my family and I went to a family friends house to have dessert. I watched the Cowboys and Washington play [in the NFL]. I played a 2k draft with my friends, where we draft all-time players and assemble a team. We then use that team and do a playoff bracket with them.”

With everything considered during these times, the people in our community have all been affected differently and to varying degrees. Whether someone’s Thanksgiving was altered greatly, or stayed relatively the same, it is important to remember that everyone is in this together. Working coherently as a whole to get ourselves out of this pandemic is crucial, and the efforts and sacrifices many of us make now aren’t in vain.