The weekend before Thanksgiving my husband and I were walking around with  gloomy faces. The thought of spending Thanksgiving with just the 2 of us was settling in. I watched my husband and said to myself: “True, this is not how we would like to celebrate the holiday, but it is up to us to make the best of it”.

In my head I heard my mother’s voice, always responding to the question of how are you with: “as good as can be”, no matter how bad things were.

We cooked a festive meal, for 2.

For dessert, we made my mother’s apple pie, a family tradition part of every holiday meal. For the first time, each of our kids baked it for their celebrations.

We dressed up, a bit.

We zoomed and Facetimed with friends and family.

We made the best of the situation.

It is up to us, it is a choice we make, in how to respond to situations.

We chose to make the holiday as good as can be.

My mother passed away in 2015 from Alzheimer’s. This weekend was her birthday. She would have turned 79. Thank you Ima (mom in Hebrew) for always being the eternal optimist. This Thanksgiving your apple pie was made with love in Boston, Montreal and Salt Lake City. In the above photo is the Montreal version!