Laura Brown takes a selfie with her mother Susan and father Jay at their Thanksgiving dinner table Thursday in Richmond. Photo courtesy of Susan Pietraszkiewicz Brown
SOUTH GARDINER — On a typical Thanksgiving, Lois Legendre’s two-story Victorian house would be stuffed with food — and her friends, family and veterans that needed a warm place to spend the holiday, would join her.
But this year, in her new home in South Gardiner, she watched HGTV and ate a grilled cheese with potato chips — alone. Dessert was a frozen ice cream sandwich from her fridge — very different from the typical Thanksgiving offerings she would have had in past years.
“It’s the first time in 50 years that I haven’t had people, because of the darn virus,” Legendre said. “It isn’t worth taking a chance on your life and other people’s lives.”
The Maine Center for Disease Control advised against traveling out of the state for the holiday and to minimize the number of people at gatherings inside of Maine houses as the state has seen a spike in cases since the start of the pandemic in March.
Legendre lived in Richmond for 40 years before moving to South Gardiner this year in an effort to downsize.
Her husband was a veteran and together they were involved with Togus Veterans in Chelsea and the American Legion. They would invite members to their Thanksgiving gatherings.
The room, packed with their friends and family, was always filled with laughter.
“You get people together and enjoy a good meal,” Legendre said.
But this year, it was not possible to have the inverse of people over because of the coronavirus pandemic — her holiday was filled with the sounds of home makeover shows on her television.
Most of Legendre’s family lives outside of the state and she said her friends respected her wish to not use her home this year for the holiday. Her adopted son even dropped in to see if she would like a plate of turkey that he had cooked up at his own house, but she insisted on sticking to her grilled cheese.
“I enjoyed it, I really enjoyed the day,” Legendre said. “I wish that my friends and family could have been there, but it couldn’t happen.”
Susan Pietraszkiewicz Brown’s house in Richmond was also quieter. It was just she and her husband Jay, and their daughter Laura.
Her other daughter, Ashley, was unable to be home for Thanksgiving because she is under quarantine at the University of Maine in Orono. Despite a negative coronavirus test, Ashley still wasn’t able to make the trip home.
Brown said they cooked less sides this year and focused more on the main course of turkey.
After dinner, they family worked together to attempt to drain the water from their flooded basement.
“It was definitely not a normal Thanksgiving,” Brown said.
Rhonda Lynn Murray’s Thanksgiving looked different this year, too. In the past, she would have welcomed more than 30 of her family members to her Richmond home.
“This year was the first year that I cooked for just two of my grown children,” Murray said. “We ate dinner, then simply had our home open for others to visit socially distanced and with masks.”
Her divorced parents were able to join her this year for Thanksgiving, but they missed out on their tradition of taking family photos.
Typically, Thanksgiving for the Crosman family in Richmond involves puzzles and games following a large turkey dinner for 20 to 30 family members. This year, though, Dick Crosman hosted his daughter Kari Crosman and her sons — who live next door — for a meal of teriyaki-seasoned steak. Kari’s sons insisted on having the steak with green bean casserole and stuffing.
“This particular combo was a first for us,” Kari Crosman said, with Dick adding that he was still able to take a nap after watching the traditional Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the dog show and decorating the Christmas tree.
In Pittston, Marie-Anne Archambault Flowers cooked a ham for two, as her children joined their significant others elsewhere for the holiday, and ended the evening with a Zoom call to extended family.
“Keeping it simple, as always,” she said.
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