The Zoom party can certainly disappoint, especially when we’re all frayed after months of isolation. For Thanksgiving, Erica Dumas, a publicist in Wood-Ridge, NJ, tried to recreate a big holiday gathering with her extended family. Seven households participated. Mrs. Dumas, her mother and her sister created the dishes and shared the menu with the other households. The three-course menu, with plenty of sides, included traditional Haitian and American dishes such as soup joumou, stuffed turkey, fried red snapper, and Haitian black rice.
In the end, the food was good. The party? Not so much.
When every household finished toasting and giving thanks, the night got uncomfortable. The individual tables did not know whether to talk to each other or return their attention to the screen. Mrs. Dumas’s daughter, who is 3 years old, kept getting distracted by the video, as were her other young cousins. Finally, Mrs. Dumas turned it off and focused on the quiet night at home with her daughter and boyfriend. “There was just so much planning for the day that in a way it was a bit disappointing, ”said Ms Dumas. “Like, is this all we’re getting this year?”
At Christmas, they plan to call each other household by household via FaceTime and post photos of the children opening presents via WhatsApp.
However, a piece of Thanksgiving was a success. After dinner ended, Mrs. Dumas called her mother in Massachusetts and toasted the evening with a glass of Cremas, a Haitian drink. Usually, the two personally share the creamy drink, so the moment felt like a fleeting connection to what is normally a special day. “It was delicious,” said Mrs. Dumas. “It was like I was back home.”
For this to work, we may have to check our expectations on the keyboard and accept that this is not normal. “If you try to recreate a real meeting, you will probably be disappointed,” said Ms. Turk, who is also editor-in-chief at Wired UK.