COVID-19 case numbers were under control across the country.The gathering was supposed to be a big deal, marking the first time her family — split between Toronto and Montreal — could spend a holiday together in nearly a year after missing Christmas to scheduling conflicts, and Easter to the global pandemic.Once COVID cases began rising again, Lloyd, a Toronto-based artist and designer, had to shift her plans.She was still determined to give her family a Thanksgiving celebration, even if it meant holding it three weeks early.“Typically we do it on the weekend of like everybody else and we have a huge gathering inside, but since we were coming from different cities and my mom is almost 80, we had many reasons to be super cautious,” Lloyd.