OPINION | Joe and Jill Biden: Our Greatest Thanksgiving Tradition | CNN

The Biden Family (Photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President)

Editor's Note:

Joe Biden is the President-elect of the United States.

Jill Biden is America's future first lady, educator and best-selling author.

The opinions expressed in this comment are yours.

See more opinion on CNN en Español.

If you want to read this op-ed in English click here

(CNN) -

This Thanksgiving, tables across our country will have an empty seat.

It can be for the loved one who cannot travel or the father or mother who is in military service abroad.

Maybe it's for your sister or brother who lives across town, staying away to protect everyone during this pandemic, to make sure they celebrate next year together.

For the families of those who have passed away in America this year, that chair is another reminder that someone they love will never come home.

Over the years, the traditions that our family created became sacred rituals: cooking family recipes, which have been passed down from generation to generation, in a warm kitchen full of people;

set the table with fresh flowers and light the candles;

play soccer and checkers;

take photos of our family, which grows more and more.

Traditions helped us find joy after having our own empty chair at the table.

They remind us that even when so much changes, family ties do not.

LOOK: Millions of Americans travel for Thanksgiving despite the risks

This year, our turkey will be smaller and we will make less noise when cooking.

There will be no family outings in the cold or fun fights between the grandchildren.

Like millions of Americans, we are temporarily setting aside traditions that we cannot safely follow.

It is not a small sacrifice.

These moments with our loved ones, the time that is lost, does not return.

However, we know that it is the price of protecting each other and one that we do not pay alone.

Isolated in our own dining rooms and kitchens, scattered from coast to coast, we are healing together.

However, like you, our family will hold on to our most important tradition: taking a moment to share the many reasons we have to be grateful.

We are grateful for the frontline workers who have never stopped coming to work during these long and confusing months, making sure our food is harvested and shipped, keeping our supermarkets stocked, picking up our trash, and keeping our cities and towns safe.

We are grateful for the healthcare workers who work long shifts and isolate themselves from their loved ones, the nurses who comfort and help people say one last goodbye, and the doctors who fight for every breath.

LOOK: Because of the covid-19 many families must face empty chairs on Thanksgiving

We are grateful for educators who learned to teach in virtual classrooms almost overnight, who did extra work communicating with families without technology, or who answered phone calls from parents on the verge of tears, late at night.

We are grateful for parents who have led their families through chaos, working or looking for a job, exploring childcare and remote learning.

We are grateful for the researchers and scientists who have spent this year learning all they can, to understand how to fight this pandemic and working tirelessly to find a vaccine and therapies.

We are grateful for the American spirit that does not flinch from crisis and hardship, but comes together to support one another.

All those who lost their jobs but not their hearts, who donated to food banks or asked their neighbors: What can I do?

How can I help you?

We are grateful for all who reminded us that we are greater than the challenges we face.

Above all, we are grateful for the faith and trust that we have been given to continue to serve this beautiful, courageous, and complicated nation as its future president and first lady.

LOOK: How to say "no" to a Thanksgiving invitation due to the risk of covid-19, according to etiquette experts

This year of loss has revealed our collective strength.

It has shown us that our lives are connected in invisible ways, that we can be apart without being alone.

As temperatures drop and nights get longer, these are the truths that will illuminate our way forward.

We must hold on to our gratitude for the people who are there every day and make our communities stronger.

With courage, compassion and a commitment to stand up for what we believe in, there is nothing this country cannot do.

May the emptiness at our tables and in our hearts be filled with memories of love and laughter.

May we cherish our traditions, even when they are out of reach, and hold on to hope for what is to come.

We're going to get through this together, even if we have to be apart.

Happy Thanksgiving, from the Biden family to yours.

ThanksgivingInstaNews