Biden to celebrate Thanksgiving on Nantucket

President Biden will celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday on Nantucket, resuming a longtime family tradition for the first family, The Boston Globe reported.

The Biden family has been staying on Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts, for Thanksgiving since 1975, according to the Globe.

The president is slated to pardon the national Thanksgiving turkey in a ceremony at the White House on Friday, and it’s unclear when he would leave for Nantucket.

This year marks the 74th anniversary of the national Thanksgiving turkey presentation. The 2021 national Thanksgiving turkey and its alternate were raised near Jasper, Ind., according to the White House.

Biden in 2020, as president-elect, spent Thanksgiving at his home in Rehoboth, Del., with first lady Jill Biden, their daughter Ashley Biden and her husband. At the time, Americans were advised to limit gatherings for the holiday with COVID-19 raging through states.

Biden spoke about reuniting with family this Thanksgiving in remarks earlier this month while touting the COVID-19 vaccines.

“A year ago, we were heading into a Thanksgiving where public health were — experts were advising against traveling or gathering with family and friends,” he said. “Last Thanksgiving, for the first time, it was just four of us — my wife and I, our daughter and her — and my son-in-law.  Later this month, our tables and our hearts are going to be filled, thanks to the vaccines.” 

In March, Jill Biden wrote in an essay for Oprah Daily about the family tradition of spending Thanksgiving on Nantucket, specifically reflecting on the first holiday on the island in 2016 since Beau Biden died in 2015. 

“The year before, our family had forgone our yearly Thanksgiving tradition. Nantucket was just another place to remind us of all that we had lost. I knew how hard it would be to come back, but this year, the grandkids had asked,” she wrote.

The Hill reached out to the White House for comment on the president’s trip.