马萨诸塞州楠塔基特。-总统乔·拜登周四，祝愿美国人民幸福快乐，生活更加接近正常感恩节第二位在冠状病毒阴影下庆祝的疫情在讲话中欢迎数百万美国家庭——包括他自己的家庭——恢复节日传统。
美国总统在第一夫人吉尔·拜登(Jill Biden)前往马萨诸塞州楠塔基特(Nantucket)度假前在白宫录制的一段视频问候中说:“在感谢我们所拥有的一切的同时，我们也将那些失去的人和那些失去如此多的人铭记于心。
在岛上，拜登一家参观了布兰特角的海岸警卫队站，会见了那里的工作人员，实际上还会见了来自世界各地的美国军人。“当我说我感谢这些人时，我不是在开玩笑，”当被问及他感谢什么时，总统说，指的是海岸警卫队成员在他离开时笔直地站在他面前。
记者被挡在拜登虚拟讲话的房间之外，显然是因为大楼空间紧张。当拜登的车队在岛上狭窄的铺砌和鹅卵石街道上往返海岸警卫队驻地时，祝福者挥手欢呼。
拜登的已故儿子博是特拉华陆军国民警卫队的一名少校，他说，他目睹了美国军人在世界各地的行动，从南海、伊拉克和阿富汗到南美。他说，当外国人想知道美国是什么时，“他们在这里看不到我们”，意思是平民。“他们看到了他们，”他谈到海岸警卫队和美国军队的其他分支时说。“这让我很自豪。”
拜登一家还从楠塔基特拜访了梅西百货感恩节日间游行，与美国全国广播公司广播公司阿尔·罗克简短地开玩笑。一年前，当大约8000名参与者加入游行时，观众再次在曼哈顿排队。游行员工和志愿者必须接种新冠肺炎疫苗并戴口罩。
第一大家庭的感恩节菜单很传统:烤火鸡、用祖母的食谱做馅料和其他佐料。甜点是三种派，而且——对那些在竞选过程中跟随拜登出入冰淇淋店的人来说并不奇怪——巧克力片冰淇淋。
拜登和他的妻子从1977年结婚前就开始在楠塔基特州过感恩节，因为他们在寻找一种方式来选择和谁的家庭一起过感恩节。博于2015年早些时候因脑癌去世，享年46岁。此后，他们没有再去探望博。2020年，新冠肺炎·疫情禁止大型家庭聚会。
相反，拜登去年在特拉华州的家中与妻子、女儿阿什利和丈夫共进晚餐。
但是今年，总统加入了数百万美国人的行列，他们和一大群亲人一起庆祝这个节日。周二晚上，拜登全家乘坐“空军一号”和他一起飞往美国，恢复感恩节传统:他的妻子;儿子亨特和他的妻子梅丽莎以及他们蹒跚学步的儿子博;女儿阿什利;还有孙子娜奥米、芬尼根、蔡美诗、娜塔莉和年轻的亨特，以及娜奥米的未婚夫彼得·尼尔。
总统称赞新冠肺炎疫苗的推出有助于缓解这个假期家庭聚会的回归，尽管一种死灰复燃的病毒助长了美国新感染病例的增加。总统和第一夫人都已经注射了全部疫苗，并注射了加强剂。
纳奥米·拜登和她的未婚夫骑着自行车走在当地的一条小路上，就在她祖父的越野车离开他们一家居住的僻静的家之前。这座庞大的建筑群由亿万富翁慈善家、凯雷集团私人股本公司联合创始人大卫·鲁宾斯坦(David Rubenstein)所有。
拜登的这次访问是他作为总统的第一次访问，与他以前在这里度假时明显不同，当时他是美国参议员，后来成为副总统。然后，可能有人看见他在市中心走来走去。
当拜登成为总统后，他失去了大部分自己行动的自由，现在他和一大群安全人员、白宫和其他官员以及记者一起旅行。他的每一个公开举动都受到美国特勤局和其他执法部门的密切关注。
有人听到吉尔·拜登告诉海岸警卫队成员，她将于周五晚上在楠塔基特一年一度的圣诞树点亮仪式上再次见到他们，这是拜登的另一个传统。
“我们都要一起去，”她谈到她的家人时说。圣诞树亮灯仪式是博·拜登2001年向妻子哈里求婚的地方。第二年他们在岛上举行了婚礼。
拜登预计将于周日重返白宫。
Biden wishes Americans happy, closer-to-normal Thanksgiving
NANTUCKET, Mass. -- PresidentJoe Bidenon Thursday wished Americans a happy and closer-to-normalThanksgiving, the second celebrated in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, in remarks welcoming the resumption of holiday traditions by millions of U.S. families — including his own.
“As we give thanks for what we have, we also keep in our hearts those who have been lost and those who have lost so much,” the president said in a videotaped greeting recorded with first lady Jill Biden at the White House before their trip to Nantucket, Massachusetts, for the holiday.
On the island, the Bidens visited the Coast Guard station at Brant Point to meet with personnel there and virtually with U.S. service members from around the world. “I’m not joking when I say I’m thankful for these guys,” the president said when asked what he was thankful for, referring to the Coast Guard members standing ramrod straight before him on the grounds as he departed.
Reporters were kept out of the room for Biden’s virtual remarks, apparently because of tight space in the building. Well-wishers waved and cheered as Biden's motorcade navigated the island's narrow paved and cobblestone streets to and from the Coast Guard compound.
Biden, whose late son Beau was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard, said he has watched U.S. service members in action around the world, from the South China Sea and Iraq and Afghanistan to South America. He said when foreigners wonder what America is, “they don't see us here,” meaning civilians. “They see them,” he said of members of the Coast Guard and the other branches of the U.S. military. “It makes me proud.”
From Nantucket, the Bidens also called in to the Macy’sThanksgivingDay Parade, briefly bantering on air with NBC broadcaster Al Roker. Shut out a year ago, spectators again lined the route in Manhattan as some 8,000 participants joined the parade. Parade employees and volunteers had to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear masks.
The extended first family went traditional for their Thanksgiving menu: roasted turkey, stuffing using a grandmother's recipe and other fixings. Dessert was three kinds of pie, and — in no surprise to those who followed Biden in and out of ice cream shops on the campaign trail — chocolate chip ice cream.
Biden and his wife started spending Thanksgiving in Nantucket since before they were married in 1977 because they were looking for a way out of choosing whose family to spend it with. They did not visit in 2015 following Beau's death earlier that year from brain cancer at age 46, or in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on big family gatherings.
Biden instead dined at home in Delaware last year with just his wife, daughter Ashley and her husband.
But this year, the president joined the millions of Americans who are celebrating the holiday with big groups of loved ones. Biden's entire family flew up with him Tuesday night on Air Force One to resume the Thanksgiving tradition: his wife; son Hunter and his wife, Melissa and their toddler son Beau; daughter Ashley; and grandchildren Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie and young Hunter, as well as Naomi's fiance, Peter Neal.
The president has credited the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines with helping ease the return of family gatherings this holiday season, although a resurgent virus has fueled an increase in new infections in the U.S. The president and first lady both have had their full vaccine dose, and a booster.
Naomi Biden and her fiance rode bicycles along on a local path just before her grandfather's SUV departed the secluded home where the family is staying. The sprawling compound is owned by David Rubenstein, a billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of the Carlyle Group private equity firm.
Biden's visit, his first as president, is markedly different from his previous holidays here when he was a U.S. senator and later vice president. Then, he might have been seen walking around downtown.
Biden lost much of his freedom to move around on his own when he became president and now travels with a large group of security personnel, White House and other officials, and journalists. His every public move is closely watched by the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement.
Jill Biden was heard telling the Coast Guard members she would see them again Friday night at Nantucket's annual Christmas tree lighting, another Biden tradition.
“We're all going together,” she said of her family. The tree lighting ceremony is where Beau Biden proposed to his wife, Hallie, in 2001. They were wed on the island the following year.
Biden is expected to return to the White House on Sunday.
