Grandparents Send Cardboard Cutouts of Themselves to Grandkids for Thanksgiving

A pair of Texas grandparents were sad they couldn’t make it to Thanksgiving dinner due to the COVID-19 pandemic so they sent cardboard cutouts of themselves instead. Missy Buchanan, who lives in Rockwall, Texas, said she has four grandchildren —three in Texas and one in California — and they usually gather each year, but this year they didn’t want to take the risk.

“Since we fall into that ‘vulnerable’ age group, we decided to try to model what we hope others will do-- help keep each other safe until COVID is over,” Buchanan told Inside Edition Digital “We felt like it would also take pressure off of our adult children because they would be so concerned about any possibility of one of them giving us COVID.”

Buchanan said the cardboard cutouts were their way of “bringing some laughter and levity to the holiday season.”

“We wanted to send a message that we can be apart for this year so that we can gather safely next year. It's a small sacrifice, in our opinion,” she said.

In cute photos shared with Inside Edition Digital, Buchanan’s grandchildren can be seen posing with the life-size images of she and her husband. Buchanan added that her daughter wasn’t expecting the 6-foot cutout and thought it was “hysterical.” She also said her 3-year-old grandson in California likes to keep his “grandparents” in his room and have conversations with them.

Her three grandchildren in Texas are enjoying the cutouts just as much, and moving the giant cutout from place to place around their home, including by their chicken coop outside. 

Buchanan said she and her husband have kept busy while staying home.

“My husband and I are doing fine during this sheltering in,” Buchanan said.

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