I happened to leave work today at the same time as a co-worker I’ve been bonding with at our weekly poker games, and found out that he’ll be working tomorrow and Friday. I asked if he celebrates Thanksgiving, and he said he does but that his kids are out of town with his ex (I knew he had kids, but didn’t know they didn’t live with him). I said, “But didn’t you just get married?” and he said, “Yeah … that’s kind of falling apart.” :eek: :smack: He said he got married 12 weeks ago, and 5 weeks into it they realized they’d made a mistake and that things weren’t going to work out. So between dealing with the fallout of his second failed marriage and the fact that his kids will be far away, he just didn’t see the point of celebrating the holiday.
I live 3 miles from the office, and I’ve never done anything like this before but I have it in the back of my mind to send him an e-mail tomorrow and invite him to come by at 2pm for dinner (it’ll just be me, my mom, my brother, and an old friend of the family). I’d warn him up front about the particular brand of dysfunction that is my family, and could ask him to grab the Scrabble game that I accidentally left in my office and bring it with him.
You know what, I think I will. He probably won’t accept, but if I don’t invite him I think I’ll wind up wishing I did. He seems like a good guy, and if he doesn’t want to be at work or at home tomorrow he should know that he’s welcome somewhere.
I think we need to do a “Home Alone on Christmas” thread/virtual Dopefest for those of us spending pre-Boxing Day on the lonesome. I’ll bake an apple pie and make some roasted garlic mashed potatoes with rosemary and sage, and maybe roast Cornish hen with grilled asparagus. Who’s going to rent It’s a Wonderful Life so we can all heckle Jimmy Stewart for not taking the Potter contract and getting the wife and kids the hell out of that dead-end town?
I’m happily alone on Thanksgiving, just the way I planned it. Later on I’ll go catch a movie or two. I just wish more stores were open today, because I’m really in the mood for shopping.
I avoid all forms of family like the plague around Thanksgiving and especially Christmas. I go visit them in the summertime when there are no holidays to make everything awkward, and I don’t have to buy gifts for people I don’t know at all* and nobody pressures me to eat until I’m sick and eat stuff I don’t even like.
I’m on call for work today and I’ll be on call on Christmas.
*Not that I don’t want to buy gifts, it’s just that how can I possibly delight someone with a present when I don’t know anything at all about that person?
I’m going to be totally alone this Thanksgiving, for the first time ever, and I’m LOVING it.
I had been hauled through heavy traffic both ways to my ex-girlfriend’s brother’s house for past five Thanksgivings, sometimes hauling my kids along, but we broke up in the early spring, and my oldest (who isn’t speaking to me) is in college and my younger one is with her Mom this year, and I’m without other family within 2000 miles, so I’m alone.
I’m going to have the best time. I’m going to eat what I like, I’m going to watch football on TV as much or as little as I like, I’m going to take a nap when I like–what a joy it is to have some time to myself, and not to have to accomodate others for once. Everyone should have one day per year where they’re completely isolated.
Yeah, I’m alone too today. But my folks were here over this past weekend for a mini-family reunion and a few other things, so I’ll let that count as Thanksgiving, and today will just be a bonus day off. Woohoo!
Those who will be alone and are happy about it: I’m happy for you. (I won’t be alone, though sometimes I wish I were. Is killing family members on Thanksgiving considered a crime?)
But, for those alone who don’t want to be – why not put out the effort and find someone(s) else in the same circumstances? The year after college, when I was working a really crappy job, I couldn’t afford to go home. After getting more and more depressed over that, I had the bright idea to collect some more strays around me. I posted a message on a local BBS (yes, I’m that old) inviting anyone and everyone to a potluck get-together. The only rule: you were NOT supposed to bring anything that counted as ‘traditional Thanksgiving’ fare.
I ended up with 14 people crammed into my apartment. We had pizza and potato salad and chinese takeout and oreos and meatballs and a whole mish-mash of other stuff. We ate, and laughed and played frisbee (outside!) and after some of the people had left settled in for a night of card games and weird left overs.
It was, truly, the most enjoyable Thanksgiving I ever spent.
Anyway… all I’m saying is, if you don’t want to be alone, instead of pouting that no one has invited you, be the someone who invites others who would also be alone. Yes, it’s too late (probably) to do the turkey roast. Who cares? A bucket of fried chicken and pleasant company is a huge step up from self-pity.
When I was younger, I never understood that old canard about people being depressed over the holidays. But a couple of years ago, my father died right before Christmas.
I won’t be alone this year, I’m married and have a ginormous family. But the sparkle has definitely gone out of the holidays.
My best wishes to all of you.
(If anyone’s in Ohio, drive over. My family is loud and conservative, though, so wear clothes and earmuffs. :D)
Sometimes things are not as easy as they look to someone standing on the outside looking in.
I did invite friends over, and every last one of them turned my invitation down. Every. Last. One. One even told me a blatant, out and out lie to avoid coming over. What am I supposed to do? Force them to share the day?
So I have turkey and dressing in the oven, fresh cranberries chilling in the fridge , and I will be spending a lot of time either reading or playing on the computer. I will be surprised if my phone even rings. Self pity? No , just a fact of life. I am thankful that I have my dogs and cats to spend time with today; they are always here for me no matter what.
I’ll be spending it dishing up food for the homeless. After that I’ll enjoy the solitude.
I’m reminded by this thread of a heartbreaking song: Christmas at Denny’s
I’m here alone, but attended a family wedding on the 20th. We had a lot of meals together so I considered that my Thanksgiving.
I’m making duck, spuds, stuffing, salad and pumpkin cheesecake.
My mother’s husband died New Year’s Eve 2003. I’ve already mentioned my fiancée changing her mind the first week of last January, and my mom who died the following month.
As I said, I’ll be alone for Christmas. Still, I plan to cook prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, with boiled red potatoes and something green. I’ll be eating it for a week, but this is what I always make at Christmas.
What, a traditional Yorkshire meal with no turnips? How the mighty British Empire has fallen! Tell me at least that the prime rib will be bone in and served with an overaged cab sav with Cherry Flambeaux for desert.
As a (native, but former) Californian I didn’t know it was a ‘traditional Yorkshire meal’. I don’t know if I’ve ever had turnips! Anyway, there’s already the Yorkshire pudding and the potatoes so I don’t need turnips too. But yes, the prime rib will have the bones in if I can get it. (CostCo usually has it with the bones. Great for BBQ ribs, BTW.) I’ve a case of ‘Two-Buck Chuck’ Cabernet Sauvignon, so I guess that’s what I’ll be drinking with it. Since I’m cooking for myself, there will be no dessert.
FWIW the rib will be seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary and will be eaten with horseradish.
You’re not missing anything. But the Limes like to boil all sorts of roots together, so you usually get potatoes, parsnips, and turnips. Personally, I think you’re better off with just the potatoes and a little fresh chopped parsley.
Sounds like a traditional meal to me. I’ll reserve my wine snob sensibilities (such as they are) about the Chuck, and wish you a delicious Christmas meal.
I decided to go with the TV dinner tonight. The only cranberry sauce they had was in the 16oz. tin. I don’t know what I’ll do with most of it. I got some Longboard Lager, but I’ll have wine with dinner. And there’s Pepperidge Farms raspberry turnovers for dessert. I also donated five bucks to the local food bank.
Today is a nice catch-up day, although I wanted to do some outside stuff. It’s windy and cold, so to hell with that. Proposals, filing, and general domestic duties. Whee!
I’m alone today. My friend’s boyfriend, who doesn’t like me, changed their plans without telling her, leaving me in the lurch. All my recipes will go untested another year. I had already bought the duck, though, so I’m gonna roast that for myself, and do some nice fruits and veggies so at least my bird can eat with me too.
I’m in the computer lab working on a 3D animation project for school for Thanksgiving this year, but I’m not alone: my friend Seth is here too. Everyone else we know went home to eat and be with their families; we figured this break would be a good time to get some work done. The two of us just got done eating some delicious hot turkey hoagies from Wawa, and we’re making good progress on our project. It’s not an ideal Thanksgiving, but I’ve done Thanksgiving alone before and this year beats it with a stick.
Oh actually, I have some photos of the year I spent Thanksgiving alone:
These are just some of the things I did to keep myself occupied while alone in the apartment. Here, being alone for the holidays was starting to get me a little down. Eventually I cheered up though, and ended up having a pretty Happy Thanksgiving.
He said he got married 12 weeks ago, and 5 weeks into it they realized they’d made a mistake and that things weren’t going to work out. So between dealing with the fallout of his second failed marriage and the fact that his kids will be far away, he just didn’t see the point of celebrating the holiday.
