Forty-four living, breathing, breeding relatives of ChiefScott will convene at Mom’s house Thursday. And these aren’t far flung relatives either. This is the direct result of one couple (my folks), and their inability not to pop a kid out at better than one a year. Here’s the break down:
Mom and Dad (2);
Ma. and Ca. (Ca.'s pregnant) (4);
My son and I (6);
Sa. and Bo. and their two kids, Au. and Da. (10);
Wa. and his life-mate Ch. (12);
Gr. and An. and their two kids, Er. and Do. (16);
Do. and Ni (Ni.'s pregnant) (18);
Ch. and Do. (20);
Wa. (21);
Ke. (22);
Ha. and Ab. (24);
Gu. and Al. (Al.'s pregnant) (26);
Ju. and St. (28);
Mi. and Br. (30).
That’s my immediate family (Parents, siblings (yes, 13 of 'em), assorted wives, husbands and children).
Aunt and Uncle Mc. (Mom’s sister), their two kids, their husband/wive/children (6 adults/5 kids) (41);
Wa. brings one friend (42).
Ke. brings one friend (43).
One family friend (44).
Six tables, three pregnant women, three turkeys, one ham, 30 pounds of potatoes, seven pies, four TVs and four and a half dishwasher loads.
It should make for a cozy, intimate, relaxing Thanksgiving.
Just gonna be 8 at my house - the 3 of us, hubby’s folks, and his bro/wife/son. The Baltimore contingent of my family seems to think that I should always be the one to travel for each and every holiday… not that I’m bitter…
This year my dad and his lady friend and her mother (who is 92) are coming here for sure, and Bob’s three kids. Positive maybes are my sister and her husband and daughter, my older brother and our friend Corey. And I invited the neighbor and her s.o. because she just had surgery last week and doesn’t feel much like cooking or eating, but they might go out to eat. Kind of difficult to plan, so I’ll more than likely have leftovers (better than not having enough).
Fortunately, two of my good-cookin’ friends will be home in the morning, so I can last-minute panic call them. I’ve only made turkey a few times, and last year was the first time in a long time.
Awww, I don’t want to hear anybody whine about having too much family at Thanksgiving. Well, you can, but I’ll outwhine you all.
My brother will be in basic training, so he’s out.
My sister has disappeared off the face of the Earth, so she’s out
My Grandparents are dead, all of them
My Uncle has cancer, so he can’t come, his wife is recovering from cancer herself…
My marriage is at the breaking point
My poor niece misses her mother
And I have not one, real true friend that lives within 1000 miles of me. And no money to buy a ticket home. And I don’t want to interrupt their festivities with a whiny phone call.
So there!
You know all the money the Army saves each year by feeding you grunts MREs when you’re in the field?
Well, the Navy blows all that money for Thanksgiving feasts!
The Mess Mnagement Specialists pull out all the stops – especially when we’re deployed. Turkey, ham, roast beef, stuffing and dressing, baked, mashed, sweet potatoes, a variety of veggies, nuts, rolls and buns, cider, egg nog, wine(non alcoholic), pies, real ice cream – and if they know far enough in advance, they’ll honor several special requests and order special food each year. On IKE this year, they’ll be going with oyster stuffing, chittlins and collard greens and pecan pie.
The meal is served from 1530 to 1830.
If you’ve got duty, you may invite your family aboard for dinner ($3.25 for adults, $1.25 for kids). The MSs throw a similar spread on Christmas, too.
I will be having 37 relatives in this year, at least. My four brothers, their families, maybe an aunt and uncle or two. I have several sis-in-laws that invite their parents. It’s an all day thing for us. For the ones that can’t make it for lunch, they come for leftovers at dinner. Very seldom is there anything left, including turkey, which I don’t like anyway. So by Friday it’s like there was never enough food in the house to feed a small army, and these people can eat believe me.
We’re eating at my parent’s house this year and they can only fit about 8 people in their dining room so we’re having to bring our kiddie table for the kids and some of us are going to have to eat at the table in the breezeway of their house. I think next year my SO and I are going to have Thanksgiving at our house by ourselves… no other relatives allowed. I have a hard time being around all of my family for long periods of time.
Jesus, Chief. Your parents sure gave the kids funny names, but I gotta ask, what happened to Pi & Mu & Nu? I suppose you should count yourself lucky to get a “real” name, Scott.
Happy Thanksgiving (as if that’s gonna be possible).
My hubby and I celebrate Thanksgiving the weekend after when we go out of town to visit the relatives (the only one they’ll get for the holiday season, so it’s kind of a big deal). We reserve the actual Thursday for his family - lunch at his mom’s family and dinner at his dad’s last year. Works out nice, huh? Not too many people at one sitting and we are firm about times, etc…
But not this year, nooooo. This year NO ONE invited us to anything. So we are eating at at Chinese restaurant for Thanksgiving.
Having alot of people in your house sucks. Being left out sucks worse.
This year, it’s just me and Mr. Athena, winging our way to Hawaii. You can think about us eating turkey & pineapple, sipping Mai-Tai’s.
In a typical year, though, if I go home for Thanksgiving, it’s:
Me and SO: 2
Mom and Dad: 4
Bro, Wife, Kid: 7
Other Bro & Kid: 9
Yet another Bro, Wife, 3 kids: 14
Gram: 15
Aunt & Uncle & 3 kids: 20
Misc (always a few orphans): 25
Mr. Legend, the kids, and me (4)
The friend who’s staying with us (5)
My mom and brother (7)
My in-laws (9)
My cousin from CO and his daughters (12)
My cousin from AZ, his wife, and his daughter (15)
My stepmother, stepsister, and a friend (18)
If it snows, we’ll lose at least three of these people, so I’m hoping the weather holds at least through the weekend.
When I was growing up, we never had a big Thanksgiving. It was just me, my mom, and my brother, and we ate turkey for weeks. When I got married, we realized that we had to consolidate families or die from overeating (not seeing one set of parents on a holiday would be unthinkable), and the numbers built from there. One year the cousin from Kansas came with his wife and kids, and my aunt and uncle (the cousins’ parents) made it too, and we ended up with 27 at the table. Anyone is welcome to bring any friend who has nowhere to go, too.
My brother has the meal at his house, and I help him cook and set up. He borrows two long tables from work, I borrow folding chairs from the church, we move most of the furniture out of his living room, and we fit everyone in at two tables. The cousins come into town on Wednesday and stay till Sunday, and my mother puts up the adults while I have their kids at my house (in sleeping bags - it’s a 3-day slumber party!). Everyone brings something to eat, even the out-of-state visitors.
Hearing what some of you go through with your immediate families makes me really thankful that this motley assortment of people is able to get along and really enjoy the day. Norman Rockwell should have been so lucky.
For those of you spending T-Giving at home alone here’s a couple of Thanksgivings that might make you think twice about staying home alone and bumming about it.
One year (I believe it to be 1994) we were doing a family trip and I lived five hours from the family, the trip was only a week after Thanksgiving and I didn’t feel like driving out for a day of shoving food in my face to turn around a week later to meet them all.
I ended up cooking a cornish game hen, complete with stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. I drank beer while it was cooking and wrapped Christmas gifts all the while listening to classical music, cranked to maximum volumn, Vivaldi is my favorite. I must say I had a grand time despite my status of being alone. Later, my neighbors invited me over later for a while enticing me with more food but I just hung out with them and enjoyed another beer with them.
Last year I passed up Thanksgiving all together because of the dreaded Y2K bug, nope not a morsel of turkey, stuffing or a potato. I felt it was the best day to get some work done without people clamering for my so-called expertise(sp) while I was trying to ensure their 'puters would work come Jan 1st…oh well, they would have worked anyway. I survived but it all turned out okay.
This year I am foregoing hanging out with what amounts to a mass of step-family that have invaded my city and will be spending the day with my older brother, sis-in-law and their two kids. I will be making the mashed potatoes (my favorite) and I think it will be a nice cozy holiday, much more my style.
So for those of you that are alone, do what you can to make it a good day for you, I found that it’s just another day. Make a little tradition for yourself this year. I started years ago with watching Dances With Wolves every Thanksgiving weekend…alone or not I will be watching it over the weekend, I have done it for years and so you know that Friday or Saturday night I will be watching the movie.
{{{{{{{to all that are alone}}}}}}}}}
There are worse things in life and I stress to you all to create a little personal tradition that you can follow from year to year to make the long weekend a special thing for you even if you can’t see your family and friends.
All that’s left is the turkey wishbone which is drying out on the shelf under the kitchen window. Yup, we already ate that Tom last Saturday since Mr Kiffa was in town. There was myself, Mr Kiffa, the three kiffettes plus two preteen friends who happened to be in the house when we were ready to eat.
I suppose someone will start a thread on “what did you stuff yourself with”… so here’s my early return:
turkey
stuffing
gravy
cinnamon spiced apples
green beans with mushrooms and garlic butter
yams with pinapple juice
cranberry sauce - jelly type not with whole cranberries
green baby herb salad with grapefruit dressing
