Thanksgiving, she’s almost upon us. Next Thursday, millions of Americans will be sitting down to some kind of feast.
There are two main reasons Thanksgiving exists, as far as I’m concerned:
To feed us lots of damn good food.
To remind us of what we have and to be thankful for it.
Now, that second one may sound pretty trite, but there’s at least a ring of truth to it. No matter who we are, whether we’re doing well in our lives or struggling, there are things that affect us every day that we often overlook.
I’m heading to New Jersey for Thanksgiving, as I do every year (this’ll be only my third since moving out, though). Usually, there are only four or five of us there, although in the past we’ve had 20 or more.
So, what’re you guys doing? Who’s having a big dinner? Who’s dining alone?
She’s been through thick & thin with me for almost 8 years now, we only see each other about twice a year. We both live far from ‘home’ so we usually spend Thanksgiving together & count our blessings.
I am going to my best friend’s house. It’ll be Jen, her husband Adam, her daughter Kyrsten, Adam’s brother Matt, Matt’s girlfriend Denee, Denee’s son Jason, Jen’s friend Heather, Heather’s boyfriend Jason, and their son JC. Jen’s mother-in-law may or may not be there; I’m not real clear on that. freesok will probably join us later in the evening after he visits his father. Jen has her menu all planned. It’ll probably be the traditional turkey with stuffing, and a bunch of other stuff that I probably won’t want to eat. I’ve already warned her not to feel insulted if I don’t eat a lot of the stuff there. I’m bringing a gingerbread loaf from Starbuck’s and a dozen pumpkin spice donuts. And flavored coffee creamers, since Jen, Heather, and Denee are pregnant (oh, god, save me!) and won’t be imbibing with the menfolk.
I’ll also be heading up to D.C. (Rockville, actually). The family usually has a big get-together. My brother and SIL just bought a new house, so I’m guessing we’ll be having the dinner there. This is by far my favorite holiday, so I’m looking forward to it.
I’ll be driving about an hour and a half down the road Thursday morning, to my parents house in Chattanooga. It may be a somewhat large gathering with all the Chattanooga relatives there, but last I heard from Mom, she wasn’t sure who was coming. The most it could be would be…20 people, fewest would be 5. Who knows? I’ll find out Thursday.
For the second year in a row, my husband and I will spend Thanksgiving with old family friends who live down in Albuquerque. We’ve only lived in New Mexico for a year now, but I am reacquainted with this family who were our next door neighbors back in the 70’s when we lived in G’burg, Maryland. I grew up with the children, and the parents kinda feel like second parents to me.
I also appreciate the fact that they are cool with me being a vegetarian and they encourage me to bring a veg entree for everyone to share. I think that is very considerate of them, since Thanksgiving seems to revolve around the turkey so much…they are thoughtful people.
I have so very much to be thankful for; a loving and wonderful husband, family and friends who care about me, a roof over my head, and, of course, The Straight Dope to read at 4:30 AM when I cannot sleep!
Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite holiday of the year.
My sister cooks cuz her birthday is in late November and in our family, no party, no presents, so she kills two birds with one stone (not literally) and does the Thanksgiving thing as her birthday party.
The football games on TV, turkey in the oven, bloody marys or ceasars for starters. Even when I was living far away, I tried to get home at least every other year. The smell of the house as things come together.mmmmmmm
This is the second Thanksgiving since my older brother died, so that is something that we as a faimly are still getting used to. That part is tough but we light a candle and raise a glass to him and be a family as best as we can and be thankful for the time we had with Mikey and each day we have together now.
UncleBeer and I will be having a non-traditional meal someplace in the French Quarter. This will be my first Thanksgiving ever where I won’t be at the family gathering.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too; I love this time of year.
My parents have built a family vacation home at a ski resort a couple of hours away, and it’s just getting finished, so we’ll be going up there. It’ll be a small gathering; just me, my mom, my stepdad, my stepdad’s younger son, his wife, and their three kids. Oh, and my dog. I’m responsible for the turkey; we get fresh free-range turkeys from the Hutterite colony, and they’re really good. You have to get up at like 6:00 am on Tuesday to stand in line to get one, but it’s totally worth it.
I’m going up Tuesday morning and picking the parents up at the airport, then we’ll spend two days unpacking and moving furniture (all the stuff is in a storage room in the basement); the rest of the relatives arrive Wednesday afternoon. Plus, ski season starts on Thanksgiving day! I’m hoping to get in at least a couple days that weekend. Yay!
We’re going to my in-laws, 15 minutes away. It’ll be me, Mr. Gazer, his parents and sister, our pastor, his wife, & their 3 kids, one of my co-workers and her husband, and 2 other families of 4. So I think that makes 20. We’re doing turkey, of course, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, and I don’t know what else. I’m making honey-pecan pumpkin pies for dessert, though. Yum!
I’m going home to my parents’ house. It’s only about 100 miles away, so that’s not too bad. . . but with school and work, I can’t just hop in the car and go visit them whenever it tickles my fancy.
I’ll go down on Wednesday - I plan to do a little partying with my friends at home.
Thursday, it’ll be traditional Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey, stuffing, mashed taters, gravy, cranberry sauce, creamed corn, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes or sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, and cherry pie. (If I have my say-so about dessert.)
Football on the tube, some phone calls to the out-of-town relatives, and maybe some horseback riding. (Not for ME, tho’, 'cause I’m terrified of horses.)
It’s gonna be Mom, Dad, my little brother, my crazy aunt, my cousin, Quix, and me. (We’re adopting Quix for the holiday. Okay, to be more accurate he’s coming for dinner because he knows my mother is a hell of a cook. Or something like that.)
I’m HOME for Thanksgiving for the first time in 12 or 13 years, and I’m so excited I’m about to burst. We’re going to my family’s cabin in the woods - a wonderful place, no plumbing, no electricity, just an old fashioned cabin in the middle of the Big Woods. There’s a sauna there, too - a real Finnish woodburning sauna. We get water from the crick out front. There’s a firepit in front of the sauna where we grill burgers and brats in the summer.
Mr. Athena and I are going up there Wednesday night with the turkey and spending the night. The next day my parents, all my brothers and their families, and my grandparents will be there - 16 people in all. Life is good!
I’m going to be putting on some miles on my car next week. My side of the family lives about 60 miles away. I have Wednesday-Saturday off (just need to run into work on Sunday for a few hours to get things ready for the next week). My family will actually celebrate on Saturday, so everyone’s schedules won’t have any conflict problems. This is basically my schedule:
Get off of work about noon on Tuesday, head directly to my mom’s house. Unpack my car with all my cooking implements, and head out shopping for the food and supplies for dinner for 25 people.
Start cooking Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, depending on how my shopping trips went.
Thursday morning, head back home to spend Thanksgiving with the SO’s folks and have a good sleep.
Friday morning, head back to mom’s house where I continue cooking. Sending SO to take already cooked items to my grandmother’s house 5 minutes away.
Pack up everything to take over to my Grandmother’s house Saturday morning. Make breakfast for anyone who wants it. Cook until 3 PM, when I put everything out onto the table, Martha-Stewart-style. Then I shall eat until my sides split.
Driving Tuesday afternoon/night to fizzy’s place, doing Iunno-what wednesday. T’giving is Thursday, and supposedly we do it twice (once with her mom’s family, once with her dad’s) so I might actually gain weight this year. Bringing my eating pants either way. Then we shop (which I am actually not dreading … should tell you something about the company:)) some time during the weekend and I go back Tuesday.
I will be in my new (temporary) home in NC with my closest friend in the world, Cindy, her husband Russ, her sister Connie and Connie’s husband Phil. I will be spending the first holiday with her since she moved away 3 years ago, and I expect it will be the highlight of this year for me. I love her and miss her,and I can tell you exactly what I’m thankful for. Friends that love me, my husband (who is joining me shortly in NC), and a great job that transferred me.
I am thankful for my friends, who are my real family.
The Doorses are going to Texas to spend the week with my parents. My parents moved into their new house today, which means we’ll probably go out for Thanksgiving dinner.
This week should be interesting.
Robin, who is singing songs from “The Dysfunctional Family Album” to bolster her strength
Thanksgiving will be spent with 'Punha and we’ll have more food than even he can eat in a whole day. Early dinner with dad around 1ish and then a later dinner with mom around 6ish.
The rest of the week will be spent putting away leftovers and shopping for shiney things.
We’ve talked about this a bit, Bubba n I. Since neither of us have family intown we don’t really have a tradition. This year we’re volunteering our time at a local facility to help prepare meals to be delivered to homebound folks on Wednesday and Thursday.
Then we’ll have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by friends. The gals will be cleaning up in the kitchen, the guys will be “watching” football on the sofas … uh snoring of course.
It’ll be me, Mr. Gazer, his parents and sister, our pastor, his wife, & their 3 kids, one of my co-workers and her husband, and 2 other families of 4. So I think that makes 20. We’re doing turkey, of course, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, and I don’t know what else. I’m making honey-pecan pumpkin pies for dessert, though. Yum!