Thanksgiving soon ?
- Thread starter Bernard
- Start date
Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday in my family. We are having it at my house for the first time this year! Lots of relatives will be lounging about, eating turkey and playing cards. 
I'm taking the whole week of Nov 25th off from work (still have to go to school unfortunately).
Hopefully I will make it through that week without caving in to impulse and gaining weight!!
I'm taking the whole week of Nov 25th off from work (still have to go to school unfortunately). Hopefully I will make it through that week without caving in to impulse and gaining weight!!
During Thanksgiving and Christmas I spend a lot of time traveling, visiting with family, and eating way too much. Thanksgiving Day my husband, son, and I will spend at my mother's house along with my grandmother. Then Friday we will celebrate with my inlaws. My father-in-law has to work on Thanksgivng so we will be celebrating a day late. Of course their is always too much food and always someone trying to make you eat more. You've gotta love them. I'm just glad that next week is a 3 day work week for me.
Nov. 28
Hi Anna! Thanksgiving in the U.S. is the fourth Thursday in November, so this year it's as late as it gets -- Nov. 28. The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year here -- called "Black Friday." (I don't know why it's called that...) I usually avoid shopping on that day myself! I'm not much of a shopper, especially not when the stores are packed full!
Thanksgiving dinner alternates each year between my parents' house and my mother's cousin's house. This year, it's with my parents. It's usually a smaller gathering, only about 7 of us. The food is pretty traditional stuff for our area of Pennsylvania Dutch country -- roasted turkey, potato filling (mashed potatoes mixed with onion, celery, butter and herbs, baked in the oven), gravy, homemade cranberry relish (my Mom's recipe), corn, etc. There's usually a pumpkin pie in there somewhere for dessert, and my hubby loves my Mom's cousin's vanilla custard pie (with meringue topping). I'm planning on making a pumpkin swirl cheesecake from a recipe I found in the newspaper's coupon section this past weekend. I just have to buy a springform pan first...
http://www.rsadv.com/newfoolsm.gif
Hi Anna! Thanksgiving in the U.S. is the fourth Thursday in November, so this year it's as late as it gets -- Nov. 28. The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year here -- called "Black Friday." (I don't know why it's called that...) I usually avoid shopping on that day myself! I'm not much of a shopper, especially not when the stores are packed full!
Thanksgiving dinner alternates each year between my parents' house and my mother's cousin's house. This year, it's with my parents. It's usually a smaller gathering, only about 7 of us. The food is pretty traditional stuff for our area of Pennsylvania Dutch country -- roasted turkey, potato filling (mashed potatoes mixed with onion, celery, butter and herbs, baked in the oven), gravy, homemade cranberry relish (my Mom's recipe), corn, etc. There's usually a pumpkin pie in there somewhere for dessert, and my hubby loves my Mom's cousin's vanilla custard pie (with meringue topping). I'm planning on making a pumpkin swirl cheesecake from a recipe I found in the newspaper's coupon section this past weekend. I just have to buy a springform pan first...
http://www.rsadv.com/newfoolsm.gif
suzannaerin
Cathlete
Anna - My husband and I are not very traditional now. When we first married, we'd make the trek to Pennsylvania, spending one holiday with his family and one with mine (alternating Thanksgiving & Christmas). We live in the Washington, DC area, and the traffic was hellish--traffic would come to a standstill on the Pennsylvania Turnpike! Actually, it was all very stressful because we'd drive all that way in heavy traffic only to deal with parental and sibling squabbling, etc. (his mom didn't dig the fact that I'd rather hang out w/the guys then chop onions with her and Brian's sister---they always gave me the most unpleasant kitchen tasks). Our families are dysfunctional and neither was very close growing up, so it isn't a sacrifice not to see them at the holidays. Now THAT is very American! It wasn't long before we got tired of the whole thing and after we passed age 30, we decided to start our own tradition and spend the day alone together. We get up early and take a long hike at a local park (Great Falls, right along the Potomac---awesome views of white water, cliffs, etc). We'd eat our turkey and fixings around noon, sleep in the afternoon, play with our Golden Retrievers, and for dinner, eat dessert!!! It is the best. Suzanne
L
Lizzie
Guest
This will be the 4th year that I have not been home with my family for Thanksgiving, as they live near Chicago and I now live near Philly. I usually make it home twice a year and one of those times is for Christmas so there's not point to going in November too. The last 3 years have been spent with my boyfriend and his family, sort of. He works with the Market - when it's open, he works which means the day after Thanksgiving. SO, his family now drives up from DC the weekend before Thanksgiving and we make dinner in his apartment (I make my dishes at my place and just bring them over, he has a tiny place). It's a lot of fun for everyone because we all get along really well. Then, Thanksgiving day it's just him and I, making turkey dinner (closer to lunch) and drinking wine. Nothing but eating, relaxing with the kitties and watching the Buffy Marathon on FX. I love it this way! I and am really looking forward to it next week ;-)
Aquajock
Cathlete
Hi, Anna! Thanksgiving for my husband and me is very low-key; his father died during the Thanksgiving holiday in 1979, and far more recently his mother died Nov. 16, 1999, and we spent that Thanksgiving Day down in Phoenix, Arizona cleaning her house out and preparing it to sell. Thus we prefer to just spend it by ourselves, doing quiet things.
I, of course, plan to make the most of the two days off from work getting in some quality morning workout time, to pump up for the feasts!
Thanks for the thought! You'll have to re-educate us unschooled Yanks on the special holidays in England!
Annette Q. Aquajock
I, of course, plan to make the most of the two days off from work getting in some quality morning workout time, to pump up for the feasts!
Thanks for the thought! You'll have to re-educate us unschooled Yanks on the special holidays in England!
Annette Q. Aquajock
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-21-02 AT 06:40AM (Est)[/font][p]Thanks everyone for your replies, it was interesting reading what everyone gets up to at Thanksgiving. Our next UK event is of course Christmas and New Year. We spend Christmas at home as a family. We don't have a traditional christmas dinner, as the children won't eat it (very fussy), so I tend to make a vegetarian lasagne, with garlic bread, and salad. There is ice cream (kids), apple crumble (for DH), and Christmas pudding (Me) for dessert. We spend Boxing day usually at my in-laws, and New Year is always at home.
I have to say your Thanksgiving dinners sound wonderful.
Have a great Thanksgiving day !
Anna
I have to say your Thanksgiving dinners sound wonderful.
Have a great Thanksgiving day !
Anna
Can't Wait for Thanksgiving
Anna -
Such an interesting post, thanks.
I come from a LARGE family in New Orleans, LA. I have 7 brothers and sister, from that I have 8 nieces and nephews. Having such a large group makes every holiday special.
My parents have a country house about an hour out of New Orleans and we always have Thanksgiving there. Usually my whole family arrives around 10:00 am to munch on appetizers and visit.
Sometime during the day, we build a fire outside on the deck to relax around. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, my mom serves up turkey with oyster dressing. Since there are so many of us, we all bring the side dishes so it is usually an amazing meal.
And finally, around 4:00, I scarf down a giant slab of pumpkin pie and feel thankful for my wonderful family.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Anna -
Such an interesting post, thanks.
I come from a LARGE family in New Orleans, LA. I have 7 brothers and sister, from that I have 8 nieces and nephews. Having such a large group makes every holiday special.
My parents have a country house about an hour out of New Orleans and we always have Thanksgiving there. Usually my whole family arrives around 10:00 am to munch on appetizers and visit.
Sometime during the day, we build a fire outside on the deck to relax around. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, my mom serves up turkey with oyster dressing. Since there are so many of us, we all bring the side dishes so it is usually an amazing meal.
And finally, around 4:00, I scarf down a giant slab of pumpkin pie and feel thankful for my wonderful family.
Happy Thanksgiving!