Thanksgiving

[Principessa21]

I thought it'd be fun to have a thread on some Thanksgiving anecdotes. What are your family traditions? What's the menu like?

 

This year is my bf's and my first year away from our family. Our menu is pretty basic this year (hot and cold aps, turkey and condiments, mashed pots, sweet pots with marshmallows, fried cauliflower, green bean cas, etc.) but instead of making a pumpkin pie (I know I couldn't come near my bf's mom's) I'm making this cream cheese pumpkin dip, and also having a cherry pie if that fails. Tradition is lots of laughs, booze, food, watching classsic family tv/movies, even some bickering. In the past, my family liked to watch Planes Trains & Automobiles, but for the past couple years we just grabbed any new releases and threw in a Goonies or such. This year is exciting though because we can watch the Packers. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

It's a fun holiday, hopefully others will like to share some stories.

[trwi7]

Umm traditions I don't think my family has any. Basic menu turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie. That's about it.

[gypcasino]

I'm going to Detroit for the football game. Last year I was at Disney World with my in laws. It's the start of my tradition of finding any excuse to leave town.

[davego]

Lots of Lefse

[Katuluu]

I'm working all day. Boo.

[hawing]

We alternate Thanksgiving between my family and the S.O.'s family.

90% of the S.O.'s family lives in Kenosha, so during those years we always travel there, to the same sister's house. That family plays Trivial Pursuit after the meal, which is fun and competitive. Then on the way out of town, we check out Christmas Lane (68th St on Kenosha's west side, where most every house is heavily decked out with Christmas decorations).

 

When it's my family, like this year, we alternate the destination between my sister's house in Waunakee and my brother's house in Darlington. Once in a blue moon we manage to persuade people to travel to our house, but my brother's allergic to our cats, this is uncommon.

 

For the S.O.'s family, there seems to be an unspoken assumption that since we're (almost) the only ones who live out of town, it's easier to have just us on the road to Kenosha instead of everyone driving elsewhere. On both sides of the family, there seems to be an additional unspoken assumption that since we don't have children, it's easier for us to travel.

So the longest-standing tradition in our end of year holidays is probably that we spend an awful lot of them in the car, crisscrossing southern Wisconsin, hoping the weather cooperates.

At least with Thanksgiving, each side understands that we can only visit one place per year. So I guess I'm thankful for that!

[rwa12]

We invite the whole clan to our house every year, and usually get a pretty good turnout. This year will be the biggest, as everyone wants to see our 6 mo. old son (see avatar). We watch football, have apps. early in the day and eat late. There is usually a scrabble game, and whatever random activity we come up with. Two years ago we had a ping pong table, last year was some form of card game, this year will be guitar hero. We keep a very traditional table, my wife does not allow for experimentation or deviation from a classic menu. This is her favorite holiday, and likes things one way, which is fine with me.

[pitchleague]

our tradition is mixture of these things:

 

1) we go over to my folks house (3 blocks away) and have the traditional meal, football, bickering, etc with them. This usually involves my dad drinking just a few too many mixed drinks while he's making the food, arguing with mom whether or not the "popper" has popped on the bird yet (one year, we waited almost 2 extra hours for it to "pop" only to find out that there wasn't even a "popper" in the bird in the first place! DRY, DRY, DRY! Thought it was going to explode like that bird in "Christmas Vacation"), and then sitting there listening to my dad ramble about whatever with his eyes shut.

 

Last year, my mom invited a co-worker to join us and I never felt worse for a person, having to endure that ordeal. Very embarrassing for myself, too.

 

OR

 

2) We make up an excuse and stay home and have a small meal by ourselves.

 

Regardless, we will watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" on Thanksgiving night and trim the tree, etc. on Friday.

[uecker9]

We have a good one. The usual dinner at the in-laws, which is fine. But then after that my cousins come over for a Madden Classics tournament. Lots of beer and stuff and tons of laughs. Sometimes it's only about 5 of us but usually there are a couple out-of towners that join in. No kids, no wives, just the boys being boys- it's become an accepted tradition. This year we're doing NFC west teams. It's a great time, especially when my wife gets up @ 4 am to go shopping and we're sitting there playing. Then we all crash on the floor and get up for football and leftovers the next day.

[hawing]

It's a great time, especially when my wife gets up @ 4 am to go shopping

 

Psst, if your wife wants to get a deal at Kohl's she'll have to be there by 4:00 AM. That is when they're opening this Friday.

 

The one near-tradition I could do without is having to work almost every Friday after Thanksgiving. In Madison that Friday is a holiday for city employees, but not state employees. My student employees are gone for the holiday so I'm the only one left. I readily admit that retail employees have it much, much worse than I. But it would be nice to have that four-day weekend more often than once a decade or so.

[stoops17]

I usually go to both my parents' house (divorced and both remarried), Thursday is down to my dad's in Chicago suburbs, we are going to my stepmom's mother's house. This is the year after year tradition. It will be a crowded house now that the grandchildren are filling out their own houses with children. The food is usually tradition and plentiful (I plan on snagging a doggy bag).

 

Then on Friday I will come back to Wisconsin and go to my mom's house, we usually stay home and cook a meal. This will be the first year somebody has missed though, one of my two brothers is in San Diego (Marine Corps, just got back from Iraq, comes home 12/1 yeah!). My stepdad is a good cook so usually we have a nice spread for only 5 people, looks like Rambo the dog is going to be feasting too!

 

Hope everyone has a great time this weekend!

[AJAY]

Happy Thanksgiving !!

 

My parents usually host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We have a lot of friends and relatives who come over and we usually eat pretty late. I am excited this year because I have a baby niece and a baby nephew who will be having their first Thanksgiving with us. We have a lot to be thankful for as a family.

 

On a side note, I personally love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning. One of these years I want to go to New York and see it in person.

 

Have a good holiday !!

 

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b273/AJAY_02/waveturk02.gif

[Invader3K]

We're doing similar to what we usually do...going over to my parents, watching the football game, having a few drinks, and then eating. We usually chat for a while afterwards. This year they're having the whole dinner delivered from the local grocery store. It makes things a lot easier since there aren't too many chefs on our side of the family.

[bball123h2]

Going by my aunt's for dinner/dessert/sale ads. Heading directly to Prime outlets in Kenosha to start christmas madness at midnight. Hello first all-nighter since college!

[jason21nl]

i go to my mothers house every thanksgiving for the most part. I'm a mamas boy. do the whole turkey thing, lots and lots of stuffing. Can't party at all because I have to be to work at 4am tomorrow and get to work 4am-430pm with crazy people looking for deals...fun stuff

[ryne100]

Wow none of my friends know what lefse is. I looooove lefse.

[danzig6767]

My dads side of the family gets on my nerves. They wanted me there by 3 o'clock to eat, but i was watching the Packer game at my place and it's a half hour drive to my aunts house. So they call at about 2:15 to see if i left yet and i said, i'll leave after the Packers game. My aunt actually says, you can finish watch the game at my house. Hello, its the 4th quarter and i'll miss the rest of the game driving there.

 

After the typical female noises woman make to let you know they aren't happy with your words, my aunt says ok leave right after the game, we'll hold off eating. I get their around 3:30 and as i suspected, the food wasn't done anyways. Not only that, everyone sat there till 10 PM babbling about stuff that bored me silly and it wouldn't have mattered if we ate at 3 or 4.

[AmyintheSouth]

I went to my aunt and uncle's for Thanksgiving, since I can't afford to fly home to North Carolina. We made a turducken:

 

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o162/capewind/turducken2.jpg

[dadofandrew]

I've always wanted to try turducken. I've never even had duck.

[TooLiveBrew]

duck done right is delicious.

[brettac1]

Yeah, I had duck last night, myself. Turkey is way too dry for me, personally, so I love the dark meat of duck.