Thanksgiving plans?

What are your plans for Turkey Day?
We are still figuring out ours, after MIL calls I will know for sure.

I am not sure. BR will be working all day. And my grandfather has invited us over, BUT- I dont want to go. First of all, there is his step child and step grandchild. My children are not even allowed to converse with him on the bus.
2nd, I know my mother is invited, and honestly, I just dont want to deal with that crap. Someone inv ited her to Bows party, and that was bad enough.

I miss spending my holidays with my grandfather, but since my grandmother died and he remarried, I just dont like being around the 'extended' family. they are not my type.

I'm thinking that someone in my house will have the swine flu or something....

LOL
the reason I am waiting to hear from MIl is because I sent out an email this morning stating that I would be willing to cook a turkey IF BIL and SIL do not come, and IF MIL promises not to bring any extra kids.
She is forever bring dh's brothers kids, and they are heathens

We will be going to my aunts house, i am making cornbread dressing...so no worrying about shells in the potato salad, or anyone cooking a roast with the little plastic/cotton pad in it......

We are doing my parents and then the in-laws like every other year. I hate the Holidays, we spend too much time running around and not nearly enough relaxing and enjoying them.

I am so with you on that, Tara! Thankfully both sides of the family live in the same town, so there's less driving. However it means that there's less of an excuse to just spend time relaxing. Everyone is sure it's not a big deal to come see them, but it means we never get time to relax. Too much go, go, go-ing for me.

I'm spending it cooking...which I am not excited about. I live with my grandparents and everyone always comes over here. The grandpa is having cataract surgery that week, so I get to do most of the work. I so far only have to do the green bean casserole and mashed potatoes since others are bringing the rest supposedly. Looking to have 20 to 25 people over...the idea of keeping things small gets ignored around here as the grandparents don't know how to say no and it doesn't matter to them since they aren't doing the work.

I hate the big events! I am so much of a homebody and really enjoy low key dinners and holidays. I like seeing everyone, but not all at once.

Me too Karen. There is nothing I would rather do than spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas at home in my pjs with hubby and kids.

There are about 60 of us at my Aunts house, and thats not everyone....I honestly consider that a small gathering, if all the cousins came it could easily swell ot 150 +..dh's family is smaller, but they are boring.

wow 60 people that sounds like a family reunion. Well our plans our for just the 2 of us. My daughter and I will probably go to a restaraunt if i can find one open. My husband has work out of town and all our family is out of town. But they will all be here in a few weeks for my daughters ballet recital and then christmas. we are thankful for that.

St. Louis with Nephews & wives and kids... all we have to do is bring the wine And the hosting couple refuse to let anyone help with clean up... all the adult kids pitch in with food. But I gladly would do all I could, we're just thankful that they love us enough to want to have us there (so what if it's almost 300 miles away!) I think there are about 15 greats between 3-18 yrs; 10 adults including DH and I. Total kaos, and we love it! Of course we get to go back to our hotel after the day is done.

I have 20 sibs( step and half, 4 bio), 17 aunts, and 4 uncles, then there are cousin, in laws, outlaws, and their kids, and their kids kids etc .....and thats just on my side of the family.

I miss the huge family Thanksgivings. I really really do. I would give anything to go back just one last time to before my grandmother died. I used to cook 25 lbs of banana pudding, (from scratch) 10-12 pies, fry 2 turkeys, bake 2. make about 30 pounds of chicken and dumplins, and I loved it.

I want my kids to have that. But, I am not up for going 'there'. Its not that I feel I am better than the newcomers, were just....... different...



My dream to have a house with a large enough porch/living room to have my own family thanksgiving. One day, I will. by then, my grandfather will be long gone I'm sure...

of course, if just BR, his parents and his siblings get together there are right at 22 people.

But I think I'm gonna go with Bretts suggestion for this year. Just stay home and play board games. maybe throw a turkey on the pit and make a few pounds of nanner pudding and a few pies. some dressin and get a few cans of cranberry sauce

Since it's just me and the kitty, I end up either hanging out online all day or doing a DVD marathon of a favorite show like Twilight Zone. Squirt will get super fancy Sheba food and I'll dig up something for myself.

My neighbor has a crowd at her house every year. She bought a 20 pound turkey yesterday and a bunch of other stuff to start getting ready for the event. She does do me up a nice plate of a little of this and that and brings it over for me after her family starts to head out (or pass out...in front of the TV), so I'll get a nibble or two of turkey.

Maybe I'll get lucky this year and score some wonderful bargain item on a pre-Black Friday sale.

Nyssa, I'm jealous. I would love to have a Thanksgiving where I just hung out and watch movies or shop online. Instead I'll be going to MIL's house and helping her clean her house 'til it's spotless even though everyone at the dinner will be people who visit her at least once a week. Then we'll over-cook the turkey and the stuffing because she's scared to death of food poisoning. After dinner with her, we'll head to my mom's house where she'll be driving my sister crazy by serving not-quite-enough of everything. Enough mashed potatoes to feed 6, even though there will be 10 people there, a small turkey when they needed a large one, leftover roast beef to make up for the fact that there isn't enough turkey, etc. I don't much care, but my sister will be completely ticked off by the time we get there. And of course at both houses will be a ton of foods that my kids hate but very little that they actually enjoy. So when we eventually do get away from all the relatives there will be the traditional Thanksgiving Day peanut butter sandwiches.

LOL karen, last time we went to MIL's for Thanksgiving we stopped at Luby's on the way home.
You should come here, there will be enough food to feed several small countries, and leftovers too!

thebigscott wrote: And of course at both houses will be a ton of foods that my kids hate but very little that they actually enjoy. So when we eventually do get away from all the relatives there will be the traditional Thanksgiving Day peanut butter sandwiches.

Karen, your kids will laugh about this one day. Things like this teach acceptance and tolerance, too. We all have quirks, so why not laugh (privately!) about them? DH and I have some pretty good laughs about family get-togethers - before the fact, because we know what will happen, and afterwards, because, yep - it happened again!

My sister's house in whitestone as usual.We will most likely be ordering some stuff from boston market and my sis and I will take care of our specialties,desserts etc.Catering is a good thing,maybe she won't be as bitchy this thanksgiving lol.I have always offered to help her with the cooking before,she never let me,ten she would sit there with a puss on all night,like saying I cooked all day and you guys are just sitting there.That really pisses me off,please excuse the french lol

I just want to say, I wished I still had a mother and a MIL to kabitz about I would gladly put up with all the crap (I think)

I am thinking catered is the way to go. For Christmas we go to the casino, no cooking, no clean up....but no leftovers, that sucks.

Because we're going out of state for T'day, I decided to do turkey dinner for DH and I this weekend... so he's going shopping to get a turkey breast, and all the trimmings... I'll cook up a feast on Sunday, and we'll enjoy it a couple of days and freeze the rest... so we'll get our leftovers early!

An update: I just returned from my once-a-month Big City trip and while I was there, I scored a frozen turkey breast at Kroger for 99 cents a pound. (No Krogers around here.) I dug through to find the smallest one they had which ended up at just over 7 pounds. Plenty enough for me and the kitty with some leftovers to freeze.

I wish I could fit this partial bird into the freezer to save until next week, but it's currently in the refrigerator and will probably be thawed out by the weekend, so I'll be cooking it 'way early. Squirt won't mind since she can't read the calendar. lol

Hey, Karen, come on down and we'll watch a marathon of TZ while your kids stuff themselves with PB sannies. I've got enough PB and plenty of strawberry preserves. We can have hot turkey sandwiches and brownies.

I should. Where do you live? I can't even remember. And will you be serving toast, jelly beans, and popcorn just like Charlie Brown did?

I'm in VA...SE-Central.

No jelly beans (ick!), but I do have two kinds of popcorn on hand...movie butter and Cinnabon. And a choice of jams and preserves for the PB sandwiches.

And if TZ doesn't float your boat, I also have Babylon 5, Wild Wild West, and a host of others. Amazon rules! Especially when you're using survey gift cards to get the good stuff.

Shoot! I'm in central KY so you're too far away. It sounds way much more fun than what I'm doing. I love TZ.