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Thread: Eating out for Thanksgiving

  1. #21
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    When it's been just my sister/DH/2 kids and us, we go simple. Green salad. Turkey. Italian wild rice Mushroom dressing, mashed potatoes or baked cheesy hash browns (kids choose), corn. Love a simple meal.

    I abhor 'casserole' veggies. Veggies are veggies-best done simply. I love steamed string beans w/nothing on them.

    This year we're going to In-laws. Everything will be casserole, sauce laden and mushy sage bread cube dressing (must have Grandmas' recipe you know). Hopefully the aunt/uncle/niece we enjoy will be there. Otherwise, the holiday will be a bust.

    WHO gets 2 paid holidays for Thanksgiving??????????

  2. #22
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    We've done it a few times.

    Typically my mom and brother don't make a fuss about the holiday (it would be just her preparing it for the two of them; she could not handle Thanksgiving for more people) and my sister and her partner are so exhausted from life that (it seems) they have little interest in driving across town for dinner (though partner makes a mean pie). So DW and I usually celebrate with her (much larger) family.

    This Thanksgiving DD & DSiL are visiting his parents' family so their enormous house and the only grandkids will not be available (well, I suppose we know how to get into the house but...). The other married kids are off to his family's gathering. We will have my niece here for the week. And since I'm eating low-carb-high-fat, many of the traditional elements of Thanksgiving dinner won't be eaten by me, so I don't have tons of interest in slaving for hours to prepare food I won't get to eat.

    So we've decided to pick up roast turkey dinners for everyone from a local diner. We've had the turkey there before and it's good comfort food. There likely will be leftovers. Even DS signed on (her partner will bring a pie), and it likely won't cost more than it would have to buy and cook the meal ourselves.

    However, I will be buying a turkey that week to have in the house for later. We do like turkey and it will provide several meals over several months (and soup for several meals when everything else is eaten). The choice is far wider now than any other time in the year (except maybe Christmas). So a spare turkey it is.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  3. #23
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    We always acquire turkeys this time of year--just bought a small one yesterday for 68 cents a pound. Mean to do this several times and put them in freezer for later.

  4. #24
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    We usually eat out on Thanksgiving but on the occasions we don’t I cook a traditional turkey dinner a little each day prior so on the day proper all I do is heat things up. I grew up in a family where the women and girls cooked and cleaned up all day and the men ate and watched football. I remember making gravy and helping with dishes when I was in third grade. It’s a day of Thanksgiving and I am not thankful if I have to cook and clean up all day so I vowed when I became an adult things would be different. It’s all good now.

  5. #25
    Senior Member Gardenarian's Avatar
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    Dd was visiting friends last year, so we went out - first time. We hadn't been to the restaurant before, but it has an excellent reputation. We were disappointed in the meal (nothing beats home cooking) but the experience itself was really nice.

  6. #26
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    We've done both. This year, I think I'm hosting. Gotta confirm with my daughter. She hosted last event, but for thanksgiving we were at our vacation home.

    We have alternated home and vacation home for ten years. When at the vacation home we sometimes Go alone and sometimes haul various family members. We've begun sharing family times with the neighbors up there. Sometimes out at a restaurant that is buffet style so it suits everyone's food likes and dislikes. I have tried the big dinner, but honestly it's a lot of work when we just want to be relaxing and vacationing. Also, I don't want to eat leftovers exclusively for three more days, so it's wasteful as we throw away so much to come back home.

    I am starting to really appreciate the "family traditions" more. We have six grandkids and we know the memories are being made. We have made a real effort to be in each child's daily life. Saying that, I think we'll try some new things this year if we host. I've got some board games in hand and eh is making me a giant jenga game and maybe some other yard games. Really make an event out of it!

  7. #27
    Senior Member Simplemind's Avatar
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    I love working the holidays and it gets me out of obligations I don't want to be obligated to. That said, I love left overs so no matter what is being done for Thanksgiving we will stage a more intimate one the day after. My son for years spent the holidays with his dad's family and now that he is older he also works shift work and likes our own tradition of celebrating off the calendar day. The menu is set and can not be altered because we love all of it and generally don't eat it on any other day. It is one of his childhood traditions that I'm happy to indulge. The same for Christmas, usually celebrated on a different day, another set menu that everybody looks forward to. We also have five birthdays to celebrate around the holidays so it is another reason that being flexible on the dates helps everybody find a time to be together.

  8. #28
    Junior Member Vanessa's Avatar
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    This is also my favorite holiday, which we celebrate with the whole family. When you bake a turkey, what do you do with her juice? I pour it into a bowl, I leave it in the fridge for the night. Then I throw out all the fat that was formed on the surface. The remaining jelly I heat in a microwave and I use it as a sauce for meat.

  9. #29
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    You make gravy with the juice.

  10. #30
    Williamsmith
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff View Post
    Did you ever? I would be expecting a yes there. I know our plans could always be thrown out of whack, by the LEO/medical parts of the family. (not always that day) There have been times, my schedule meant vending machines, or if lucky, a convenience store.
    My wife with a better memory for events advises that in the 38 years we’ve known each other...we ate Thanksgiving dinner out twice. Once at the Mirage Buffet in Las Vegas.....once at a restaurant the year after my father died in order to make things easier on my mother.

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