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(American) Thanksgiving plans

ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
in All Saints
So what are people planning/doing, both this year and traditionally, for American Thanksgiving?

(Please keep this thread fun—any debate about its history, etc. please keep in Purgatory on a separate thread…)

Comments

  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    If I remember to do so, I will book the day off to watch NFL games.
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    I will do my usual thing of getting my mentally handicapped brother from his group home the day before and having him stay over, then going to a restaurant where hopefully my daughter and her fiance will make an appearance, I will then take my brother back to his home and collapse to recuperate from the trips. I was invited to my daughter's future in-laws, but my brother wasn't, and he would hate it anyway so...
  • sionisaissionisais Shipmate
    We shall probably raise a glass to the USA on Thursday 26, it’s the last day of our forthcoming cruise. If there’s karaoke and I’m feeling brave I might scare them with American Pie!

    We’ll be somewhere in the Channel heading for sunny Tilbury.
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    I am having my son, his girlfriend, and her adult children over. I am paying for the turkey, but they will cook it as I can no longer lift the bird in and out of the oven. Not wanting to start cooking it when they arrive we decided they would cook it at their house. I plan to pre-cook some of the rest of the meal a day or two before to save my energy. I am guessing this may be my last year of hosting, but wanted to give it one more try. The famiy will also be bringing pies and drinks.
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate
    I will Zoom with my brother and sister back East as well as my sister here. I will also Zoom with an old friend, whom I've known since junior high school, who lives in Chicago.

    As far as invitations go, I expect my niece will have a gathering although I haven't heard anything yet.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I’ve been invited by a friend and his mother, though I did get a couple of turkey thighs and put them in the freezer.

    I’ll likely get some canister sweet rolls and watch the Macy’s parade. It was a tradition for Cubby and me.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I also need to find or obtain some of the few comics that feature Thanksgiving.

    https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/thanksgiving-reads

  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    Going over to the Wet Side to celebrate with our kids and their families at son's house even though he will not be there. Long story short he will be going to Pennsylvania to have dinner at his in laws.
  • Leorning CnihtLeorning Cniht Shipmate
    Mrs C and smallest Cnihtlet will be at college with the eldest. I'll be cooking for the middles. And hopefully getting around to a handful of minor domestic repairs that I haven't found time to address.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Do you (all) find that if you've had turkey roast for Thanksgiving you don't really have an appetite for it at Christmas? To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without the turkey but I only want it once a year.
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate
    We generally have ham at Chrismas.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Nenya wrote: »
    Do you (all) find that if you've had turkey roast for Thanksgiving you don't really have an appetite for it at Christmas? To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without the turkey but I only want it once a year.
    As @Amanda B Reckondwyth suggests, turkey, while generally considered a sine qua non for Thanksgiving, isn’t firmly associated with Christmas here, at least not in my experience. Some families will have it, but in my experience ham is much more common.

    Ham, specifically country ham, is what my family always had when I was growing up. For years now, our standard main dish at Christmas has been stuffed beef tenderloin, though since our daughter became vegetarian (technically pescatarian) it’s been both stuffed beef tenderloin and salmon.


  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    edited November 7
    I love roast turkey, and Brussels sprouts, so I try to buy on sale to have the same meal again on New Year’s Eve :)
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    Change of plans. My son and his girlfriend have talked me into having Thanksgiving at their house. It will be my turn to bring pies, and drinks. I think I am very happy with this idea.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    What sort of pies?
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    Pumpkin, Mince/Apple/cranberry. I make a mince pie to which I also add apples and cranberries. It is a family thing. My late husband's favorite pie which he always requested for his November birthday. So we continue to eat it in memory of him.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    We will have Thanksgiving here with the four of us and my BFF and my son-in-law's step dad. I miss roasting the turkey and cooking the sides, but my back doesn't let me cook very much these days. (Cooking for family and friends has always been one of my love languages.) We'll do as we have done the last few years, which is to have Bob Evans cook and deliver for us. I do miss the turkey carcass, though. :cry:
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    Nenya wrote: »
    Do you (all) find that if you've had turkey roast for Thanksgiving you don't really have an appetite for it at Christmas? To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without the turkey but I only want it once a year.

    Oh, I love it at both!!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    @Graven Image - I'll pass on the pumpkin, but the mince*, apple and cranberry sounds lovely.

    * I take it you mean what I would call mincemeat, i.e. a sweet concoction of dried fruit, nuts and booze, like you'd put in mince pies at Christmas?
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    @Graven Image - I'll pass on the pumpkin, but the mince*, apple and cranberry sounds lovely.

    * I take it you mean what I would call mincemeat, i.e. a sweet concoction of dried fruit, nuts and booze, like you'd put in mince pies at Christmas?

    Yes, we eat it at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    We'll probably be with the couple who've so kindly invited us for the past thirty years. But there might be a complication, as our son appears to have made friends with a student from China who may turn into a romantic interest. There may be at least one more for dinner...
  • Leorning CnihtLeorning Cniht Shipmate
    Nenya wrote: »
    Do you (all) find that if you've had turkey roast for Thanksgiving you don't really have an appetite for it at Christmas? To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without the turkey but I only want it once a year.

    For us, turkey at Christmas looks traditionally English, whereas turkey at Thanksgiving tends to come with green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.
  • MrsBeakyMrsBeaky Shipmate
    Leorning Cniht wrote: »
    Nenya wrote: »
    Do you (all) find that if you've had turkey roast for Thanksgiving you don't really have an appetite for it at Christmas? To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without the turkey but I only want it once a year.

    For us, turkey at Christmas looks traditionally English, whereas turkey at Thanksgiving tends to come with green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.

    Exactly the same here.
    The turkey and stuffing/ dressing appear at both meals but with very different side dishes.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I’m intrigued—other than Brussels sprouts, what are the British side dishes?
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I’ve been watching the Thanksgiving episodes of Bob’s Burgers, The Great North, and Big City Greens!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    ChastMastr wrote: »
    I’m intrigued—other than Brussels sprouts, what are the British side dishes?

    Roast potatoes, braised red cabbage, carrots and/or parsnips, pigs-in-blankets, stuffing, cranberry sauce ...

    Optional - Yorkshire pudding
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    . . . pigs-in-blankets . . . .
    And in the UK, that means sausages wrapped in bacon, rather than in bread dough as is typically the case in US, right? (Though my mother made them with bacon when I was a child.)

  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Yes, wrapped in dough we would call a sausage roll.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    ChastMastr wrote: »
    I’m intrigued—other than Brussels sprouts, what are the British side dishes?

    Roast potatoes, braised red cabbage, carrots and/or parsnips, pigs-in-blankets, stuffing, cranberry sauce ...

    Optional - Yorkshire pudding

    Definitely stuffing (or dressing when it’s not inside the bird, which may be safer anyway), some form of potatoes, and cranberry sauce here as well!
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I am aware of a microscopically, small number of Thanksgiving (fictional, not cooking specials) movies and specials. Do people know of other others outside of these?

    • Planes, Trains and Automobiles
    • A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
    • The Mouse on the Mayflower
    • A Waltons Family Thanksgiving

    I’ve seen the Charlie Brown one, and may have seen the mouse one when I was a child, but I don’t remember it very well if I did. I’ve never seen the others.
  • Stercus TauriStercus Tauri Shipmate
    I was once induced to see Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Unspeakably awful.

    No major American Thanksgiving event here, apart from giving thanks for the election, but we'll go to our daughter and her children in New York at Christmas. Thanksgiving at the in-laws in NY was always great: nobody was invited because they didn't need to be. Everyone - family and friends - just showed up, sometimes with a surprise guest.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    ChastMastr wrote: »
    I am aware of a microscopically, small number of Thanksgiving (fictional, not cooking specials) movies and specials. Do people know of other others outside of these?

    • Planes, Trains and Automobiles
    • A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
    • The Mouse on the Mayflower
    • A Waltons Family Thanksgiving
    Well, there is “Alice’s Restaurant” (1969). I have no clue if it’s available anywhere, but then I’d rather listen to it than watch it anyway.


  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate
    Including the hauntingly beautiful Joni Mitchell song "Songs to Aging Children Come"
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate
    Hannah and Her Sisters
  • Stercus TauriStercus Tauri Shipmate
    Ah, yes. Alice's Restaurant is for Thanksgiving what Messiah is for Christmas.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I've heard good things about Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, myself, but not yet seen it.

    I have the Alice's Restaurant cookbook, but have not seen the movie yet.
    Amanda B Reckondwyth wrote: »
    Hannah and Her Sisters

    Thank you!
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