Thanksgiving

[gayl]

I'm in the store looking for something, anything, related to Thanksgiving Day. Everything I see is related to Christmas. Not that I begrudge anybody a Christmas celebration (even though I'm Jewish and I only celebrate Hanukkah), but whatever happened to celebrating Thanksgiving? In my family it's one of the three major holidays of the year. We all get together for the Turkey Trot 5K, flag football, game on TV, and a big dinner. Do you celebrate? Or has it gone the way of a 5 p.m. shopping trip to your local mall? (I refuse to do that)

 

[pb4uski]

+1 We picked up DD at the airport on Monday and took her to dinner before dropping her off at her hotel near where she is working this week. We had dinner in nice restaurant in a fancy mall... they had Christmas decorations up... which I am fine with since the season starts in a little over a week and I know it takes time to put them up but the real insult was that they were broadcasting holiday music and its not even Thanksgiving yet!

 

[Sunset]

It is a sad commentary on the desperation of stores to make a sale.

During Halloween, we were in a store that had Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff up.

 

[flintnational]

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, food and family without the pressure of gifts. I make the same southern cornbread dressing my mother and grandmother made. The only question I have every year is whether to roast a classic turkey in the oven or smoke a turkey on the BGE. I suspect in the near future thanksgiving will be replaced by an ever expanding Christmas season. Or at a minimum, the retailers will float the idea of Thanksgiving gifts.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Thanksgiving? You mean the day before Black Friday has a name?

Flintnational: Smoked turkey is fantastic, but the best part of Thanksgiving is the stuffing & gravy. And you can't make decent stuffing or gravy with a smoked turkey. We smoked one once, but from now on its always going to be oven-roasted.

 

[MRG]

This is going to be a first for us. For almost 40 years we've done a full dinner mostly just for the two of us. Many times it wasn't traditional, instead we ate our favorite foods.

DW says she wants to go to a local restaurant and eat a traditional dinner this year. Not my idea of Thanksgiving but on the other hand I do the cooking.

 

[flintnational]

Thanksgiving? You mean the day before Black Friday has a name?

Flintnational: Smoked turkey is fantastic, but the best part of Thanksgiving is the stuffing & gravy. And you can't make decent stuffing or gravy with a smoked turkey. We smoked one once, but from now on its always going to be oven-roasted.

We make dressing in the oven instead of stuffing. But you are correct about the drippings from a smoked turkey. It can't really be used for gravy without imparting a strong smoke flavor. I am probably leaning toward the oven roasted version this year. I agree the dressing/stuffing and gravy are the best. The turkey is simply the table decoration.

 

[gayl]

Thanksgiving? You mean the day before Black Friday has a name?

Good 1!

 

[Koogie]

FIFY.

I'm in the store looking for something, anything, related to American Thanksgiving Day.

 

[braumeister]

This is going to be a first for us. For almost 40 years we've done a full dinner mostly just for the two of us. Many times it wasn't traditional, instead we ate our favorite foods.

Same here. Since it's just the two of us, we have whatever we want. Often it's a prime rib roast, but this year DW surprised me when she asked for baby back ribs. Turns out she likes my ribs done on the BGE more than I realized!

 

[powerplay]

Costco had their Xmas stuff out before Halloween!

I do see lots of Thanksgiving dinner stuff in the grocery ads this week so there is that.

Christmas is the big money machine and I'm sure all the retailers want to maximize their sales.

 

[Walt34]

Same story here, Halloween was barely over and up goes the Christmas stuff. At least in the pharmacy and grocery store, which are about the only B&M stores we go to anymore.

 

[EastWest Gal]

This is going to be a first for us. For almost 40 years we've done a full dinner mostly just for the two of us. Many times it wasn't traditional, instead we ate our favorite foods.

DW says she wants to go to a local restaurant and eat a traditional dinner this year. Not my idea of Thanksgiving but on the other hand I do the cooking.

It's been the three of us for the past 18 years. One year we went to a hotel buffet, and frankly, it was awesome.

 

[Ronstar]

My hose reel broke and I need to go to Menard's to get a new one. Of course, that is a "seasonal" item that used to be where the Christmas stuff is now.

 

[Meadbh]

When is American Thanksgiving?

 

[Ronstar]

Next Thursday

 

[Meadbh]

Next Thursday

Thank you. I guess that’s why there are so many turkey recipes in my YouTube feed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Ronstar]

Thank you. I guess that’s why there are so many turkey recipes in my YouTube feed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks - I was in Toronto for Canadian Thanksgiving. And I didn't know it was Thanksgiving until I got there. I wasn't prepared for the business closings, but we had a great time.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you!

 

[Red Badger]

Happy Hanukkah, gayl!

I happen to be more in the deism faith belief, but take umbrage at the hijacking of most religious holidays for commercial exploitation. I avoid most stores from Thanksgiving until after Jan 1.

For TG, we do turkey every few years. Other years, we do duck, goose, prime rib; and one year, Chinese buffet....

Happy Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas/Hanukkah.
Happy New Year.

 

[Ronstar]

DW normally prepares turkey and all the trimmings. Our group likes the dark meat, leaving a lot of white turkey meat for leftovers. This year, she has decided to do 8 turkey legs.That won't be enough. I better smoke a brisket for backup.

 

[gayl]

Happy Hanukkah, gayl!

I happen to be more in the deism faith belief, but take umbrage at the hijacking of most religious holidays for commercial exploitation. I avoid most stores from Thanksgiving until after Jan 1.

For TG, we do turkey every few years. Other years, we do duck, goose, prime rib; and one year, Chinese buffet....

Happy Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas/Hanukkah.
Happy New Year.

Thank you! Was in Israel 2 years during Hanukkah (1988 & 2004) and didn't recognize it .... no real 'gifts,' just traditional foods & chocolate gelt (coins). Much better than shopathon. It's what we do in our family since then

2 kids: coffee / breakfast basket + $100
7 grandkids: chocolate gelt, draddle, + $20

Big dinner with 30 closest family

 

[RobbieB]

We are having an "alternate" Thanksgiving this year at my girlfriend's brother's house. Nobody is interested in cooking up the traditional due to recent demise of 3 family members. I heard that sushi was being considered which works fine for me -

But I also have a frozen turkey breast in the freezer and we will have out own little traditional celebration afterwards. Like Friday -

Oh brined and smoked as always!

 

[Red Badger]

We are having an "alternate" Thanksgiving this year at my girlfriend's brother's house. Nobody is interested in cooking up the traditional due to recent demise of 3 family members. I heard that sushi was being considered which works fine for me -

But I also have a frozen turkey breast in the freezer and we will have out own little traditional celebration afterwards. Like Friday -

Oh brined and smoked as always!

I always smoke a larger critter (or portion thereof) on black friday. That way, no one can snare me for a damn shopping / combat scenario.

 

[Sue J]

My sister and I used to alternate who would host thanksgiving. For the last couple of years her husband's kids and families would be in town so she has hosted every year. She has a much bigger dining room than we do.

Dinner at her house is interesting because her husband and his family keep kosher (no dairy when eating meat, no pork products or shellfish) and one daughter is vegan. She makes it all work and we have a good time.

This year we finally get to have it here as none of her husband's family is visiting. We will have dairy free dishes for BIL. There will just be seven of us as our daughter-in-law is out of the country.

I cook all year so DH likes to cook for thanksgiving. He keeps it fairly simple and does a good job.

This is my favorite holiday because it's not religious. We don't celebrate any of the religion based holidays so this is about the only time we do a big dinner.

 

[Philliefan33]

DH is getting a new hip on Tuesday and should be released to come home on Wednesday, but for this year I've pushed our traditional dinner off until Saturday to give him a chance to recover a little before filling the house with people. The daughters will spend Thanksgiving day with the respective boyfriend's family and we will get them all, plus my parents, on Saturday. I'll do turkey with all the fixings.