Thanksgiving has actually turned out to be my favorite Holiday now. I think it's because Thanksgiving is the only Holiday that hasn't become so commercialized and materialistic. so it's a much less stressful Holiday too. I like that my Family does their best to get together on this Holiday and it's so nice to have a Thanksgiving prayer before our meal...and for each one of us to take a turn saying what we are personally thankful for this year. There's always way to much food and we always do the traditional turkey (although now days it might be fried instead of baked in the oven) and ham along with sides of dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole,...and of course pumpkin and pecan pies, etc. This year though I wish we weren't having that menu. I wish we were just making a big pot of turkey and sausage gumbo (which could be made the day before as gumbo is always better the next day) with rice, potato salad (because every cajun knows you have to have potato salad with gumbo) and pumpkin pie with cool whip for dessert. I'm losing my appetite for big meals as I age and what I crave more of is not food but relationship time with my Family. All that traditional food takes up so much time for preparation (even though we all help prepare it) and I don't want to waste that time preparing all that food when now days my Family has so little time to even spend together. As far as I'm concerned we could just order Pizza for our Thanksgiving meal and get a couple of pumpkin pies from the Bakery (but don't forget the Cool Whip). Not only would preparation be kept to a minimum but also clean up! Life now days is just to fast and busy and to me Thanksgiving should be a time we can slow down and enjoy each other instead of spending so much time cooking and cleaning up the mess from this. So this Thanksgiving when it's my turn to say what I am thankful for I'm going to tell my Family how thankful I am for each of them and how I hope that next Thanksgiving we can simplify our menu so we have more time to enjoy each other as well as the food. Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? If so I hope you will share how you celebrate this Holiday and what's on your menu. Feel free to share any changes you'd like to make to your Celebration too.
Babs...we don't celebrate thanksgiving in the UK..obviously...but it's always fascinating to read about how you all in the USA celebrate. I've been told thanksgiving is a bigger and more exciting time for you folks than Christmas. While here in the UK Christmas is the huge holiday, and celebration with all the food and parties etc.. However with regard to the food at any holiday , I agree wholeheartedly with you...I'm no longer interested too much in the food as much as the company. In modern times we can all have those so called traditional foods any day of the year so it's not something very sepcial any more..but certainly getting together with family and friends becomes more important as we get older..
@Holly Saunders These last few years it seems Thanksgiving as a much celebrated Holiday has been overshadowed by Halloween and Christmas. Of course the day after Thanksgiving which is called Black Friday officially opens the door for Christmas Shopping which is pure insanity to me unless you are doing that shopping online. Nope I wouldn't say Thanksgiving is a very big Holiday here in America these days. But it's my favorite Holiday now and the only one that hasn't been changed into something it was never meant to be.
I understand what you're saying @Babs Hunt, although the kids might object. I know I always wanted the full meal, although my parents wouldn't accept any help from us in making it. If they don't agree to cut back on it, maybe you could have it catered, or hire someone to come in after and clean up the mess. What I do, since I have a tiny kitchen, is cook the food in stages, and then just heat it up. I typically will leave one or two things to the day of, so the smell will waft throughout the house, since that is part of the experience, but this way I can clean up as I go and there's not as much of a mess at the end. I'm going to start today or tomorrow with the squash, potatoes and stuffing, then I'll probably cook the turkey breast on Wednesday, assuming it's thawed. I don't remember how long they take to thaw, but it's not a huge one. @Holly Saunders Do y'all do any sort of Thanksgiving type of celebration at another time of year? I know Canada has theirs in October, and I figured most countries celebrated some sort of similar occasion.
No @Diane Lane we don't have anything like that. We used to have the Harvest festival in church when I was a child...but that was a long time ago..and that was strictly only in church..but anything similar to thanksgiving, parties and celebrations at our homes ..no we don't have anything like that here..
I like the idea of celebrating a day of giving thanks, whether it's religion-based or secular. I just think it's a good idea to take some time to focus on what I have to be grateful for...I wish people focused more on that than on rushing out to shop. Some stores here are having Thanksgiving Day sales, but quite a few are taking a stand this year and closing for the day, which is nice for their employees, assuming they're not calling people in for that night, to prepare for the onslaught of shoppers the next day.
When we used to have family to get together, I always loved all of the holidays, just because it was a happy time when we saw family that we didn't see that much, and had a celebration meal together. This always included Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, and sometimes even Memorial Day or Labor Day. We had picnics for the summer holidays, and indoor meals for the colder ones. Now, all of the holidays are pretty much just like any other days for Bobby and I . His only family is his brother, who lives in the Netherlands, and my only family in the world is my three kids. Both boys are out West (Idaho and Washington), and Robin is here; but often traveling for her work schedule. She told me a week or so ago that they plan on sending her back to Afghanistan again, and if that happens, she will be gone until around the end of the year, and miss all of the holiday season here. Family time is what it is all about for me, and since there is no family to share anything with, we just carry on as usual. I am not sure what we will do for Thanksgiving, but I can roast a chicken in the Ninja, so we will probably do that.
Ever since we moved away from family in So Calif., neither them or us can afford to visit for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was a real "family get-together" when we lived there, but we both wanted to move out of Calif.. We were going to go to Bob Evans Restaurant for a Thanksgiving dinner, but yesterday, while we were doing some grocery shopping, my wife found out that she could get a turkey half-off ($6 instead of $13) if $30 was spent at the store. She wasn't thinking about the restaurant plan and bought the turkey. We were going to give it away and then, last night, I told her that we should cook it and eat at home. She was sort of surprised to hear me say that since I'm still using crutches and a wheelchair to get around. So, we took this 13 lb. turkey out of the freezer and put it in the frig to thaw. Will be going to Walmart tomorrow night to get a disposable roasting pan and a few other things for our Thanksgiving Dinner. I told her that I'd rather cook at home than go to a restaurant. I like homemade turkey and mashed potatoes! But, if we didn't have this turkey, we would've gone out. The last two years, we've cooked a nice/small Thanksgiving dinner in our apt.. It was very good. And, early on Thursday AM (5AM), we will pickup a newspaper for the Black Friday ads. If we see anything, we will head out Thanksgiving night or Friday morning. If we don't see anything, stay at home. The DVD's we want, both music and movies, I'll get online. I we don't go out shopping, we will watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and any other parade that might be on. Some college or NFL football as well.
We have Black Friday sales here...it's ongoing now online...and we don't even celebrate Thanksgiving!! How's that for madness?
That is incredible, @Holly Saunders , and it really shows just how much that commercialism has taken over all of the holidays everywhere. Because people started their Christmas shopping here on Thanksgiving weekend, and then it became known as Black Friday, now you have the commercial part of our holiday, even though you do not have the holiday itself ! Probably, Christmas shopping would have started over there around the end of the month anyway, or at least by the early part of December; so now you just have the special "official opening day" for Christmas shopping there like we do here. It is strange how holidays "spread" sometimes. I remember my English mother-in-law telling us that she had never heard of halloween when she lived in England, and when her oldest son (my ex-husband) told her he was going out with a big paper sack to bring home candy for everyone, she thought he must be going to steal it, and scolded him severely. He finally made her understand that it was some kind of a custom here, and kids did it each year, so she let him go along with the other neighborhood kids. She said that , as a good Catholic, they always celebrated on November 1st, which was All Saints Day. The night before was called " Hallowed Evening", which ended up being shortened into our word, "halloween"; but it did not have anything to do with ghosts and goblins and trick-or-treating, like we did over here.
like last year we'll let the HY-VEE food chain do ours again. MR bird is pre cooked and really good sides. we have to pick it up Thanksgiving day before noon
You're right Yvonne it's crazy that Black friday has become so commercialised that we have it without the meaning behind it...However our Christmas shopping actually starts around September, that's generally the time when the stores get all their Christmas stock in...it's just a nonsense. As for Halloween, your M-i-l...is almost correct..we have always celebrated Halloween in the UK...I remember all too well getting dressed up and going around the neighbourhood in my fancy dress when I was a kid over 50 years ago, trick or treating and doing my party piece and getting sweets and money for it, and bobbing for apples, and carving out faces in big Turnips and swedes..as you do in the USA with Pumpkins (although Pumpkins ahve become more popular here too in recent years)......however., I was born and raised in Scotland which is a Celtic country as is Ireland and Wales and All hallows day was invented by my ancestors the Celts 2000 years ago... . The only part of the Uk which didn't celebrate Halloween to my knowledge was England...although for the last 10 years or so it has become very popular in England too now.. and even adults dress up and party away the evening now Here's the history of it... http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Halloween/ Also one week after Halloween we celebrate Guy Fawkes night...which is where we celebrate with bonfires, fireworks and parties all around the UK..... It commemorates the 5th of November 1605 when a traitor to the crown, Guy Fawkes was part of a gang who tried to blow up the houses of parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder ..was caught and the king and parliament were saved. An effigy made of stuffed paper and straw known as *the Guy* is made to resemble Guy fawkes and burned at the top of the bonfires.. The children get to burn sparklers...and everyone has a winter outdoor feast...baked potatoes, hot soup, hot dogs, toffee apples etc.. As children we were all taught the rhyme.. Remember, remember, the fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes a typical guy fawkes (bonfire night) party.....
Diane, I don't cook the whole Thanksgiving meal anymore...my daughters took over that many years ago. We all bring different dishes and desserts....and the one who's home we are having it at that year will cook the main meats and a side dish or two. We usually chip in for the meats. But even with all of us sharing the cooking, etc. all of this still takes a good part of our time together to heat or finish cooking...and then there is the dividing up the leftovers, washing dishes, and cleaning up. I'd rather make a simplier meal with eat and toss plates and utensils...and very few leftovers, etc. I'd like to have more time to sit and talk...instead of running ourselves ragged pulling everything together. We just don't have enough time together as a Family these past few years and the time we do have I'd rather spend just relaxing and enjoying one another and sharing a meal that doesn't take up so much of our time preparing and cleaning up after.
Now we have moved to Spain. Very different Christmas. The Spanish are extremely family orientated, which I love. We celebrate on Christmas Eve with a huge meal and celebration. No gifts are exchanged. Christmas day is a normal day with shops opening. The real celebrations start on 3 Kings Day on January 5th. Family and friends,exchange just one gift normally. Children normally only get one gift. Celebrations go on all day and most of the night. Fantastic experience and only just got used to it after 2.5 years. New Years Eve is a huge celebration again fireworks going off all night. People don't drown themselves in alcohol. It is literally a celebration of the New Year. People walking around hugging and every one smiles. Love it