This will be the first year that we do not host the Thanksgiving feast at our house. The young couple we helped move to their new place, want to give it a try this year. My wife is the 'Advisor' as it the young lady's first attempt at such a large, sit down meal. They have been busy planning and I just get to eat this year. Wherever we were stationed in the Military, we always had the single G.I.s in my shop join us for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 'More the Merrier' is our motto. Being far from home on a holiday can be hard.
I'm sure HG won't mind me replying to that question @Babs Hunt ... as I've have had a home on Mainland Spain for around 15 years..I can tell you that there's no Thanksgiving holiday in Spain. However that said, the Spanish have fiestas for just about everything else.. so there's never a shortage of an excuse for a family or street party...
@Babs Hunt no Babs we follow the European model. Christmas Day for me is very odd now but us few Brits still have our Chrismas Day lunches.
In the past I would start a week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, and I loved every second of it. I would plan for thirty, and know that one or more would be bring someone that didn't have anywhere to go for the day of giving thanks. To me that's what it was all about, and my family understood it was also a day to extend a hand to those that felt alone. Then there was always the football game. But we didn't watch it on the TV. My youngest son would bush hog that back three acres, and we would all go out and play, even when we forgot which side we were play on, or just because if was fun to changed sides because it messed up the other players. If the weather was warm enough the kids could go swimming in the small lake in the very back. Later we would start a small bond fire out back for those that just wanted to set around and tell funny stories about the early days. This was a holiday that always turned into a long weekend affair. But those days are in the past now and have been for at least the last eight years. Without my boys and husband there is no way I could host such affairs today. Last year I just buried my head. This year I'm having Thankgiving dinner for my brother, and my oldest stepdaughter's family. This year I've decided to fix dinner again, and everyone is suppose to bring someone with nowhere else to go on this day of thanks. I'm fixing turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, candied carrot, fresh dinners rolls, corn bread, a fudge cake, pumpkin pie, and a cast iron tart cherry cobbler, deviled eggs, and a fresh cut veggies tray with a rotel and sausage cheese dip. I bought a gallon of eggnog to go with. I thank my Creator for the chance to do our family's traditions again.
You are more than welcome @Holly Saunders, just bring a guest that you feel might need to know that there is a place for everyone. To me it is a day to reach out and say you too are welcome and important.
We often have a few friends that come share our Thanksgiving meal with us too....as some of their husbands are working on that Holiday or they are on their own with their families far away. There is always an open invitation and an open door to all that we know to come eat with us if they have no plans of their own. If the weather is nice outside my Family also likes to play some games. The guys team up for horseshoes and some for a dart game, while the younger kids have bean bag toss, bean bag tic tac toe, etc. and our teenagers like to play volleyball together. They also all like to take turns driving and riding in the goft cart and on the four wheeler at my oldest daughter's home which is where we will be this year. Most of the time this is where my daughters and I pour ourselves a glass of wine and sit and chat while we keep an eye on the kids and watch all the game playing going on. Far to soon Thanksgiving is over with and we all head off to our homes with full bellies and cherished memories of Family time together.
I cooked and cooked. It's all gone, and I wasn't even able to take pictures, but my daughter took this one of my brother, myself, and Bobert, the grandson that decided to live with me so I can hold onto as much freedom possible. Even though I look older than my years, I'm starting to find happiness again.