Thanksgiving GTKY

stoneycakes · October 2014

Where do you go for Thanksgiving dinner or do you host? How many people are there? Is it a potluck or all on the host?

stoneycakes · October 2014

We always sort of switched around between my mom's and dad's side of the family. My mom's side is bigger and has 20+ family members plus usually some random stragglers. My dad's is about a dozen people. The host puts out enough to be the entire meal, but people usually bring extra dishes, too.

I'm trying to decide if we should offer to host Thanksgiving this year. We finally have a house with enough room and no one has had a big Thanksgiving dinner for the last few years for various reasons. I'm a little afraid of the stress, though.

Mandmeesh · October 2014

I host! This is the first year that I'm attempting a pot luck-and I'm not that excited. But last year was insane and mh has stated many times that he hates that I spend all day in the kitchen instead of enjoying the holiday (he still doesn't get that I'd RATHER be in the kitchen than watching football

)

I've seen my MILs kitchen etiquette, and it scares the crap out of me. Maybe she can bring the fresh veggie tray?

What ended up happening last year was….she brought like ten dishes over to our house. None of them were cooked or prepared. So not only was I finishing up the foods I was making (was in charge of the entire meal because that's what i wanted) but she was taking up my whole kitchen and fridge and oven making her vegan crap.

I'm thinking about making gourmet turkey sandwiches with like…three sides. Then desserts

sarenu1 · October 2014

I've known my husband since high school. We usually go home for Thanksgiving and then proceed to have 2 meals in one day. I usually bring pies for his family. My family usually does all the cooking by themselves depending on whether my mom or sister host.

Last year, we spent Thanksgiving at home. 2 days after C's birth I cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, and stuffing all by myself. Yes I'm crazy controling in the kitchen.

jess9802 · October 2014

This year we'll have Thanksgiving with my in-laws. I'm sure I'll be asked to bring a dessert which no one will eat (except me) because they don't really care for sweets. Then we'll go have pie with my parents. When we have Thanksgiving with my family, DH and I host at our house. We cook the turkey and most of the dishes, though my mom brings a few and she makes the pies.

stoneycakes · October 2014

Yeah, if I host, I was thinking of just doing the turkey and stuffing and the creamed onions I make every year and then delegating the rest. I like to control everything, but I feel like I'll be more relaxed if I don't have to cook every single thing. We're talking about inviting both sides of the family, which would be huge, but there would also be plenty of people to bring stuff.

bumpuser9353653 · October 2014

We hosted the first year of home-ownership. It was fun and turned out well, but after that, we decided it was too much work and not enough space for everyone. So now we typically go to my IL's since my parents have been going down to NC to spend it with my brother + wife.

Thanksgiving is potluck style, mostly. We usually bring some type of stuffing b/c MIL isn't a great cook and just makes the boxed stuff (which kinda makes me want to gag). Depending on the year, there could be anywhere between 8 and 15 people, kids included.

stoneycakes · October 2014

jess9802 said:

This year we'll have Thanksgiving with my in-laws. I'm sure I'll be asked to bring a dessert which no one will eat (except me) because they don't really care for sweets. Then we'll go have pie with my parents. When we have Thanksgiving with my family, DH and I host at our house. We cook the turkey and most of the dishes, though my mom brings a few and she makes the pies.

Maybe you could bring a more snacky dessert so it will encourage people to pick at it? Like fruit with dip or stuffed dates?

countrycotton · October 2014

We go to DH's aunts house. They provide the the meat and a side or two. A mass email goes out about a month ahead I of time and everyone relays what they will bring to compleat the meal. It works out well, few leftovers and someone generally ends up seeing the email late and offers to bring wine. It's also nice that we have a compleat head count, so we don't bring approiate portions if we know that there will a small/larger group.

Into+the+Kitty · October 2014

My mom always hosts. She makes enough food that would be fine on its own, but people always bring supplemental wines, desserts, and appetizers.

This year, because of my pregnancy and other circumstances, she is actually coming to my town and will be cooking dinner at my sister's or my house, and will be just my parents, brother, sister, nieces, and us.

I'm really relieved, because I have been anxious about what I would do if I went into labor while my sister and mom were both out of town and unavailable.

haileyq · October 2014

We live almost 6 hours from our families. Although I typically love to host, we've started going home because my MIL likes to host (which is too bad because she is not much of a cook and I like to do it from scratch).

This year we are doing Thursday at MILs and Friday at my moms which is a rarity because she always has to work. Christmas will be at our house because I will be way too fat to want to travel that far.

My signature dish is homemade applesauce that I've been doing since I was 9. It makes the whole house smell like heaven.

Unknown · October 2014

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stoneycakes · October 2014

@stringy813, vacation Thanksgiving sounds like so much fun! Before we all had kids, we once rented a cabin with a bunch of friends and made a full out Thanksgiving style dinner on one of the nights. Everyone made their own dish and we all drank beer and cooked and I was surprised even how much the single guys got into it. It was awesome.

stoneycakes · October 2014

I also like Stovetop, but we make homemade stuffing for Thanksgiving just on principle.

bumpuser9353653 · October 2014

I just can't get behind stovetop - it always tastes so salty and mushy. And my mom always made homemade stuff shoved right into the turkey, so I guess I got spoiled. I made this awesome challa bread stuffing with sausage, fresh rosemary, and sage last year. yum!

redrockmama · October 2014

Ugh having divorced parents gives me anxiety about holidays.

My wife's family lives 3 hours away. I think we spent Thanksgiving with them a couple years ago, but I honestly don't remember. The haven't been very accepting of us in the past, so we don't choose to spend holidays with them very often.

Usually we do thanksgiving with my mom and my sister's family. It's really stressful and dumb though because my mom, wife and I spend all day cooking and then my sister and her family show up for 20 minutes-eat and leave.

Last year, we spent it with my dad and stepmom. She was in a nursing home with terminal cancer and Thanksgiving is my dad's favorite holiday. So we cooked and brought dinner to them. It was depressing.

This year I think we'll just cook dinner at our house and invite both of my parents and siblings and whoever shows up shows up. Is it mean to say my dad can't bring his girlfriend?

The wife would prefer to do potluck style, I love cooking though.

I'm also a control freak about it, maybe there is a correlation between cloth diapering and being a kitchen control freak? hmmmm

Brandiewine11 · October 2014

We used to go to my grandparents house every year. Now DH and I live way too far from both of our families. It's the worst time to travel. So for the last 5 or 6 years, we spend the holiday with friends. Either we invite a ton of people over whose families are far away like us, or we go wherever someone invites us. It's been fun and different every year. I have a few dishes I love to make so I bring those things - usually cornbread dressing and a couple of pies.

It's also usually my birthday so DH gets me a birthday cake.

CLLDLL · October 2014

Before DH's mom went cut off communication with for like the 10th time in our ten year marriage we used to eat dinner with her on Thanksgiving Day and celebrate with my family on the following Saturday. MIL usually did most of the meal but would dictate to SIL and I what we were to bring and how to make it. Seriously would send us recipes with notes like Do Not Sub any other Brand of Canned tomatoes. This year I'll make something for the 4 of us and maybe my mom and brother.

On my side of the family we rotate who hosts, but somehow my one sister ends up doing it more than the rest of us. She's hosting again this year. She does the turkey and potatoes and the rest of us divy up sides and desserts. I dislike how she cooks turkey so I tend to fill up on sides when it's at her house. So I always volunteer to do something I really like.

stoneycakes · October 2014

CLLDLL said:

Before DH's mom went cut off communication with for like the 10th time in our ten year marriage we used to eat dinner with her on Thanksgiving Day and celebrate with my family on the following Saturday. MIL usually did most of the meal but would dictate to SIL and I what we were to bring and how to make it. Seriously would send us recipes with notes like Do Not Sub any other Brand of Canned tomatoes. This year I'll make something for the 4 of us and maybe my mom and brother. On my side of the family we rotate who hosts, but somehow my one sister ends up doing it more than the rest of us. She's hosting again this year. She does the turkey and potatoes and the rest of us divy up sides and desserts. I dislike how she cooks turkey so I tend to fill up on sides when it's at her house. So I always volunteer to do something I really like.

OMG. Just no to that.

stoneycakes · October 2014

@CLLDLL was it like this???

https://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/11/26/awkward-family-story-the-thanksgiving-letter/

stoneycakes · October 2014

Oh hugs @ovenrack! I'm sorry you're dreading Thanksgiving. I hope you can start some awesome new traditions soon.

Into+the+Kitty · October 2014

@overack Have you thought about volunteering to prep or serve food to the homeless?

sasq09 · October 2014

We live near both of our families, immediate and extended, so we have two thanksgivings and like seven Christmases lol
We go to my great aunts house potluck style and people trickle in and out all day. It wouldn't be weird at all if 80some family members were there. Then we head over to dhs families for the end of their get together. Thanksgiving always has been my favorite holiday. Its also the one where I get a little selfish and want to stay the whole day with my family (and I really like dhs fam too)

Mandmeesh · October 2014

theultimatesak said:

We live in the same town as both my parents and my ILs so we always end up having two thanksgivings. It's my favorite holiday because both families host and I have to do nothing. I usually do make several sides to take along to each house though (mostly so it's not a pain for them to figure out how to cook something my kids can eat).

Also, I love stovetop!

mh does too

CLLDLL · October 2014

stoneycakes said:
@CLLDLL was it like this???

https://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/11/26/awkward-family-story-the-thanksgiving-letter/

That about sums it up. She'd even have us bring our own Tupperware to bring leftovers home with us. Pretty hilarious now that I don't have to deal with it.

TJ1979 · October 2014

@Brandiewine11‌ What day is yours? Mines the 23.

We alternate between my family and my ILs. At my family we all stay with my parents, there are 6 adults and 3 babies, and mom, SIL, and I cook everything together.

At my ILs, it's a potluck. It's usually decent. I always bring pies.

I'm super mourning thanksgiving this year. Its with my family this year so I can make a few things for myself that are MSPI and but free. But a few things my family won't tolerate messing with. Like squash casserole and pecan pie.

freezorburn · October 2014

Before baby we would trek to my hometown and attend an annual potluck Thanksgiving hosted by a family friend.

Now that we are post-baby and living abroad, we mix it up. Our first Thanksgiving we took a long weekend out of the city and had a nice dinner out. Last year we managed to find a turkey and we did the traditional fixins at home. We might do that again this year, maybe also invite a few friends over. We'll see.

rbtrumpet · October 2014

I host. I've hosted anywhere from 6 to 30 people. And I always cook everything from scratch (although the time I cooked for 30, I had my best friend helping - we each had a kitchen, and we each has a sous chef too). It started out when I was in college, a lot of my friends lived too far away to go home, so we had Thanksgiving together. Then when I moved out here, I found a lot of people who couldn't go home for the holiday, so I continued on wtih the tradition. I've been hosting Thanksgiving diners for 14 years now! My family (and DH's family) come to me, along with friends

I love Thanksgiving. No, I'm obsessed with Thanksgiving! I have two Thanksgiving cookbooks. I start planning my Thanksgiving meals in October! It's slightly different each year, while keeping with most of the traditional dishes (just plays on them). My goal is to make each years dinner just slightly better than the last, and to find the "ultimate" recipe (I have the ultimate turkey, soup, and appetizer recipe - I've tried lots, these are the best!)

I even cooked Thanksgiving dinner (just for DH and I) when I was 40.5 weeks pregnant last year!

rbtrumpet · October 2014

oh - I also have the roaster that @AFwifelife has! (different brand, but same thing). She's right - that thing is magic with the turkey! In my experience it doesn't get all nice and brown like you see out of the oven, but it makes up for looks in taste!!

rbtrumpet · October 2014

@WillyH19 - I'm from MI and live in DC too

Brandiewine11 · October 2014

@TJ1979 Mine is the 28th. :-)

km_md · October 2014

We always have 3 meals to attend - my moms/family, MILs and FIls side. We are the first ones to get married and stuff so everything is pretty much how it was when we were kids. I usually help prepare at my moms and I bring some type of dish and wine to the other dinners. It's always busy but it's nice to see everyone. Mil isn't having thanksgiving this year so that's one less meal but usually we have all 3 for all of the major holidays.

rbtrumpet · October 2014

@WillyH19 - ygpm

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