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Nov
16
November 16, 2006
When I was reading through your interesting, insightful, and moving comments from yesterday’s post, I watched this Dove-sponsored video that Sabine linked. Wow. I recommend viewing it, if you haven’t already; it’s a powerful reminder of exactly how manufactured the beauty industry is. I actually got snort of sniffly and eye-blinky towards the end, when the model’s face is being digitally manipulated, because it’s just so sad that even after all the hair and makeup and lighting there’s still so much trickery that goes into those images. Necks are lengthened, eyes are widened, every possible imperfection is erased. Is it any wonder we’re so batshit crazy when these are the false idols we are comparing ourselves to? They aren’t even fucking human.
Bah.
Not that raising a boy doesn’t have its own set of issues, and not that the question of whether or not we’ll have another baby someday who may in fact be female isn’t still on the table, but for now I’m glad that one of the many nebulous subjects to get paranoid about in the nonstop worryfest that is parenthood isn’t How To Raise a Girl With Healthy Self-Esteem, because holy shit, what a complicated mess.
It gives my heart paper-cuts to think about all the crappy social issues Riley will start being exposed all too soon, probably at an age that will blow my relatively jaded little mind, in fact.
Sometimes we talk about moving out to the country to an area with less affluence and related keeping-up-with-the-Joneses and no middle school kids going to raves and maybe less Xboxes per household because then Riley will grow up a simple kind of man, just like that Lynyrd Skynyrd song, and he’ll be happy and strong and he’ll know how to build a fire. And then I think, who am I kidding. We can’t shield him from everything, and are there really any non-Amish communities anymore who aren’t living in the exact same world as the rest of us? (Country kids probably hurry through their cow-milking chores to pulverize each other on Halo in their wireless-networked barns.)
We’re still going to teach him how to build a fire, though. You never know, he might go on Survivor XIX: New York Sewers someday.
:::
In completely unrelated news, how in the hell is Thanksgiving next week? I feel like there’s been some kind of government conspiracy because really, there’s just no way it can possibly be almost Thanksgiving ALREADY. Somebody moved this holiday back, by god. Oh, you can’t fool me.
(Pardon me while I maniacally shake my fist at the invisible helicopters.)
We will be driving to Oregon for the holiday, and even though I have begged and I have pleaded, JB will not let me leave Riley behind (it’s not like he would have been alone, I totally would have left Dog in the house too. They would have developed a symbiotic relationship, like anemones and clownfish, I’m sure of it!). So we will have 6+ hours in a car with a “spirited” toddler, which will be great, as long as “great” means “eye-clawingly horrible”.
I should have a lot to be thankful for once we get there, like the fact that the double jeopardy law exists, so if I murder my husband for wanting to spend the whole time elk hunting (”But babe, it’s the only time I get to go!”) (”You mean except for last weekend when you left me with a teething Hitler while you spent three days manfully pooping in the woods, RIGHT?”) and I am found innocent, then just like O.J. I can tell you all about it with impunity.
There better be a shitload of pumpkin pie available to me at all hours next week, is what I’m saying.
For a variation on my usual “what are you doing this weekend” theme, tell me, won’t you, what your Thanksgiving plans entail, if you are celebrating.
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103 Responses to “Uninformed societal musings and pie”
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We saw the parents last weekend, so we are all alone for the weekend. (yipee!) It will entail lots of food and movies and TiVo and nowhere to be. That’s a tradition I can get behind!
I’m spending Thanksgiving with my cousin in Hilton Head, and there will be lots and lots of eating. And if it means I don’t fit into my size 5s afterward, SO FUCKING BE IT and pass the pie. Have fun!
I live in a tiny town (6500) with Junior in a school (3rd gr) of K-8th grade and a total of 400 students, and still you can see all the effects on materialism, modernism, etc… but I dont think its as bad. I dont hear of 3rd or 4th graders bringing pocket knives to school like at his last one, or “Mom, whats weed?”, because, yep, I did hear that one. Gah. I like my little moo-town.
As for the weekend, we leave tomorrow to drive to LA (7 hours), spending 3 glorious nights in some warmth and the fun that is known as Universal Studios. Then we drive to Tucson, AZ where we will cavort with my in-laws. They arent too shabby. Its Juniors first time at the in-laws (his step-dad), but he loves them so. We will probably venture down to Tombstone and watch me some shoot-um-up style wrangling and fighting. It promises to be an excellent trip… except for the 15 hour drive home.
No such thing as Thanksgiving around these parts. However this weekend (even though I know you didn’t ask), I have two weddings in one day. I’m not sure how we’ll swing it, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to make it to both dinners to get our money-spent-on-present’s worth.
I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as I’m in NZ…but its me and Nate’s 3 year anniversary tomorrow so apparently he wants to go to a gig instead of taking me to DINNER *sulk*
That Dove supermodel thing would make me feel better, if I hadn’t been to see strippers lately. The strippers were SOOOOOOOOO hot, and they were REAL and LIVE and stuff. The only thing that makes me feel better is that they invited me up on stage to dance with them. A small comfort *sniff*
i’m hosting thanksgiving this year, and with all the stuff and personal errands i have to run, i decided to take the entire week off. so instead of worrying about how in the hell i’ll manage to find the time reheat a pre-made turkey and open a can of cranberry sauce, i’ll be lounging around, brining free-range turkey and making fucking pies from scratch. woo! i can totally kick martha stewart’s ass.
Thanksgiving = the Meeting of the Parents. Dun dun DUUUUUUN.
going to atlanta! for FREE! my company needs someone to deliver a presentation to the client. and i don’t even have to present anything. seriously, i only have to HAND OVER some presentation books. and i get to stay the whole weekend, on the company’s dime and visit friends.
Let’s see… We’ll either be having dinner with friends in Bellevue or going to my in-laws’ place in Idaho. This entails braving Snoqualmie Pass late at night Wednesday or very early Thursday morning because they want to have dinner at NOON which would be fine if we didn’t have a six hour drive if traffic is light and the weather is good.
Jerks.
I’m hoping for a heavy snowfall in the mountains so I can say, “Awww, I’m so sorry we couldn’t make it! We didn’t want boulders falling on our heads as we slide on the ice into a snowbank.”
I’m cooking for six people, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider that my kitchen features exactly one square foot of counter space. No, seriously. I’m going to use the top of the fridge for prep work when that one square foot gets filled up.
And since we live in Manhattan and do not have a dining room and therefore a dining room table, I’m going to go out this weekend and purchase a folding table of some sort from Staples or similar, which will reside under our bed when not set up in the middle of the living room for such occasions. It’s going to be harried and crazy, especially since working is EXTREMELY harried and crazy right now, but I’m excited. My family has great fun together and I love to play hostess, and I’ll get to smooch all over my very smushable 6-month old nephew to boot.
I love holidays. LOVE.
And by the way, my parents still live in the quaint little Southern town where I grew up, and it has become a drug den of sorts — meth labs, that kind of thing — since I graduated high school. Small towns are in no way immune to messiness, and sometimes I think it’s amplified because the kids are really bored and there are lots of wide open spaces for them to find destructive things to do.
Oh, man, do I ever love that video. I watched it like 10 times, and then sent it to pretty much everyone I know. Love. it.
We’re going to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. I’m bringing a chocolate-crusted pumpkin cheesecake that is so peculiar and so delicious, people have been known to sneak back into the kitchen later to scoop out handfuls from the pan.
Swistle, I’d kill for that recipe. Do you share?
I second that, what Sundry said…. Swistle, you MUST SHARE!!!!! :)
The Hulk and I are taking the train from Denver to SF to visit family, friends, and have an all-around fabulous time. We usually fly but there were no cheap plane tickets to be had for this turkey day, so we decided we’d take the whole week and see the west from a POV that most people don’t get to see.
I’ll probably be doing most of the cooking at my mom’s house, and I’m excited to see all my relatives and their significant others. Also, I am excited about sushi and good Thai food, as those are two things in short supply here in flyover land.
For real… Chocolate pumpkin… holy cow! Please, please share!!
As for Thanksgiving plans, my mother in law is coming, along with my sister-in-law, her husband, their kid, and another kid who is not theirs and I only met once and didn’t really like, so am praying she is not a brat on this trip. And? We’re all going to Disneyland!! That is the joy of living in Southern California and owning an annual passport to the parks - people want to come visit us, and we don’t have to deal with Chicago winters. We do, however, have to deal with at least one lecture for not venturing out there to see the whole family out there in Chicago, blah blah, how could we not show our love by braving the snow, this is FAMILY after all! And hopefully that will only last a short time, and I can spend my time riding Space Mountain with the kids and eating pumpkin pie at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. Mmmm.
Also, I’ll have to work a little bit, but it’s for my new petsitting job, which is actually pretty fun.
I am with you on the “how is it already Thanksgiving?!” sentiments, btw! I mean, seriously. How?
The man, pets, and I are going to hole up, eat Stovetop, take naps, and watch football. I think. I hope. We needed a year off.
Wait. You have Xbox in Washington? That really fucks up our plans to move there, I gotta say.
This is my first Thanksgiving since my divorce. My sister does not seem to grasp that I went from a 5 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom apartment. She still thinks I should host 8 people for dinner. I’m hosting right to a cheesy Thanksgiving buffet. Hell I dont even have 8 places to sit…
We’re going to Norm’s (we never close!) for their $8.99 Thanksgiving dinner. Just me and the bf. No cooking, no cleanup, and the servers there are always so nice. If they have to work that day, I will go there, buy the food, and tip them $10 or $20 for making it possible for me to eat turkey and mashed potatoes without cleaning up.
Also–living in a rural town or out in the country won’t shield Riley, unfortunately. I grew up in podunk Michigan (home of the Frontier Days!) and the cruelty and issues are just more redneck-fied. It’s in those communities that you’re more likely to run into the racists (the KKK had a rally in my town when I was in HS), religious freaks, incest and pro-abstinence folk with knocked up teenage kids. Really, not so sheltered, just different types of bad for him to learn/be exposed to. Think Footloose, eh?
The family is coming down… my parents and brother and sister-in-law (awesome), G’s sister and her fiance (pretty cool), and my mother-in-law (eh, not so much). The other sister-in-law, G’s youngest married sister, will not be making it because “Thanksgiving means less to her and so she’ll spend that holiday with her in-laws and Christmas with her family.” Our hard-and-fast law is: If you want to see us at Christmas, then you come to see us, we don’t travel for Christmas especially with a child. So, that means that G’s entire family - minus the one sister’s finance - is coming here for Christmas (and the engaged SIL’s birthday, which is Christmas Eve). So everyone’s coming for Christmas, on Christmas Eve, and leaving Christmas afternoon which is fine but who do I cook the roast for? The three of us?
How do I get myself into these connundrums?
Anyway, back to my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving…..
My mom’s coming Tuesday, my dad’s coming out of the woods on Wednesday and coming here, all the siblings are coming Thursday along with my friend P and her son D and possibly her ex-Jehovah’s witness big-D. We’ll take a nice walk, perhaps before dinner, perhaps after, perhaps both. We’ll have herb-roasted turkey with shallot pan sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, creamed onions, mashed turnip (my dad’s the only one that eats this), rolls, wine, garlic green beans, and pumpkin, pecan and apple pies. Ah, crapulence. How I love thee. Then, after dinner, while everyone is cleaning up except me and my mom, I’ll go upstairs and pass out.
God, I love this holiday.
I’m hoping to get through Thanksgiving without having to drive down to Tacoma and visit my sister and her husband (who has only three brain cells left and they fight with each other, the brain cells, not my sister). My husband is hoping for head at half-time.
Let’s see…in our house, we will have our Early Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday evening, just the four of us (me, my man, baby Wren and big sis Kira). Thursday morning is Macy’s-Parade-watching on TV, then a three hour round trip to take Kira to her dad’s place for the holiday (as it is every Thanksgiving). Husband, me and Wren will then ride another hour to his sister’s place for the actual Thanksgiving dinner (I’m ambivalent on how much I want to do this), then an hour ride home, because I have to work the next day (Health Care! We Never Close!), and possibly also work on Saturday. Yuck. Somewhere in there, I’d like to spend a bit of time reading, and working on scrapbooks, and maybe even doing some glasswork, but we’ll see. Saturday I get to pick my older daughter back up from her dad.
“Country kids probably hurry through their cow-milking chores to pulverize each other on Halo in their wireless-networked barns.”
::snort:: You kill me. :) I grew up on a dairy in Texas, and we didn’t even get freaking PONG until I was almost done with high school. But thanks for that hilarious image. :) I recommend growing up in the country, though small towns sorta suck it. They’re really gossipy and all up in your bidness, yo. You definitely grow up with a different set of values, though. Either that, or it was the times, and they have indeed a-changed. (though, I totally don’t have that keeping up with the joneses thing, and i’ve never been much for standing on ceremony either, and I *know* that’s because I grew up in the country, where everyone is more or less on equal footing)
I add my voice to the clamor for Swistle’s choco-pumpkin cheesecake. :)
I get home (LA) from Paris on Sunday, so I’m not sure what we’re doing, but I will assume driving out to TO to The Boyfriend’s brother’s house for a homecooked dinner with all of his family, which always proves way more delicious than it has a right to be, and I always eat way too much, solely because there’s an abundance of ridiculously delicious food. That, or staying home and totally continuing the ritual of re-acquaintanceship after a long absence. ;)
Thursday we are heading to my aunt and uncle’s house, where I have spent every Thanksgiving of my life except one, and where there will be approximately 1,000 people this year. This is my son’s first Thanksgiving and it should be interesting now that separation/stranger anxiety is setting in. I anticipate no nap whatsoever until we get in the car to go home. I have no idea what we’re doing Friday - staying the hell away from all retail establishments, I expect. Saturday is dinner with the in-laws in Manassas (Sundry, aren’t you from there? Or lived there once? Or something?) - again with the lack of napping, I’m sure. My SIL hasn’t seen her nephew since he was 2 months old (she lives in KY) so it’ll be fun to watch them get acquainted. Again with the stranger anxiety, hooray! I’m actually looking forward to the weekend. It’s going to be a lot of traveling (though thankfully no more than 2 hours at a time) and a lot of rolling with the punches, but Tommy’s a very sociable little guy, and he’ll have plenty of people to flirt with. And I could really go for some pumpkin pie.
P.S. Hi, Christine!
The Dove video is freaking amazing, huh? Makes you feel a lot better about yourself. :)
For Thanksgiving we’re going to my in-laws, which I’m actually happy about. It’ll be a nice, mellow time (except for the boyo misbehaving and being crazy, but that would happen anywhere we went). And I’m baking a couple pies, dammit, even though they’re not the many-pie eaters that my family is. I will not be stuck with only one pie choice!
Car ride with toddler + benadryl 1 hr before leaving = bliss. It’s okay. Really. Xanax? Not so much. But benadryl? I bet you can find an itchy rash somewheres.
GIRL!? What choo thankin? Forget benadryl (sorry Jake) DRIVE AT NIGHT!!! That’s what we ALWAYS do with the kids. SO what if you get in late, at least you’re not pulling your hair out!
I’m studying for finals in school all weekend most likely. Yuck.
Dinner Thursday with about 30 of my closest relatives at Grandma’s on Captiol Hill. (And there are even 8 people not coming this year!) There will be as always a mad dash for food and talking wit our mouths full. Friday= NO SHOPPING whatsoever. Saturday and Sunday out in POrt Ludlow with the BF’s parents for another celebration of Thanksgiving ( he works Thursday and Friday, and the other siblings are outta town!) So, walks on the beach, cozy fires and reading of books should await as well.
Normally I go down to my mother’s house — six hours away, two toddlers in the car, FUN (by which I totally mean “hell-on-wheels”) — and see my sisters and their children, but not this year. No.
These past several months, one of my sisters, along with her kids, have lived here with us. It’s been misery. She’s still going down to Mom’s. I am staying here and enjoying four solid days of having to take care of no one’s children except my own and watching my husband stroll about in his underwear. DOMESTIC BLISS. I think I will do a low-key, scaled-down version of Thanksgiving dinner but not anything fancy (I am still, however, waiting for that chocolate pumpkin recipe! ;)).
I’ve had all the family togetherness that I can take for a long, long time to come.
As a recent escapee from a rural small town (6500) just on the other side of the mountains from you, I can tell you with 100% confidence that raising a child with the whole “simple mindset” is the way to go. Granted, I’m only 22, but I would NEVER want to have grown up somewhere else. My parents did an excellent job making sure I knew about the world, but growing up in a place where the right things are valued has given me a unique heart in today’s world. The first school shooting in the nation was only 20 miles away, so we weren’t naive or oblivious by any means, we just have the advantage of being those down-to-earth, kind-hearted types that you seldom hear about anymore. Not that everyone is this way, because every small town comes ripe with gossip and cliques, but I personally think that the environment is ideal.
Because you know you wanted to hear my two cents.
We are heading to Thailand on our honeymoon! Although I will say that the daggers that shot out of my mother-in-law’s eyes when I said I booked the tickets over the holiday hurt a little bit (I am taking her baby away from her on Thanksgiving? Horrors!)
In keeping with my do-everything-different-in-Hawaii theme, I’m not doing anything significant on Thanksgiving this year. Spending it solo, since I keep realizing I’d rather spend time by myself (which is company I enjoy) than with people I don’t really know or connect with, just to have other bodies around. I’m thinking I shall make some Sove Top Stuffing and eat a turkey sandwhich. My good buddy Jen, back in Denver, is going to host a huge Thanksgiving dinner in May, when I make my return trip home, so that’s when I’ll get the full fix. 85 degrees and hot hot hot doesn’t really *feel* like Thanksgiving to me, anyway.
That Dove video damn near killed me the first time I saw it. Oh, and as a country kid who grew up working on dairy farms, kids were, indeed, just as vicious. And truthfully, I hightailed my ass out of there the first second I could to a big city, whereas my friends who grew up near big cities stayed closer to home. So not to be selfish, but near a biggish beautiful city is extra insurance that Riley (and future Sundryspawn) could potetially stay closer to mama. If, you know, that’s what you want, or if you don’t leave him at home with the dog first.
Re: Thanksgiving, my in-laws are coming to our house, and only three of them eat turkey or, well, eat anything really, and since I can’t cook, we be catering! It’s all ordered. I go, pick it up, come home, stuff my face and clean. Whoo hoo. No traveling, no fuss. And there will be tryptophan-induced naps. But mostly, I’m excited because my nine-month-old nephew is part of the package, and will be staying with us for a whole week and I want to smell his head.
We’re in Hawaii too (same island as Alex- small world) and I had tentatively planned to go to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with my family, until my husband, who couldn’t make the trip because of work obligations, gave me a reality check on 13 hours of flying alone with 5 kids (including two year old and nursing four month old) to land where it is cold and then navigate a rental minivan or SUV over icy freeways when I haven’t driven on anything remotely resembling a freeway in two years. So, staying here it is!
Last year we attended a huge dinner at a neighbor’s house with a wide variety of friends, and it was fun, but this year we are in need of some serious relaxation and are planning on heading to a nice resort for a high quality buffet followed by beach and/or pool time (by which I mean the kind of pool which has a sandy beach area for the kids, waterslides, built in hot tubs, waterfalls, etc.- maybe even spending the night/a couple of days depending on what rates/availability I can find over the holiday weekend. There are some advantages to living here!
Seriosly! Girls! So easy to fuck up! But at the same time, teaching a boy to do his own laundry, refrain from objectifying women, and generally not be That Asshole when he grows up is probably just as challenging. It’s a tough world we live in, with all maner of indecent things so easily accessable. I think you and JB will raise one awesome boy and someday some girl is going to thank you.
I grew up in a farm town in Oregon populated by 750 people (Aurora. Woot!) and let me tell you, you wouldn’t be escaping much. There are just as much drugs (Meth! The best!), drinking and uninformed sex as in the city, but throw in some Bored Teenagers With Cars and you are in trouble. (Also: ‘Values’ seem to be very loosley interpreted these days)
That said, (and the 13 year old me would strangle me now for saying this) but growing up without a lot of money and subsequently “things”, I think has made me less of a materialistic person now.
Maybe it’s not so much your enviornment but how you live your daily life? I think you can be down to earth, honest, and unmaterialistic wherever you live. Hopefully being a good example, talking honestly and openly and trying to teach them to make good decisions on their own will keep them on the straight.
Anyway, we’re actually hosting Thanksgiving for my family. At. My. House. For the first time. I think this means I’m actually a grown up now. They are all driving down from Portland to my house in Oakland and I will be hosting a dinner for 13 and have at least four extras people sleeping in my apartment. Ooooh so stressed, I’m already having anxiety dreams that I forgot to hide our vibrator or buy any groceries. I don’t know how Thanksgiving got here so soon either.
My mom, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, nephew and niece are coming to my house tomorrow. From Michigan. For a week. We are all staying in my 3 bedroom house. All nine of us. Ten if you count Boo. We will be going to Sea World and LegoLand and the aquarium and on Thanksgiving, we will eat the store-bought already made turkey breast on Chinet Heavy-Duty paper plates. Cuz there’s no way in hell I’m getting stuck doing those dishes. It’s going to be chaos, total chaos - and I’m gonna love every minute of it.
We are having Fiance’s family over for dinner. By “family” I mean his Mother, Brother and any stragglers they happen to pick up along the way. This year we were told to set a place for a woman who lost all the fingers on one hand in a fight with a horse. Sigh. Hopefully I’ll be able to escape shortly after dinner to a friend’s place down the block where there will hopefully be copious amounts of wine and pie.
Speaking of pumpkin pie, have you had the pumpkin cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory? Oh. My. God. It’s like pumpkin pie on steroids - yum! For Thanksgiving, we’ll be at my family’s house on Thursday and then the rest of the long weekend is ours. We may take the boy to see Santa.
The Man is working until 8pm on Thanksgiving, so we’re not doing a damn thing that day, and I imagine dinner will be something imaginative like . . . hamburgers. We’re supposed to be visiting his parents the following weekend, though, so I suppose there could be some belated turkey gorging. As long as I get some pumpkin pie, I really don’t care.
I’m staying home and cooking for 6 people, including my mother-in-law. Maybe I can impress her with chocolate pumpkin pie?
thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. my dad is one of 6 kids, 3 boys and 3 girls, born and raised outside of buffalo, ny. the 3 girls all moved down to washington dc at some point in their lives, while the 3 boys remained in buffalo to raise their families. every thanksgiving, the 3 boys and said families pack up and head down to dc to hang with the 3 girls and their respective husbands. between cousins, spouses, nieces and nephews, in-laws, family friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, kids, etc… the festivities have grown to include somewhere in the vicinity of fifty people. were quite the loud bunch, always willing to set an extra spot at the “table” (its more of a buffet really).
we decided to initiate a new tradition this year and have something of a “themed thanksgiving.” in order to keep things entertaining, weve decided to entitle this the “bad picture thanksgiving” where everyone is to go through their copious family pictures and pick out the worst or silliest pictures of eachother that they can find. we plan to make a makeshift mural of sorts and have a good laugh and everyones expense. should be pretty entertaining.
also, i have lived in the suburbs [born and raised in amherst, ny–safest city in america!] and now reside in nyc. i also spent a fair amount of growing up in “the country’ [my cousins have horses and pigs, their own barn, are active in their ‘future farmers of america’ and regularly show various animals at the state and county fairs!]. there is no escaping the “keeping-up-with-the-joneses” mentality, no finding “the simple life.” all you can do is surround yourself and your family with people with similar values and beliefs and play the role of an active parent. and give your kids lots and lots of love.
On the day itself I go deliver meals to homebound people then have coffee with a friend. Then I go home and cook and eat some stuff and watch cool Thanksgiving movies like Home for the Holidays and Pieces of April. Then the next day I have an Open House at my place, this year will be the second annual. So far one person is coming. Hope that’s not all.
We’re heading over to Minneapolis Wednesday so my husband and son can see the Timberwolves/Knicks game, then a ham dinner at the brother-in-laws. Hopefully my mother-in-law won’t PHYSICALLY ATTACK ME AGAIN. The next day we’ll head over to my parents for the weekend to eat another Thanksgiving dinner. Unless we’re in jail. ;)
I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house for the first time in my life (and I am 49 years old!) Twenty-three people. I am Italian so we always have home-made ravioli as a first course, before the turkey and stuffing and stuff. This causes a lot of plate usage. However, I plan on breaking one tradition. My moms good china and silverware will be staying in the cupboard this year because I am totally using Chinet plates and the fanciest plastic silverware I could find (have you seen that stuff? Its incredible that they can make that stuff look so real!) I just can’t wrap my mind around washing 69 plates and a couple hundred pieces of silverware!
Sundry, I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.
Hmm… Thanksgiving. Since becoming vegan, this has been an odd holiday for my family. Last year, we took a Tofurkey to her parents house, mostly as a lark. Turned out the thing was absolutely delicious - no joke! A bit funky, but delicious.
This year, we go to Pittsburgh to see my family. Who are very decidedly non-vegan. So we’ll either cart a Tofukey with us, or I’ll make some nice Indian food for my wife, my daughter and I.
RE: Raising girls & self-esteem
My daughter just turned one. I become furious at the thought of society telling my little girl that she has to look/act/think a certain way to be beautiful before she was even out of the womb. My wife gets these feelings of body inadiquacy, and I hate it. To me, my wife is beautiful and I love both of them as they are. I want them to feel as beautiful as I see them. So far, our solution has been to tun off the TV. No cable, nothing while baby girl is up except for an occasional Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD (when she needs dazzled enough for a anil clipping) or an occasional Steelers game (not on too often in Ohio).
It has worked a lot on my wife and I, so hopefully it can help her, too. It’s weird. After you get out of the TV rut (really, it’s odd to think how many appointments I made… with my inanimate TV), you start to notice some weird stuff about society. Like how much food they try to sell you. How many lifestyles they try to sell you.
I guess it’s expected that in a capitalist society, that someone would try to sell you a body image… but for now, I’m keeping my daughter away from it as best I can. And paising her as much as I can (within reason here…. “What GREAT barfing!” Um, no.)
My parents come out from England every Thanksgiving (we’re in Michigan) and cook up a feast. It’s like a traditional English Christmas dinner, but a month early! There will be naps and dog walking and movies to watch (Planes, Trains and Automobiles, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, etc etc). And I’ll start my annual thanksgiving jigsaw puzzle (I’m such an old lady). And then we prepare to head to California for Christmas. good times.
This year I must have lost my ever-loving mind because I am hosting. And I am anal, which means I am making everything and not letting family bring anything. In my defense, my mother tends to cook on the bland side. So much so, that my dad makes pleading eyes at me when discussing food. So mom is allowed to pitch in and help me, but it’s my menu. For one thing - no dreaded rutabegas!! Yuk!!
Overall, I am excited to do it though. The bf and I have never had everyone here for the holidays (we usually do the travelling) so it will be nice to stay put. And not everyone has been to our place yet, so it will be cool to have everyone see where we live. (upstate NY near Albany) It will definitely be cozy as everyone is also staying here, which means there will be aerobed and couch sleeping.
The best part is that one of my guests is a family friend from Ireland. Who got so excited when he found out that he was going to be in the States during thanksgiving that he started researching the holiday. he now knows a lot about pilgrims. (sadly, probably more than I.) We plan on being very “thanksgiving-y” with the Macy’s Parade on the TV and all the proper foods. How a man has gotten by this long in life without ever trying pumpkin pie is enough to make me faint!
First, wow on the little video. Does it make me sad and pathetic if I also got a little weepy? Yes?
And Sweet Jebus, 6 hours with a toddler in a car?
Come to my house for Thanksgiving! There are only two of us plus one cat and a 15 pound turkey.
I love my family and all, but Thansgiving is sort of a huge pain, because we have to go to both my parents and my in-law, who live about 45 minutes away from each other and an hour 1/2/two hours from us. And do half the cooking. So I’ll spend Wednesday afternoon and evening cooking, and then stop by my parents on the way to my in-laws to drop off the food, arrive at my in-laws around 9 am, stay for Thanksgiving #1 (which they conveniently eat at around 1), and then go to my parents, finish the cooking, and eat Thanksgiving #2 (which they conveniently eat around 6).
By the time Thursday night rolls around, I never want to see a piece of turkey again. We could switch off like every normal family does, but that suggestion went over like a ton of bricks a couple of years ago, and this arrangement has its benefits, difficult as that may be to imagine. When I have kids, I’m totally making them all come to me.
I sort of secretly love Thanksgiving anyway.
First off, you spoke my very mind about not being able to shelter these kids from the World That IS. (Which is why I finally gave up trying to curb TV watching. TV EXISTS and that’s a fact.)
We’ll be driving like you, but we do it after bedtime in the hopes of our spirited toddler (ha, Tracy Hogg!) sleeping all the way through. My parents’ in Florida. There will be too much food and, I have a feeling, too much talk about what of my Grandmother’s furniture do I want. (She died in August.) Lovely.
But I’m very thankful all the same. :)
I am crossing off the days to Thanksgiving on my calendar because we are having turkey with bourbon/brown sugar/mustard glaze, creamed corn with bacon, brandy-orange sweet potatoes, burnt-sugar pumpkin pecan pie, and cranberry martinis. You will notice that there are three types of alcohol involved in dinner–beat that, Pilgrims!
The turkey is fun to make because you mix up the glaze and rub it under his skin.
The downside of Thanksgiving is that my entire family will be there, including Poisonous Aunt. I cannot guarantee that I will not throw a pie at her.
I’m in Canada, so my Thanksgiving was a month or so ago. But for this weekend, I’m driving to Buffalo with a friend on Saturday morning to see what all this American-ThanksGiving-Sales are all about! I hear Target has some kind of weekend-long bust-out? Horray!
The video was great. Wouldn’t have known it was her, would you? It’s kind of apropos that this morning I was reading some of my online friends talking about how leaving for work without makeup made them feel… Honestly, I wonder how it got to be like that for them. (As a non makeup wearer except for really special occaisions, I’m either totally ignorant or really lucky.)
Thanksgiving was supposed to be spent flying with my one year old to join him and his dad in Wisconsin. Since the child has been really sick for the last two weeks since husband’s mom’s funeral I think I’m opting out of family time and the hassle of flying. It’s also my mom’s first Thanksgiving since my dad died, and I think we’ll spend it with her. Hubby has a class reunion and wedding, not to mention the bars in Wisconsin, so he’ll be busy all weekend anyway.
My side of the family is celebrating Thanksgiving this Sunday. I am making homemade dressing for the first time ever — keep your fingers crossed for me! We’ll gather at my brothers house, and all the rugrats will play to their hearts content while the adults watch, thinking about how lucky we are. We’ll probably even drink some wine (or beer). We’ll have Thanksgiving on my husband’s side on Thursday. There will be far less kids there, as his family is small, and we are the only one with ankle biters. But, it will be enjoyalbe nontheless. There will be wine involved. And probably card games.
Very rarely are we able to have Thanksgiving with just the 4 of us (plus the dog - we miss him because he usually ends up at the kennel over the holiday), but we have been able to swing it this year. I will let the kids (ages 15 and 18) choose the menu, and they usually like to go the non-traditional route when they can. We’re of Swedish and German descent, but we may end up with spaghetti, lasagne or burritos — and that’s OK. We’ll stay at home on Thursday, maybe put up the Christmas tree, and then will have guests (brother, SIL, 2 toddlers) Friday through Sunday.
We’re leaving tomorrow for my in-laws’ in Maryland (5 hour drive), staying the night, and then hitting the road again for Long Island. There we will visit friends, who have 3 children under the age of 5. I almost dread this, because my husband is already sketchy on the whole “having kids” thing, and I’m afraid this may put him solidly into the “no” category. Thankfully, there will be lots of beer, I’m sure. Lutherans can still drink, right?
Tuesday night we’ll head back to Maryland for the Thanksgiving festivities. My in-laws kitchen is under renovation, so I’m fairly certain Thanksgiving dinner is the only home-cooked meal we’re getting all week.
Eating Stuffing. Lots of it.
Also, I’m a girly girl who loves watching football.
There may also be some kind of nap-like activity going on.
That video was totally crazy! Maybe we should have some sort of mandatory fashion/beauty service core in this country–every woman must model clothes/makeup at least once in her adult life so we can all see some REAL chicks for once. Jeezus!
Also–Swistle? Umm…yoo hoo, Swistle? Hook us up with the recipe before we all go into salivation overdrive!! The boyfriend and I are flying way up to north to see the family in Western NY and I’m sure they’d love me forever if I whipped up one of those doozies. Excited to see my family (hello little Sister, I know you’re a Sundry lurker!) and chill out and eat (and eat) after my Master Cleanse!
Oh yeah, and I say send Riley to sleepaway camp (one of the non-rich kid ones). Every summer. 2 weeks with no electronics, kids from all social strata, playing in the woods, campfires, singing dopey songs, flirting with girls he’ll likely never see again–the best child formative experience in this former camper/counselor’s book :)
This weekend, I’ll be rooting for OSU in the OSU/Michigan game, and the Browns in the Browns/Steelers game, even though I’ll be at work all day, both days this weekend (retail at Christmas is hell…I love this job, but I don’t think I’ll ever do thgis kind of job again).
Thanksgiving this year is just my mom making dinner for the five of us (this year, it’s my boyfriend’s turn to come over to my house). Though, if I can get out of Thanksgiving at my house, I’ll totally go to my boyfriend’s family’s house and spend it there.
My partner and I will be driving up to my parent’s house (another “don’t ask-don’t tell” visit)…in central TX…out in the middle of nowhere where you can really see the stars at night…taking the 10lb Chihuahua with us for personal torture…Thanksgiving dinner is ribeyes, baby!!! I will get to spend time with my sis’ kids and on Friday we will watch the annual football rivalry…Texas A&M–Gig ‘Em, Aggies!!!! vs Texas…then back home for the weekend with my partner’s daughter and her boyfriend. Looking forward to our Harry Potter movie extravaganza weekend…now there are FOUR movies to watch!!!!–a new holiday tradition with my non-traditional extended family.
We’re going to my parents’ house in Virginia (also a 5-hour drive, so not too bad) on Tuesday afternoon. Haven’t been home for Thanksgiving in two years (last year we were both sick as dogs but still managed to cook an entire HUGE Thanksgiving meal at home just for the two of us…it was delicious), so I’m looking forward to the time.
I think my main contribution (other than just general helping) is going to be making the pies. I make a killer pie crust, and when you combine that with my mom’s amazing apple pie filling, well…it’s fabulous. (Pumpkin pie is great in my crust, too.) My husband’s contribution will be eating (if he has his way) THE ENTIRE TURKEY because he is obsessed like that.
There will definitely be some football-watching, too…husband went to Texas A&M and is therefore a HUGE fan and MUST watch the A&M/Texas game on Friday. There are lots of warnings being put out to my parents about any swearing that may occur. (Pickles and Dimes, high-five for being a girly girl who loves watching football! That’s me all over.)
I’ll be spending Sunday at my grandmother’s farm with the extended family, fielding questions about why I’m not married and popping out babies yet and keeping my mouth too full of good farm food to answer. And then I plan to spend Thanksgiving Day and perhaps one other day at “home” home with my parents, making awkward attempts at conversation over the singed turkey (we always set off the alarm at least once, my mother is domestically disabled) and feeling immensely homesick for DC. And then sneaking back to Washington with loads of leftovers in tow, so I can have a re-do once I get home to my apartment, and nap through the remainder of the holiday on a tryptophan high.
My fiance are going to Hawaii - luau for Thanksgiving dinner sounds great to me!
Barb, totally didn’t see your comment - Gig’em Aggies, indeed! (I’ve really turned into a fan in the past few years.)
No Thanksgiving in Brazil…
I´m jealous!!!
Okay, first things first, was Emily serious when she said she might not fit into her 5s? If so, I’m going to have to throw the “You, Bitch” flag on that one. I mean that in the most endearing, I’m fucking-jealous-of-you way. Well, our Thanksgiving plans will consist of my husband’s parents and his sister and her husband and daughter visiting and staying with us for two days. I know I shouldn’t care, but I’m nervous as hell and, well, I thought I was doing a nice gesture by “inviting” his sister and mother to prepare a side dish and offer them to share MY kitchen, to which his sister replied that she was already planning to make something and was sure her mother was too and that we would all ‘just squeeze in the kitchen.”. Am I uptight? Probably, but this shit just really stresses me out. AND, they will want to rub their grubby hands all over my kid, which also stresses me out. Oh, and, did I mention they are sleeping over for TWO nights. It’s not that I dislike them, and truth be told, spending time with my family stresses me out too (though not in the same way). My god, I think I need to revisit the possibilities of Zoloft. For Christmas, we’ve already decided on the weekend before to visit family so that Christmas weekend will be celebrated by our family of three, no guests! Do I smell a Scrooge in the house? Seriously, though, Emily, if you are a size 5, I’m doing a congratulatory cabbage patch for you. Oh, won’t you please share your dieting secrets with moi? And if you are NOT stressed about seeing family for the holidays, I’m doing an even bigger dance for you, and will you please tell me HOW YOU DO IT?!
Going to my mom’s house in the country! With farm animals!
Okay, so there aren’t any farm animals anymore. Just four dogs. And a cat. And all the children running around, including my husband, and they could totally PASS for farm animals. Cute ones.
I’m cooking the turkey! I’ve done it for the past 3 years, and it always makes me feel so GROWN UP and RESPONSIBLE. And then I have to wash dishes, which totally sucks. I’m going to try to talk my family into using paper plates instead of china this year.
How do you think that’ll go over?
Going to my parents’ house, about 2 hours from ours. Mom is hosting instead of Grandma this year so I get to help her cook. Then on Friday we will watch the Texas A&M/Texas game, as my husband and I are both A&M grads…much cursing to be had, I’m quite sure. Oh, and also shopping.
My husband and I have a rule that we alternate between his family, my family, and ALONE (no family but just the two of us). This year, we are alone so we plan to have a spiral ham and other yummy eats, plus sit around and watch football ALL DAY. Yeah….you have guessed that we don’t have kids….lol.
I’m very sorry for your suffering. I can only imagine how that’s going to go. My thoughts and prayers are with you! Though in jumping-ahead-in-time retrospect, maybe they should be with Riley… =P
I plan to go home, meet my family’s new puppy(OMG HEART), and then spend the next four days studying for two finals and writing an 18 page economics paper that’s worth a third of my grade. Exchange rates and bilateral trade flows, yeehaw!
Did Swistle ever tell us about that pie? Well, what caught my eye even more than that was Alexa’s mention of the most fabulous-sounding concoction - “BURNT SUGAR PUMPKIN PECAN PIE.” Please, Alexa, tell us about that!
And I am all about the size 12’s, girls - I hope I fit into those after next Thursday (and good luck on the size 5’s, you little twig). Better yet, I am all about sweat pants or those awesome velour pants from Victoria’s Secret. Break out the cozy pants - it’s the holidays!! I was going to try and lose a few pounds but now I guess I can just wait until January and do it with everyone else. Thank goodness for the power of rationalization - I almost missed out on snacking my way through the next month and a half.
Now tell me about the PIE!!
We’re free of family obligations this year, so we’re going to a restaurant of my choosing for dinner. Two criteria must be met: 1) lots o’ champagne must be available, and 2) all-you-can-eat-buffet. Hmm, guess I need to get on that too.
I’m working all weekend. Then I’m going to work all Thanksgiving weekend. I do plan to take Xmas day off, though.
My husband has a big birthday Dec. 2nd, so we’re going to celebrate with family when everyone is together over Thanksgiving. We’re suprising him with a “This is Your Life”/Merv Griffin-style hybrid “talend”show in our living room. We are all going to perform funny and embarrassing (for him and for those performing, as we have little talent) songs, skits and monologs.
I stupidly invited my husband’s brother, sister & spouses to my house for Thankgiving. I’ll be the oldest there. It’s my house. That kind of means that I’m in charge. And I’m the worst. cook. ever. (say it again with the Oprah “bellow” — woooorst cooook evvveerrrrrrr. The timing will be off. Everything will be bland. And I’ll be stressed to the teeth freaking the f out. What the f was I thinking? Is there any going back?
Mom, Dad, brother & girlfriend, sister & boyfriend, mother-in-law & husband, my cousin, two friends, and three dogs are coming for Thanksgiving. The majority of them are staying all week.
I bought plenty of margarita supplies. I plan to keep everyone drunk.
2:00am — Produce newscast
10:00am — Cook side dishes
12:00pm — Thanksgiving meal with boyfriend’s family, sleep
6:45pm — Lighting ceremony on the Plaza
7:00pm — Chiefs vs. Broncos, more sleep
2:00am — Produce newscast
Welcome to sweeps, baby.
Where’s the chocolate pumpkin pie recipe??
I plan to make homemade a egg custard pie, chocolate meringue pie, and a pumpkin pie. (maybe a *chocolate* pumpkin pie??) and macaroni and cheese. I’m still one of the young uns in the family so I get side dishes. mmmmm….. pie……. enough to feed around 25.
Today I have packed six 30-gallon tubs worth of stuff in anticipation of Thanksgiving, plus probably more because I am not done yet and you can never pack too many baby clothes for my 4-1/2-month-old son. I get to load it into the back of the pickup myself, while also making sure the baby doesn’t choke, or choke on, the cat, and then drive to pick up my husband from work at 5:30. He may be a little late because they usually play a foosball tournament on Friday afternoons and he can’t let down his foosy partner. Yeah. Foosball. THEN! I get to drive 400 miles (the first 40 through rush-hour St Lous traffic, all with a baby of as-yet-tb-be-determined temperament) to northern Indiana, where my husband will look at me incredulously when I tell him we have to UNPACK the truck (who knew?).
Tomorrow, although Indiana is where my parents live, AKA the only babysitters we have, I can’t leave the baby with them because I am attending my friend’s wedding and she wants the baby to be there because he is cute and she is lobbying for her own baby already. For which I had to buy a dress two sizes too big (and have it altered) and a fucking ginormous nursing-mother bra (which I will probably leak through and have to do the walk of shame). And I won’t get to partake of the open bar, goddammit. But my husband will — foosball AND booze, the fucker.
Sunday, he gets to leave and live the life of the bachelor for four days while I spend the same four days prying my mother out of my ass with a spoon. She’s taken all next week off work to hang out with me! And narrate every fart-bubble smile my kid makes! Hey look! He smiled! Hey! I think he pooped! Hey! He can wave this toy! Hey, he has 4,327 hairs on his head! Hey! he smiled again! Hey! Hey!
Thursday, my husband comes back just in time to eat Thansgiving dinner and watch football (I’m sure no babies allowed during the game), and then I am going to cook two turkeys and two pies for my dad’s family’s Thanksgiving the next day, for which I had to pack three tubs worth of kitchen implements because my single brother (who is hosting, because his house has minimal furniture and a bigscreen, perfect for buffet tables and, augh, football) doesn’t even own a cutting board. or salt and pepper shakers for christ’s sweet sake.
I’m sure that my husband will look at me funny when I tell him that everything we unpacked needs to be packed again.
Saturday, we’re getting up at the asscrack of dawn to drive back to St. Louis to attend another friend’s wedding where, once again, I will get stiffed on the open bar. At least my kid will look cute in his teeny little suit I had to buy. (Keep an eye on flickr for the pictures…) And I get to wear that fucking Dolly-Parton-boobed dress a second time at least. Thanskgiving Sunday we’re going to a children’s birthday party. On Monday, I swear to god I’m going to move out.
This should have been a blog entry, but lord knows I couldn’t post it on my own blog becuase my mom trolls that thing like it was oxygen. Thanks for the space to vent!
Driving from PA to MD for dinner with the extended family. Girl-time with my fun cousins, then on to catch up with my parents for the first time in ages. Driving home again Saturday so I can spend the rest of the weekend with the bf. If you don’t get enough pie there, let me know. I’ll share. :)
People, I am going to have to harass Swistle about this flipping recipe she so wantonly teased us with.
Thanksgiving Day, we will be fixing some sort of anti-turkey dinner, as we will be turkeying on Friday iwth my mom and stepdad, I think. Plans just changed an hour ago. Saturday, we will be having a brunch with my dad, his girlfriend, my twin, my brother, wife and two kids, and my half-sister. Sunday is the usual church, lunch nd relaxing from the weekend. This all might change, but I’m writing this, hoping that’ll make it solid. *smile* Ian will enjoy seeing all the people, there’s no mistaking that. I hate the thought of having to explain why we go so many places on Thanksgiving when he’s old enough to ask. Sorry for the gloom.
You’re totally right: I mentioned the chocolate-crusted pumpkin cheesecake and then I just breezed out of here without a backwards glance. Thanks to the people who came to my blog to say, “Um, HELLO?!”
I’ve posted the recipe on my blog. But for god’s sake, people, be careful with this.
It’ll just be the two of us, so i think a Jennie-O turkey breast in a bag is in our future. Sigh. I have family here in Atlanta, but they’re all eating with people we do not know, hence we were not invited (okay, we weren’t invited because we are total strangers to them. But why wouldn’t you want total strangers over for thanksgiving?).
My sister and her husband are spending this week in New York, and then on Thursday they will be watching the parade. In person. While I watch it on TV.
Bah.
Linda - I’m so right there with you with regards to husbands’ “but I only get to do this….” once in a while thing. Although ours isn’t about elk hunting…it’s golf with his dad and brothers. Yeah, I get to entertain my MIL and my little one while he is out for hours and hours. My MIL uses this opportunity to tell me where we should live (right next door, dear God!), what I’m doing wrong, that she doesn’t get to see the baby enough and compares us with all of her friends’ kids. ARRRRRGGGHHH! ah sorry…thanks for letting me get that out.
As for Thanksgiving, we are going to the in-laws. I’m going to do my best to smile most of the time. Overall, they aren’t that bad - just too intense. Good luck with the ride next week. :)
I have sent Swistle’s recipe to myself. It looks delicious!
Amanda -
I grew up in northern IN! We lived in Crumstown and I went to school in South Bend.
originally our thanksgiving has been this: cook a huge meal wednesday night at home to snack on, attend lunch at an elderly aunt’s on the actual day, come home and eat OUR left-overs all week-end, box everything up to make frozen dinners sunday afternoon, and then eat chinese food on sunday night to clear our palates of all things thanksgiving-like.
new plan:
my meal for the three of us us changed to the actual day and now includes the elderly aunt and her alcoholic son/chauffer. so, three expanded to five- still manageable. but NO wine!
…then seven (my son’s new girlfriend and his male roommate whose parent’s are out of town) - still doable, but harder.
…and is now up to nine- the two little girls my son forgot to mention belonged to his new prim schoolteacher girlfriend (no baby daddys in sight!). i am scrambling to get enough chairs. the girls may end up eating on the floor at the coffee table on pillows.
my husband also insists that a true thanksgiving dinner attended by his elderly aunt must have a fold-out honeycomb paper turkey (popular in the ’40’s!) which i thought would be impossible to find, but target had a big one for $3, and tonight wally world had a pack with a small turkey for the girl’s table, so maybe they won’t feel left out. if i do all plastic at the kiddie table and take over half my dishes, we can make it! now, what to cook…?
the aunt has volunteered to make the dressing, as no one but me likes dressing with sagey country sausage in it. the complete menu is as follows:
turkey
dressing
gravy
cranberry sauce
mashed potatoes
sweet potato casserole
squash casserole
corn
lima beans
green bean casserole (eaten only by my son, and now includes cheese and bacon in it)
Stouffer’s lasagna
deviled eggs
relish tray with sweet pickles, olives and green onions
rolls
cornbread
iced tea
pecan pie
coconut cake
my husband will make the corn bread and mashed potatoes, my son does the deviled eggs and green bean casserole, his aunt concocts the dressing, lasagna by Stouffer’s, and the rest will be lovingly cooked….by ME!
That is an amazing and very sad video, thanks for passing on the link.
We’re hosting a couple of friends here. It’s our first Thanksgiving on this coast, and there will only be 4 adults, and I’m a little sad about that. I really enjoy hosting a full house. On the other hand, less sharing of the pie! ;-)
I too, am a hunting widow. I too, want to kill my husband for even thinking the phrase “But it’s the last chance to fill our freezer for the winter!”. To that I say, THAT IS WHAT SAFEWAY IS FOR. Sorry for the yelling.
We throw Thanksgiving here at our house. My family, sometimes my husbands’ family, and we take on the fire department guys who are on duty and need to stay in district. I love hosting Thanksgiving, mostly because I can eat way too much and not have to worry about buttoning my jeans to go home. I just go rummage around in the closet for some ‘eating clothes’. You know, drawstring, stretchy, maternity.
Going to my sister and brother-in-law’s house. Again. Begrudgingly. To keep tha peace. Next year, there will be NO PEACE! I refuse. Dammit.
However, I will be cooking that weekend. Woopie.
Our tradition for the past 9 Thanksgivings is to drive to Mississippi from Atlanta to visit with our friends. Okay, so we “get” to make what should be a 7 hour drive in 8-8 1/2 because we have an 11, 4 and 2 year olds (I have to go to the bathroom…Mom, Gabrielle has a poopy…million stops). Yeah, boo materialism…*thank GOD* for the car dvd players! Oh, I totally agree with you on the whole keeping up with the Joneses, but we survived our road trips without the dvd players…I’m not, absolutely not going back now!
Once we get there, my dear friend will cook all the usual Thanksgiving fare and I’ll make the sour cream, cheddar and chive potatoes and green bean casserole (I know, it’s complicated, but I’ll suffer through). She loves to cook, and everything is fabulous!!! My kids will be entertained by her kids and we will hang out and play games, laugh and have a wonderful weekend.
Oh, and my friend and I will on Thursday evening flip through the ads to decide which stores has which bargains that we will actually enjoy getting up in the middle of the night for…with the aid of Krispy Kreme. It’s our tradition and with anyone else, I couldn’t imagine it…but she’s just that much fun!
I hope you have a great holiday, Linda.
We are going to have the usual Thanksgiving feast with my family (no nasty traffic or driving at all for that manner, because I live behind my mom!)
It is going to be a bit hard for me this year, I just cut out all meat from my diet, so that means no turkey, and no cranberry-sausage stuffing.
I am making new recipes this year; apple sweet potato cassarole, and cranberry pumpkin muffins.
Leah… I am meeting the parents for the first time too and I have the added joy of my 11 and 9 yr old sons that I will BEAT WITH DRUMSTICKS if they don’t behave!! His Mom is a legendary cook in the area and I was thinking of making a pumpkin cheesecake……. but she is LEGENDARY! I am thinking stretchy pants………….
Have fun everyone and ENJOY the hell out of each other!!
In the spirit of JB, my brother will not return from his hunting trip in South Dakota until Wednesday…even though our parents are arriving on Tuesday…
My parents are coming to meet their grandson, and we will go get my 13 year old step daughter, my “Hollywood” cousin and that one crazy aunt that EVERYONE has (She stares into space and laughs and when you ask her what she is laughing at all she says is, “Hmm?”). SHE IS ON MY HUSBAND’S SIDE, THANK YOU. I plan on eating a lion’s share of yams and home made mac n cheese, enjoying my newborn son. I will be breaking out the maternity pants again so I can eat until I look about 8 months along.
YAY!
Thanksgiving usually entails us driving 5hrs north to the MiLaw’s house, dinner there one day, travelling another 45min to the FiLaw’s house for another day, then fighting traffic to get back home (along the same route everyone takes from upstate NY/VT to NYC). Fun, huh? It’s great seeing everyone, but such a pain. THIS YEAR I’m super pregnant so we’re not.going.anywhere. Unfortunately my husband hates turkey so we’re not having that either, but I’ll take the long weekend with my boys and *no traffic* over turkey any year!
OMG, I am LMFAO at Amanda’s post above (number 80, or “LXXX” in Sundry-comment-Roman-numeral-speak). The rest of you people, go back and read it! I liked: “I couldn’t post (this) on my own blog because my mom trolls that thing like it was oxygen.” heeheehee… love it!
Thank you Amanda, your post helped alleviate a bit of my funk/depression after watching the Dove video. I had the same reaction that Sundry did. First of all, here’s a girl who is ALREADY very nice looking… so they make her all up to hide everything wrong, OK whatever. But when they got into the computer manipulation of her “not yet perfect enough” face, it sorta freaked me. As in, my gosh, do “they” now expect us all to go out and get plastic surgery so we can look like that?
The best of Thanksgivings to everyone, and I too will be expecting unlimited pumpkin pie available at my stepsister’s where I’m certain a feast of unbelievable size and variety will be served.
thanks for the video link I saw it somewhere and then couldn’t find it again to show my husband
thanks it’s great
Going to San Fran to see Mom and friends. Thanksgiving is not so much Thanksgiving as the First Day of Christmas. On Friday we will tromp into the woods (read: tree farm) and whack a couple Douglas Firs. Then we will shop. Even though we always say we wont, we do.
I’m going to Malibu with my boyfriend and I’ll be meeting his mum for the first time which I’m very excited about. But you want to know what I’m REALLY excited about? Seeing celebrities. I’m not joking. If I run into Britney at Ralphs I’m going to high-five her and congratulate her on Fed-Ex’ing.
I’m also going to be moving a bit over the next couple weeks because the man and I have decided to co-habitate. I’m very nervous, but thinking it might be a lot of fun as well. You’ve lived with a man for quite some time, and you still seem pretty normal…right?
You have so much spam in here.. (
Thanks man, i agree