Love or hate Thanksgiving?

[malaise]

Oh come all ye turkeys!!!

[gopiscrap]

1. love it

[Big Blue Marble]

2. Love it, but no turkey for me. N/T

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Love.

No gift-giving obligations, just good food. And I love to cook.

[IcyPeas]

6. indifferent about thanksgiving

[LeftofObama]

7. Love it.

I spend the evening before Thanksgiving baking, and most of Thanksgiving day cooking. The best part is when I get compliments on my cooking. My mom called the other day and said several people asked her to make sure I made the turkey again this year.

[Freddie]

8. Love it

I find cooking a good meal for a crowd, if I have all day, relaxing and still challenging after all these years. I try to recreate many dishes that my Grandma, who was a wonderful cook, made with love. Now I have a grandchild and next year there will be 2 of them which makes it even better. Someday my daughter will want to take over at her house but I hope not for many years.

[FarCenter]

9. Meh

It's better than Christmas.

[frazzled]

10. Love

I'm all into baking pies (and pies, and pies) and completely overdoing the cooking.

What I love about Thanksgiving is its relative universality (for Americans, and often even new Americans). It's not a religious holiday, and I like that everybody is sitting down to the same approximate meal. I've been to Italian Thanksgivings that added a homemade lasagna course and bottles of Strega at the end, and I imagine that there are equally wonderful Chinese and Middle Eastern and other varieties of Thanksgiving. But they all involve turkey and trimmings and conviviality around a table, and they're all about the wonderful melting pot that is America.

((Okay, I know you're going to say not everyone has turkey. And so true: for many years I've had vegetarians at my table (including my son and daughter-in-law and daughter). With the panoply of vegetable and potato dishes and first courses and appetizers and deserts, I generally just let them feast on all that, making sure to substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock in all the dishes. But no way is some ersatz tofurkey dish getting onto my table (though I did do homemade French-breaded tofu cutlets last Thanksgiving.) ))

This year, the vegetarians are all out of town, so real sausage will go into the stuffing again, along with the chestnuts and mushrooms and onions and carrots and celery.

[MoonRiver]

11. As a vegetarian and animal rights activist,

I can comfortably say HATE.

[bunnies]

14. +1 nt

[malaise]

15. OK forget the turkey

Let's discuss the day.
I visit my family for our great reunions. I don't think the Native Americans or the turkeys love the day.

[MoonRiver]

22. Other than the yearly turkey holocaust, I do like Thanksgiving!

It's fun to reunite with family and friends. Husband, one daughter and I only eat torfurky, but we do have to deal with the carnivores. (We love them despite their offensive eating habits.)

[arely staircase]

18. there are options

http://archives.quarrygirl.com/2009/12/08/vegan-turkey-vinh-loi-tof/

[MoonRiver]

23. Thank you!

I bookmarked your link and will check into it before Thanksgiving. We usually go for tofurky but this one looks so realistic it is intriguing.

[RebelOne]

46. Agreed. Me too.

I am always invited to my son's house every Thanksgiving. He and his wife think I am nuts because I don't eat meat, but they always have plenty of veggie dishes for me.

[DonViejo]

53. Try celebrating it with a vegetarian meal. No one said

it has to be any sort of animal eaten.

[RebelOne]

58. I am a vegetarian and always am invited to my son's

every year at Thanksgiving. His wife always makes sure there are a lot of non-meat dishes that I can eat. My son thinks I am a nutcase because I do not eat meat.

[MoonRiver]

68. That's what I do, but others in my family eat turkey.

Kind of makes me sick to be around that, but I don't want to not be with family. So my husband and I deal with it.

[LiberalElite]

59. I' am a vegetarian and animal rights activist too but Thanksgiving in a way

isn't any different from most major U.S. holidays - Most people eat meat and so we have the disgusting spectacle of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th; Lamb for Easter; Corned Beef for St. Patrick's Day, etc. etc.

So, this is a long-winded way of saying I like Thanksgiving. I just eat Tofurky or go out with friends to a vegan restaurant. Like they say: there's lots to eat without eating meat!

[Raine]

64. So am I but I still like the idea of it being a time for family and being thankful. You can

make it a meatless event, I do.

[yuiyoshida]

12. Technically I can not eat..

Beef, Pork or Lamb. (Severe food allergies) So my choices every day are poultry and sea food. I always look forward to "T-DAY" cause it means dinner out at some nice plush place, that has "all the fixins".

[surrealAmerican]

13. Like it.

Really, any excuse for pumpkin pie is fine by me.

[Aerows]

41. Any excuse for

gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans is fine by me! Oh, I guess there's turkey, but that's hardly the highlight

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. LOVE it!

The crowds at our dinner, the fun, everything!



And also, every now and then, my birthday falls on it.

Next year that will happen!

[malaise]

17. LOL

That's way too funny - clearly we're born in the same month

[Drunken Irishman]

19. Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday...

Well, outside Halloween. It's what Christmas should be - family and lacking in materialism. I love the smell of the house on Thanksgiving and the fall colors. I love football and the parade. I just love it.

[Packerowner740]

20. Love it.

[femmocrat]

21. It's great if you are the guest; a lot of work if you have to cook.

It's still better than Christmas though.

[Luminous Animal]

51. I plan a month ahead and cook and prep for a week and a half

And I love it. On the actual day, I've very little to do.

[Laffy Kat]

67. I agree. Generally, we, the women, are left to cook everything while the guys just mill around.

It's a lot of work! I used to enjoy it but guess I've become bitter by now. I know there are exceptions, but from what I've noticed women still spend two or three days in the kitchen for a meal that's over in less than an hour. My husband spends perhaps an hour doing a half-ass job cleaning up the kitchen after we eat while making a huge production about how helpful he is. I really regret now that I can't thank my mother for all the work she did to make it special for us, year, after year, after year. Christmas too. My sister and I just took it for granted. Sorry for the catharsis.

[CTyankee]

71. my sons in law are very helpful. One even cooks gourmet food and also cleans very thoroughly...

[Laffy Kat]

76. You must be proud of your sons. You done good!

As I said, there are exceptions. I was just speaking generally and regarding what I've experienced and seen.

[CTyankee]

86. Er, sons-in-law, not my sons. I do have a son who is also very good, though!

What this means is that I raised right-thinking, feminist daughters who wouldn't think of marrying a man who wouldn't share the kitchen cleanup...

[DrDan]

81. not always the case

my wife and I each do our own turkeys - I smoke one and she does one in the oven.

We love leftover turkey. I do several turkey pot pies a day or so later which I freeze for lazy Friday dinners.

I also do a wild mushroom/rice and pecan stuffing. Yummo. I usually eat about a third of it before putting in the smoker with the turkey.

Mashed Yukon golds are also my task, while my wife does the sweet potatoes.

I think we do a good job in sharing the workload.

[Laffy Kat]

83. I understand. Good for you. I know many families are better about sharing the workload.

I know I'd have a completely different outlook about holidays if the preparation became more equitable. I hate that I dread what should be fun events.

[awoke_in_2003]

25. Love the food...

hate the wife's stress level.

[tularetom]

26. Now I love it, I used to hate it

We had these ginormous family dinners, 25 or 30 people at the house. People would promise to bring certain dishes and then renege or forget and Ms. T would be a stressed out zombie by Thanksgiving day worrying about who was going to bring what and would she have enough food. She spent three or four days in preparation. We typically served pheasant instead of turkey and some people didn't like that. I spent all morning grilling the birds. There were arguments about politics. A few of the relatives would eat and run to get another meal somewhere else. And when it came time to wash the mountain of dishes, everybody disappeared except the two of us plus one granddaughter. I remember loading the dishwasher for the last time at midnight. It was a zoo and we finally decided to scale back. Now it's just the two of us with occasionally our daughter and son in law. And we're a lot more relaxed at Thanksgiving and especially the week before.

[Deep13]

27. 4 days off to read and write papers. nt

[Pretzel_Warrior]

28. Love that one best out of all of them

[DrewFlorida]

29. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

Thanksgiving is a great family and friends get together, I love all of the old family recipes
and sharing food with loved ones.

[ruffburr]

30. Turkey-

Dinners And then sadwiches mmmmmm!

[Peacetrain]

31. My favorite Holiday.. bar none

Family and Friends.. nothing else expected..no candy, costumes, presents.. just a meal with the ones I care about most.. (and some I have the best arguments with you can keep all the other holidays.. just leave me with old dead turkey day

[malaise]

32. That sums it up perfectly

[meadowlark5]

33. It's ok.

I really don't like turkey or roasting it. I hate having all the leftovers (except for pie and mashed potatoes), I don't care about football so don't look forward to that part. I like having the time off with the kids but the rest is

[redstatebluegirl]

34. Love it!

[840high]

35. So-so.

[Motown_Johnny]

36. Parades, Football, Way To Much Food.. what's not to love?

[Barack_America]

85. Seriously. One of the few holidays with no pretense.

Unabashedly a celebration of friends, family and food. No religious or patriotic overtones to muck it up.

[cordelia]

37. Love. My favorite.

Family, friends. A moment to stop and think about the good things in our lives.

[DinahMoeHum]

38. Love it for seeing family members. . .

. . .usually the immediate family and in-laws. About 8-10 people. Depending on our schedules, it could be on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. This year it will be Thursday.


The real big family get-together, though, is during the Christmas season.


Just got news that we will have a new addition to the family come April. Will be lots to talk about.

[Nevernose]

39. Love/hate

I love the day and the weekend, but I'm usually exhausted the day after. Between the cooking and the visiting, I'm wiped out. And Black Friday just creeps me out at this point. I used to object to it, but now I see the people lining up for shit they don't need and feel the same way I'd feel if I found out a convicted pedophile moved in next door -- deeply disturbed.

[NightWatcher]

40. the one time each year that reminds us why we only see family once a year

[malaise]

42. Ha

I have found that the best reunions last three and a half days

[NightWatcher]

44. fish, like company, start to go bad after 3 days

Come in to town on Wednesday, eat all day Thursday, graze on desserts Friday, and find an excuse to get out of Dodge come Saturday.

I always preferred driving to family reunions over flying.

[malaise]

48. I have no choice n/t

[Aerows]

43. I love to cook

and I love to have family and friends appreciate my cooking . Doing the dishes and clean up afterwards? Eh, not so much.

[Left2Tackle]

45. Love IT!

This is my new fav...

[malaise]

70. Details?

[oberliner]

47. That holiday can be a vegetarian's nightmare

Especially when the extended family is not particularly accepting of that particular lifestyle choice.

[WinkyDink]

49. It's all right.

[ScreamingMeemie]

50. Love it.

Even on the years that I didn't have dinner, I always began the day by cooking up some onion in butter, because that's how I remember waking up on Thanksgiving morning as a kid.

[Zorra]

52. ...

Thanksgiving

[nolabear]

54. We do it small, but that's just right by me.

Turkey, everyone eating and hanging out, the parade and massive leftovers.

Although, I'm kind of thinking about doing a pre-made this year, because I'm on a low carb diet and cooking might be more than I can handle.

I'll like it in any case.

[Jamaal510]

55. I like the food and football (despite not being a Lions or Cowboys fan),

but that's pretty much it. When one dives into the true history of Thanksgiving, things start to look a little bleak.

[madinmaryland]

56. HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS!!

Yeah, it's been another rough year, but I stay with my team! 50 years so far.

[Oilwellian]

57. Love it

It's a great day to carry on family traditions.

[diabeticman]

60. Why don't we just forget about it like most retailers and shoppers want it.

Last year we had family and friends who either had to miss Thanksgiving dinner or pushed it to like 11:30 AM so that they could be at the store to prepare for the Black Friday Midnight sales.

This year Stores are even opening on thanksgiving day for massive sales AND most retailers don't give employees time and a half holiday pay.


I swear this country is regressing into a Dickens-like country.

[TlalocW]

61. Love It - Just wish I could contribute more to it

But no one trusts my cooking.

TlalocW

[kwassa]

62. 90+ family members get together in a big potluck.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

and then some of us boys step outside to share that clear liquid that smells strongly of corn.

[liberal_at_heart]

63. I love the stuffing and the pies. Hmmm. Yummm.

[name not needed]

65. I love anything that involves watching the Cowboys lose.

[Tikki]

66. Neither...but the grandchildren get time off from school so we try to find fun….

things to do that week.


The Tikkis

[Le Taz Hot]

69. Love it!

When I moved into this house 14 years ago I started a tradition that I ALWAYS cook Thanksgiving dinner. I love to cook anyway and I don't care if I'm having 30 over or 3, I cook the same amount -- one ham, one turkey and the rest of the traditional trimmings. Oh, and pies. I LOVE making pies from scratch.

[Johnny Ready]

72. Now that I sit at the big table it's kinda cool

but as a kid stuck in the basement of some "relatives" house eating with paper plates...not so much.

By the way I do not care how much more money my step brother Jeff is or was making than me when I was 20 something. You bazatrds, I am clearly more talented than all of you people including Jeff. FU.

[malaise]

75. ROFL

This is the other side of reunions

[TBF]

73. I like it better these days -

we can de-emphasize the dinner and focus more on parades, football, and putting up Christmas decorations (which is what we do on that long weekend).

When we were growing up the big dinner was held at my grandparents. They lived on a big farm in Wisconsin with several hundred acres of farm and hunting land. It was a big sprawling house with large picture windows on the main floor. We'd set up all the tables, food put up buffet style, and then sit down to eat. If you sat on the wrong side of the table you'd be looking out all those big windows only to see a bunch of dead deer strung up that morning and hanging from the trees in the yard. My uncles were very proud of that. Oddly, it made it very difficult for me to eat much of anything.

[hack89]

74. Love. Nt

[KansDem]

77. I like the "original" version...

I grew up with the "Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving."



Even to this day I really don't like pumpkin pie and attribute that to trying to eat a slice after stuffing myself with food.

Several years ago I convinced my family to have a dinner more along the lines of the original. They agreed so I researched and found information about the First Thanksgiving. I prepared this Thanksgiving meal:
Clam chowder
Turkey (free-range)
Onions
Squash
Pumpkin pudding (not pie)

They politely said they'd like the Norman version next year

[Blue Diadem]

78. Love the cooking & family time

Don't like that it has taken on the meaning of shopping for Christmas and stores being open on Thanksgiving day.

[pipi_k]

79. Well, "love" is

maybe too strong a word.

I like it.

Family fun, and no need to buy gifts.

Oh...and my oldest stepdaughter and her hubby do love to cook, and put on dinner at their house each year. It's always awesome.

Well, there was that one year they planned on serving emu instead of turkey, but a family poll showed not a lot of support for that idea.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

80. Indifference is opposite of both love and hate. *Shrug*

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

82. Take it or leave it.

I don't have much family left; it's sort of a non-event. I go to a sibling's house and we have turkey and that nasty sweet potato and marshmallow crap and my nieces ignore me. If it weren't for the pie I probably wouldn't go at all.

[Barack_America]

84. Love it so much I married a Canadian.

Twice is nice!