We host and attend so many dinners and parties in December that we reserve Thanksgiving as a time to breathe, relax, give thanks for our blessings and enjoy one another before the holiday season sets in.

I love looking at cookbooks to finalize menus and create shopping lists and time lines for the upcoming festivities while football games are playing.

I have mixed feelings about the traditional Thanksgiving feast. On the one hand, it's a chance for friends and family to get together. Many fun times are had by people that day, especially if they work together to prepare the food and then to clean up afterwards. On the other hand, It's a massive amount of work preparing that meal, and then it's gone in half an hour or so. Not to mention, it's a horribly unhealthy meal - people tend to stuff themselves and consume calories and fat that they really don't need.

Is it worth it? I really don't know. Next year we'll be in a new house with an entertainment sized kitchen and dining room. I'll still be inclined to invite people in for snacks, maybe, or desserts. Something light and simple. The rest of the weekend - it's a 4 day weekend for dh, so it's a chance for him to relax and putter around the house/property.

I would add that Thanksgiving doesn't have to be the huge meal prepared at home for family and friends. Last year, Gary and I helped at the Little Brother's Thanksgiving meal and delivered meals to elderly shut-ins. We had the opportunity to stop and chat (and were encouraged to do so if we felt the 'deliveree' had an interest and wanted the company) and we had a wonderful time. Probably the best Thanksgiving ever! Afterward, we had our own meal at a local restaurant.

We've talked about volunteering someplace that day or weekend. There's a faith based camp in our area that does a Lights of Christmas event every December. A lot of people spend all/part of Thanksgiving weekend getting things set up for the display. Maybe we'll wind up doing that next year, or doing other volunteer work at the camp and connected senior community.

I don't have very much family. My daughter's boyfriend's family always have huge holiday celebrations and they go there. I am not that excited about Thanksgiving, except, I will probably cook a small turkey and make some cornbread dressing some time during the month, because I like my own cooking, but I plan to go out to eat at Moody Gardens in Galveston, with a friend and her husband. It is a busy time of year for my husband, and he usually works on Thanksgiving because shrimp season ends December 1st and he likes to get in as many days as possible before the end of the season.

Marilyn c, I know how that is. Make hay while the sun shines. Years ago when we were newly home from the Army, DH worked for a cannery. When the crops came in everybody worked no matter what. Mother's Day, Father's were just another day.

I was single for ten fun years after my divorce. My best gal pal's kids always went to their Dad's for T'giving so we had our own little tradition of cooking something from a different nationality each year. Sometimes, the recipes sounded much better on paper, believe me, lol!

Then, we'd clear the mess and sit down to a hilarious evening of making decorations and gifts for our friends or maybe go to a movie.

I was single for ten fun years after my divorce. My best gal pal's kids always went to their Dad's for T'giving so we had our own little tradition of cooking something from a different nationality each year. Sometimes, the recipes sounded much better on paper, believe me, lol!

Then, we'd clear the mess and sit down to a hilarious evening of making decorations and gifts for our friends or maybe go to a movie.

Due to a very difficult family where no one gets along (siblings), we don't do TG much (and we go away for Xmas). We do not have children, so it's just us. DH and I prefer to do our own thing and some years we volunteer at the Senior Center prepping/serving TG dinner to the community that have no where to go. I have never really been a big TG day fan probably b/c I get anxiety when I know I have to be around the family.

We have it with some of our kids. Depends on what they are doing. With all of them married we just wait and see what they are doing. If all 3 are going to the other side of their families we just do our own thing. Usually just head south a day early. Really doesn't matter. I don't get all bent out of shape if they go elsewhere. That's just part of it now.

In our early years of marriage, I did a big dinner inviting everyone who wanted to come~~my DH being a Peace Officer oten had to eave early, that got draggy for me when we had our 2 kids. We have done several different things since~~if he had to work we met my mom at a restaruant close to DH station, we ate~he went to work, we all went home. When older DD got married, her DH's family always drew their Christmas exchange names at TGday~~so we started going to a movie or two and out to a buffet type restaurant~~then we did a dinner for us on Friday, so DD and SIL could be there.

Then my DD divorced, so we started going to her new house with her new BF, soon to be husband. But he turned out to be a butt, so we quit going there for all holidays. Now DH and I go to Monterey and end up to tday in Pismo Beach~~~perfect love it!

We do a family get together at our house the weekend before Christmas andit seems to be working fine.

Holiday dinners can get so stressful~~I just want to make it easy on myself;)

Our Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October so it's not as close to Christmas as yours is and perhaps that makes it easier. I have time to lose the Thanksgiving weight before Christmas baking starts! We do a Thanksgiving dinner but it's usually just the four of us plus my sons GF's and the grandmas..

We do a big family Christmas dinner at the beginning of Dec. and there will be about 25 people there and then Christmas Day dinner is just for those who have no place else to go. We do the early Christmas dinner because so many of my nieces are now married and so they have in=laws to fit in on Christmas day. It just makes it easier for everyone.

Feast for one is not out of the question. Who would NOT want all those tasty leftovers?

I agree, OldFixer! I've cooked my favorite things for the holidays many times. I've never minded cooking for one. I love turkey leftovers.

I have always done Thanksgiving for the last 50 years since my mother died when I was 12. It is getting to be a physically painful chore, so I hope to enlist the older kids to help more as of this year. They all know how to cook, though none of them has done a turkey before this.

If I'm by myself I don't 'do' Thanksgiving at all. If my stepson is home, I'll buy a very small turkey or ham and fix a couple of sides. I don't eat much at a meal and he doesn't need excess calories, so we keep it small and simple.

It's a day of thanksgiving every day, for me - I am very blessed. When my husband was alive, Thanksgiving was a big feast.

When our children were in the house, my wife would roast a turkey and fix side dishes such as mashed potaotes, punpkin pie and open cans of cranberry sauce. It was mostly a private family affair for the 5 of us and labor intensive for the wife. Occasionaly, we'd extend an invitation to one of the kid's friends they were dating if that person did not have relatives nearby.

Out kids are all out of the house, we are retired, and now do the lazy thing. We found a little family resturant about 5 miles from our house that serves a Thanskgiving buffet for at $10 to $12 per person. For the past several years, we and the 2 boys have eaten there for under $50 including the tip and that's what we plan to do this year. Its not quite the same, but the food is good and it sure saves labor at home. The cost is equal or less than if we did the meal at home. This frees the wife to entertain at home or to out for a movie afterward. She gets to watch the parades on TV as well.

Susie53 - I'm with you! I don't mind if my kids go else where. In fact, I'm kind of happy when they do because it means they have other people they love AND sometimes I kind like peace & quiet with dh! :) My mother-in-law kept track of when & where we spent our holidays and it really taught me to never ever do that! Happy Holidays to you!

My family always had a meal, but it was just my parents, sister & me. When she left home, it was just my parents & me. We didn't usually do the traditional turkey meal. Instead we would usually grill steaks.The first time I was part of a big family gathering for Thanksgiving was when I started dating DH. Their entire family would gather at his grandfather's house in Charleston, SC. They didn't do a traditional turkey meal either; their tradition was a low country shrimp boil. When his grandfather had to move closer to other family, the large gatherings pretty much stopped for a while. For the last few years, we've gone to my BIL's house. This year we'll eat with my dad at his assisted living dementia facility.

Thanksgiving for us..is really just a Sunday meal amp'd up a bit..

We keep it simple now..

The guys like food and football..lol

My middle son(16) was sitting at lunch one day with his buddies...and they were talking about how much they love all the Thanksgiving food..and they couldn't wait..
He came home and told me.."I told them it's no big deal at my house, my mom always cooks like that."

Lol...tis true...

I usually always celebrate it even if not on the actual day due to work. This year I have it off. Just me and the two kids this year. Going to buy a tiny turkey. I don't want a ton of leftovers.

I had Christmas day off this year too but since the kids have to go down south with their father on Christmas Eve...I didn't want them to have to rush back home to have Christmas with me, so I traded with someone who got neither holiday off. (totally messed up, by-the-way) We'll probably celebrate either the weekend before or after Christmas. Been doing it for years now and it doesn't bother me anymore.

>> It's a day of thanksgiving every day, for me - I am very blessed.

Kayjones, what a lovely sentiment.

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for about 48 years but the family doesn't come in for the holidays anymore. Sometimes we go to them, thinking we will be home this year just the two of us. We were just talking about this the other day. Not sure if we'll cook or not. Neither one of us needs the extras. I do love the holidays though so we might cook up a storm here..just the two of us. lol

It's just the two of us, and he has to work on Tday, so I am roasting a large chicken for dinner tonight. It will be like our Thanksgiving dinner.

I am blessed and I know it

we usually get to do Christmas as a family over t'giving...although dd2 and family would come by for dessert...well since their new divorce the" sob" xsil won't "allow" dd2 to bring the kids over (it's falling on his week) so ds1 stepped up and is having us...(his mil is out of town)

before though, dh and I made a point of not pushing for t'giving dinner..it was concession to the other families...

I fell in love with TG after I got here to the states. In my mother in laws later years, I was the one hosting the dinner. Ex's siblings usually came, but not all. One sister still lives in Georgia.

Now, with Lori married, and usually not getting TG off, I go there if I can, and will this year.

My other daughter, Ulrike, is vegan, and that pretty well takes care of all the traditional TG foods.

I miss the family thing... and I miss my American family. One of the harder things of a divorce.

I will take the long drive (8 hours one way) to be with the grand kids, son in law and daughter gladly.

Moni