Thanksgiving

[earllogjam]

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving and does it mean anything special to you? How do you feel about getting together with "family"?

Anything unusual about your Thanksgivings?

 

[nudeyorker]

I invite friends who can't or don't have family to visit. I cook a great meal and we all give thanks for our lives and friendship.
And we eat too much...because I'm a great cook!

 

[whatireallywant]

This year will be the first Thanksgiving I have spent away from my family. Neither my family nor I can afford to pay for two trips from Texas to Indiana or Indiana to Texas (My parents are paying for my airfare for Christmas, since I cannot afford airfare at all this year.)

Not to worry though - I will not be spending Thanksgiving alone. I will be at a dinner with one of the clubs I'm in, and actually I think several clubs are having Thanksgiving dinners. I'm going to the one where I know the greatest number of people.

 

[ZOS23xy]

In my wife's family, the holidays were the times all emotional short circuits and unforgiven lapses came to the surface and blistered everyone.

There have been many holidays I just stay home. Family does not need a special day--that should always be open. It seems "holidays" are when the demons pop up in the skills of the hurt family members and they have the attention of all those who have attended that special day....

...its just a lot of crud I don't need.

 

[DC_DEEP]

My birthday and Thanksgiving are close together, sometimes on the same day.

Since I met my partner, I've spent every Thanksgiving with him, rather than my biological family. In the past 6 years, we've started a few traditions of our own. I always cook a traditional dinner (anyone who wants hints on roasting a turkey that everyone loves, PM me!), and we invite friends, especially those who really don't have family to go to. We are creating our own "extended family."

There are many things to be thankful for, and although I'm thankful for many things every day throughout the year, this is a great time to find a focus and an expression for it.

 

[whatireallywant]

In my wife's family, the holidays were the times all emotional short circuits and unforgiven lapses came to the surface and blistered everyone.

There have been many holidays I just stay home. Family does not need a special day--that should always be open. It seems "holidays" are when the demons pop up in the skills of the hurt family members and they have the attention of all those who have attended that special day....

...its just a lot of crud I don't need.

Yeah... sometimes family gatherings can be more stressful than being alone!

I'm fortunate in that I get along well with my parents. I can't say that about my extended family though - it's not so much that we get into fights, it's more that I have to keep biting my tongue when they start getting into their sexist and racist rants... Fortunately, I'm not around my extended family very often. I'm usually just with my parents and a friend. (I'm an only child, so there are no siblings there, although if I did have them, I'd probably get along with them like I do with my parents).

 

[DC_DEEP]

Ah, what the hell, forget the PMs... I'll start a thread on how to cook the perfect turkey every time!

 

[Not_Punny]

Ah, what the hell, forget the PMs... I'll start a thread on how to cook the perfect turkey every time!

I'm interested!

I am a REAL vegetarian, seven days a week unlike SOME people... :biggrin1::wink::tongue: -- so I usually concentrate on fabulous, to-die-for side dishes.

I tried to convince my kids to let me buy a ham from Honey Baked but they said NO

So... turkey it is.

HELP!!!!!

 

[Not_Punny]

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving and does it mean anything special to you? How do you feel about getting together with "family"?

Anything unusual about your Thanksgivings?

I grew up outside of the U.S., and was 21 years old before I celebrated a REAL thanksgiving. As a result, it didn't really become part of my "bones" if you know what I mean. I also don't have much family where I live -- mostly "adopted" family.

This year, I'm probably going to invite a bunch of people to my house -- it's much more fun to have a lot of people rather than just a few people.

= = = = =

I'm big on party games. Anyone know any good Thanksgiving games?

 

[nudeyorker]

I roasted it on a rack and basted it every half hour for years. Last year I bought a trukey cooking bag...I'm sold it was the best most tender bird I've ever cooked! My secret is I have one of those injectoer things...so I load it up with butter and garlic and I salt and pepper it and then lace it with fresh herbs
Stuffing is bread crumbs, egg, chessnuts, cranberries a little wine...salt and pepper to taste!

I'm interested!

I am a REAL vegetarian, seven days a week unlike SOME people... :biggrin1::wink::tongue: -- so I usually concentrate on fabulous, to-die-for side dishes.​

I tried to convince my kids to let me buy a ham from Honey Baked but they said NO​

So... turkey it is.​

HELP!!!!!​

 

[Pecker]

This year Mom and I will have one of my sisters and her husband (both disabled) over for dinner and TV. I'm the chef at my house and the spread will be traditional and deliciousnal.

 

[Not_Punny]

I roasted it on a rack and basted it every half hour for years. Last year I bought a trukey cooking bag...I'm sold it was the best most tender bird I've ever cooked! My secret is I have one of those injectoer things...so I load it up with butter and garlic and I salt and pepper it and then lace it with fresh herbs
Stuffing is bread crumbs, egg, chessnuts, cranberries a little wine...salt and pepper to taste!

Mmmmmm -- sounds good. Thanks, handsome. :wink:

I've always wondered about those cooking bags -- doesn't the steam effect stop the skin from getting crispy?

 

[nudeyorker]

Mmmmmm -- sounds good. Thanks, handsome. :wink:

I've always wondered about those cooking bags -- doesn't the steam effect stop the skin from getting crispy?

I brown it first before the bag!

​

 

[YourAvgGuy]

Don't hate the messenger, but being Native I have to share the story of Thanksgiving. Granted, while my family is fairly traditional in our values we don't celebrate "Thanksgiving" the way most families in America do. We do feast; we do socialize but we also do ceremonies to honor those who've perished because of invasion, war, famine and the brutality levied against a people.

Here are some links that might be of interest...

THE REAL STORY OF THANKSGIVING
Most of us associate the holiday with happy Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a big feast. And that did happen - once.
The story began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those who had escaped. By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and knew their language. He taught them to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.
But as word spread in England about the paradise to be found in the new world, religious zealots called Puritans began arriving by the boat load. Finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be in the public domain. Joined by other British settlers, they seized land, capturing strong young Natives for slaves and killing the rest. But the Pequot Nation had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto had negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought.
In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared "A Day Of Thanksgiving" because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered.
Cheered by their "victory", the brave colonists and their Indian allies attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with a many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of New England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps to encourage as many deaths as possible.
Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- where it remained on display for 24 years.
The killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War -- on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota.
This story doesn't have quite the same fuzzy feelings associated with it as the one where the Indians and Pilgrims are all sitting down together at the big feast. But we need to learn our true history so it won't ever be repeated. Next Thanksgiving, when you gather with your loved ones to Thank God for all your blessings, think about those people who only wanted to live their lives and raise their families. They, also took time out to say "thank you" to Creator for all their blessings.
Our Thanks to Hill & Holler Column by Susan Bates susanbates@webtv.net

Another interesting link:
The True Thanksgiving Story

 

[agnslz]

I'll be having Thanksgiving with my family at my mom and step-dad's house. We have all the normal Thanksgiving meals, but we also have our Mexican and New Mexican favorites as well. Thanksgiving is the only time we have a turkey (we have tamales and posole for Christmas) so that in itself is special.

 

[IntoxicatingToxin]

My family's Thanksgiving dinners have always been pretty traditional. Everyone gets together, we have turkey, watch football, etc. I've always loved it. I don't know if I'll be going to our family's Thanksgiving dinner this year, though. We'll see.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

Thankfully, its one US holiday that has so far proven resistant to distortion by rampant consumerism. I like that. The notion of setting aside a day to give thanks for one's blessings is strongly appealing to me. Thanksgiving has an always had innate genuine quality I find lacking at Christmas and other more popular holidays.

 

[goodwood]

Thanksgiving. A time of thanks. Sigh. While there is so much to be thankful for, spening it with neurotic family members with a limited sense of humor is difficult. I have avoided thanksgiving with my family since 1996 when post college my sister and I were post college. At that time we we were both dealing with severe eating disorders/control freak parents and not wanting to see them or deal with the food.
I would have been diplomatic and gone to dinner but she got the phone first and said "We are NOT coming to dinner!". And on thanksgiving we made a fabulous meal (because we love to cook and are good at it) and dressed for dinner and sat down in the cavernous dining room each at the other end of the mahogony table of our great grandmother and ate.
The food was spectacular and we enjoyed it and as soon as we were done, we looked at each other and with a knowing look each ran to our own bathrooms and were sick (this is what happens when anorexic people eat.
Since then I have remembered my sister's lead and refused to attend Thanksgiving with my parents or their families.
For the past ten years, knowing that family obligations have been forewent, people extend invitations ad nauseum, as though it would be terrible for a person to be alone on a holiday. I appreciate the concern and invitations but sometimes a bit of quiet time is okay even on a holiday. However, among the invitations never ceases to be one from people I care about and that is in fact a fantastic party.
And so this year, Thanksgiving will be spent with old friend Molly and her mother and miscellaneous family members of theirs.
Molly and I have always liked one another and at one point were together. We realized that was not a good idea at the time and somehow remained close friends. We joke that we do more married things together than married people do - i.e social obligations like weddings, funerals, charity events, parties.
Anyway - Thanksgiving spent with Molly and her mother Mary and whoever shows up is a huge relief and great fun because I am relieved of spending it with my family, and at Molly's family I relieve all of them by being entertaining, witty, funny and difuse tension before it erupts amongst them.
After all of that it is good to remember that we do have a great deal to be thankful for and it is good to speak it out loud either to ourselves alone or to other people.
To all who read this, thank you.

 

[naughty]

Don't hate the messenger, but being Native I have to share the story of Thanksgiving. Granted, while my family is fairly traditional in our values we don't celebrate "Thanksgiving" the way most families in America do. We do feast; we do socialize but we also do ceremonies to honor those who've perished because of invasion, war, famine and the brutality levied against a people.

Here are some links that might be of interest...

THE REAL STORY OF THANKSGIVING
Most of us associate the holiday with happy Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a big feast. And that did happen - once.
The story began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those who had escaped. By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and knew their language. He taught them to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.
But as word spread in England about the paradise to be found in the new world, religious zealots called Puritans began arriving by the boat load. Finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be in the public domain. Joined by other British settlers, they seized land, capturing strong young Natives for slaves and killing the rest. But the Pequot Nation had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto had negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought.
In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared "A Day Of Thanksgiving" because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered.
Cheered by their "victory", the brave colonists and their Indian allies attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with a many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of New England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps to encourage as many deaths as possible.
Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- where it remained on display for 24 years.
The killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War -- on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota.
This story doesn't have quite the same fuzzy feelings associated with it as the one where the Indians and Pilgrims are all sitting down together at the big feast. But we need to learn our true history so it won't ever be repeated. Next Thanksgiving, when you gather with your loved ones to Thank God for all your blessings, think about those people who only wanted to live their lives and raise their families. They, also took time out to say "thank you" to Creator for all their blessings.
Our Thanks to Hill & Holler Column by Susan Bates susanbates@webtv.net

Another interesting link:
The True Thanksgiving Story

WOW! Now that really makes me mad. I am going to have to sit and think about that one for a while. All I can say is, "Lord Have Mercy".

 

[Cochranfan4life]

goodwood...i very much enjoyed reading your post!!!