Hi all! We are planning an early Thanksgiving this year for several reasons.
One, we were told that Thanksgiving will be at sort-of-relative's house again this year, and we didn't really like it when we went last year... we don't feel very close to them, and it's a long drive, so we may put in a polite appearance, but don't want that being our Thanksgiving.
Two, I don't like having it at someone else's house because my kids have food allergies and we can't partake of most of it anyway, even if I did like the kind of cooking they do, which I don't. I *love* cooking, and endure rather than enjoy, a meal of stringy turkey, box mix gravy, box mix stuffing, instant mashed potatoes, storebought or instant mix pies, and jello and cool whip concoctions. So when invited, again, it's a polite appearance while we nibble salad.
Oops, four reasons: Early thanksgiving gives the Christmas season more breathing room. We like the Canadian date for Thanksgiving much better, and here in the Howling Northeast, the weather is more winter than fall, by late November anyway.
Last and best: We had an Early Thanksgiving the year my AD, Michael, was born. I had decided we'd have T-day the 9th, to avoid being unable to have it if he came beforehand. I should have realized the sudden burst of energy to make piecrusts and pies, make cornbread for stuffing, etc meant the baby was coming, and indeed he did that very day I had set for Thanksgiving at our house. so I roasted a turkey in early active labor that morning, and he was born upstairs right after lunchtime, and we had our Thanksgiving feast in bed with the best blessing ever. So it's such a special memory, it would be a great tradition.
Anyone else having Thanksgiving before the American date? what are your reasons?
-Meg, postal carrier's wife, mother to DD born c/sec 9/04 and DS born at home 11/07. Homebirth After Caesarean ROCKS!
We actually do 2 Thanksgivings...one on time and the other 2 days later :-)
My husband LOVES my MIL's Thanksgiving food, so it's kind of been a sticking point that we spend the actual holiday with them. I come from such a big family that it became very difficult to get any of us together on the actual day anyway, so my mom decided years ago to do our Thanksgiving with my family the saturday after the actual holiday. It's AWESOME, cause we get 2 meals :-)
Thanksgiving and Christmas are crazy busy around here. On Thanksgiving Day we go to DH's paternal g-parents' and his mother's and maybe my father's (depending on whether or not we're on speaking terms that year lol) My mother fixes her dinner for my family, sis's family and baby sister here at my house since mine's bigger and more conveniently located. Then on the Sunday after, we go to my maternal g-parents and have dinner and spend the day with them. Again, crazy busy. It's be nice to have an early T-Day just to spread out the turkey lol.
That sounds like a big happy group! On a side note, I always wondered what it would be like to be from a family where grandparents are still alive by the time their grandchildren have kids, as is the case in your family.
Because people in my family didn't start out having kids until late 20's (or in my grandmother's extremely unusual case, 38) my mother and my DH's father, the only surviving grandparents to our kids, are 63 and 75 respectively, and of course DH's and my grandparents were gone long years ago.
Sometimes I envy those who have parents who are still spry enough to be a big part of their grandkids' lives for many years yet. I know 63 shouldn't be "that old" but my mom's 63 is like someone else's 73. She still smokes and is in terrible health, with congestive heart failure, diabetes, and more.
-Meg, postal carrier's wife, mother to DD born c/sec 9/04 and DS born at home 11/07. Homebirth After Caesarean ROCKS!
Wow, your last reason is such an awesome one...I would definitely make that a yearly tradition to have T-day dinner on that special day! What an amazing memory!
I feel the same way about the cooking. Once DH & I have a big enough house to have family over for a feast, we have decided that we are "taking" Thanksgiving. We love cooking, especially from scratch (from the stuffing to the pies). And we, too, dread eating dry turkey that my MIL or DH's aunt (they alternate who makes dinner each year) left in the oven for far too long, and all of the other crap you mentioned. We don't know what to do this year since we don't have a house yet, and T-day is at DH's aunt's this year. We have to figure it out soon because I don't want another disappointing holiday. Also, there is so much drama and chaos at DH's family's events that we don't even have a nice time with the company. Ugh!
My Mom usually has T-day the weekend after the actual day. She and my stepdad visit his mom in her nursing home on T-day and go out to eat at Boston Market. I do look forward to enjoying a Thanksgiving feast at my Mom's, but I still want to cook our own T-day feast!
