Anyone else on their own for Thanksgiving?

[jd11365]

Just DH, Kayla and I this year. Kinda stinks we're without family. It seems silly to cook a turkey for just the three of us, so we're going to do a buffet at one of the big hotels. Better be good for $50 bucks a person before tax and gratuity! Anyone else on their own?

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving in advance. I am certainly thankful for all of you who are always there to lend an ear...or an eye, I suppose. ;)

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[brubeck]

We are usually on our own and I am grateful for it! I can't imagine a worse nightmare than having my in-laws around! We had them for Christmas last year and it was a living H-E-double-hockey-sticks.

I do a chicken (see the hate turkey thread) which is just about the perfect size for 2 people and a kid or two.

[candybomiller]

Hi Jamie!! I was wondering about you, haven't seen you around much lately. Glad you're alive and kicking! :)

We're pretty much on our own, with the exception of my sister and her partner. It will be a nice, fun, only slightly tense party of 5. Well, 7 counting the dogs. 8 if we count the cat, but she tends to hide from people. :)

[deborah_r]

We're on our own, but even when it was just me and DH, sometimes we would not have any guests and we still cooked the whole spread.

MY MIL is coming Saturday, as she wants to visit with us since we won't be getting together at Christmas this year either. DH and I are tired of the long drive to see his family every year, and it's too pricey for them all to come here (hotels are insanely priced here) and our place is too small to hold more than 1-2 guests.

Happy Thnaksgiving to you too, Jamie, and I hope you enjoy the buffet!

[jbowman]

Hi Jamie,

It's just me, DH, and Ellie this year (Ellie's first Thanksgiving!). I'm happy about it b/c we're about to have family descend on us for Ellie's first birthday party in a few weeks!

I am looking forward to tomorrow--I already made the side dishes and DH will cook the turkey. I can't wait for Ellie to try some of our family recipes for the first time.

My favorite Thanksgiving was one that just DH and I spent together. I love my family and get along with them, but I think a *cozy* Thanksgiving will be fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[bluej]

We are on our own as well. And we are hitting the buffet too! I'm quite excited about it! No clean up! No leftovers are kind of a bummer, but that's probably for the best. If we live anywhere near our families we usually split up, DH goes to his family and hunts, the kids and I go to mine and eat all day and go sledding. So it's actually nice to be together as a family this year. I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving no matter how you are spending it!

[mekiemom]

We're not going "home" (NY) for thanksgiving this year, but we're having our friends who are also displaced NY'ers coming over. They are expecting their first baby any day now so they aren't going anywhere either. I've never experienced such a small gathering for thanksgiving since my family is quite large so this is going to be something new for me.

Jenn

[amp]

Yep, we are. After the past few agonizing weeks, we decided to spend it without the stress of other people to cook for. And I'm kinda looking forward to it.

[steph01]

Hi Jamie,

I'm in the same situation, it's only DH, Ben and I this year. And considering that Ben is too young to eat turkey, we are going to go out too. Of course, I don't know where yet, the place we thought would be open is not, so I probably need to investigate this...

[Bethann31]

No family here, either. Just DH, me and the kids. We are kind of orphans these days, I discovered that once mom died my family disintegrated. David's bio-family invited us, but my older kids leave at 4 on Thanksgiving to go to their dad's house, so we need to be here.

We are cooking a big spread though. Lots of recipes from Food TV. Emeril is David' hero.

Beth

[C99]

We're not on our own this year, but we are going out to dinner for Thanksgiving! I hate leftovers and I never gorge myself anyway, so going out to a hotel/restaurant for T-Day is my favorite way to do it! Everyone else in my husband's family is traveling, so it's just the 3 of us + my MIL and FIL.

[aliceinwonderland]

We have to go to the in-laws in IN, and I just hate it. Nothing(much) against them, they are decent to me and great to my son, but I just feel like a fish out of water. I can't desribe it, but let me just say that I LOVE when it's just me, DH and our little dude...
And buffet--well, now I am REALLY jealous. I have to go eat fake, antibiotic raised turkey...Mine is always free-range and tastes MUCH better (Yea, I already know I'm a b*tch) :)

[usfrph]

Hi Jamie,

I'm kinda sad because it will be just DH, Evan and I for Evan's first Thanksgiving. We don't have family around but we've always been invited the 9 years we've been here in the US. We were going to host this year but our close friends are out of town :-(

DH still wants to do a full spread. He says we can eat the leftovers all week. Since he's cooking I can't say no :-)
We're going to stay overnight at one of the resort hotels in the area though to celebrate our 5th year anniversary. It's $65 per person for their buffet so we figured it would be nicer to stay overnight and eat at home.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Jamie :-)

[jd11365]

Hi Jamie! :)

Good heavens, can these boards tolerate TWO Jamies??? I have to say, I've never met another one...kinda exciting!

I can't stand my inlaws either, so I guess there is a positive side to the day... Although, I kinda feel bad for Kayla not having family...of course she's not missing much from her dad's side. ;) My mom will be here for Hanukkah, so I'm looking forward to that. Alone again on Christmas, so we are doing another $50 dollar buffet...good grief.


Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[tina-t]

Hi, no family in town so we are going to a buffet too. My IL's are in Southern CA visiting my SIL and family but we can't go since I work the day before and the day after thanksgiving. We are going to visit them on Christmas though.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[starrynight]

It's just us, same as last year and I'm sure many t-days to come until dh gets an assignment near home or he gets out of the military.

I am still doing the whole dinner! In some ways it's nicer to be on our own, I don't have to worry about someone feeding the kids something not safe with their allergies, no running around house to house and no family drama. But at the same time I miss family, I miss the break I would get sometimes from all the cooking, I miss home.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone!!!

[amazz]

We used to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and my mom's aunt's family in San Antonio, but since we entered the "real world" Tim only gets 1 day off so a 10 hour trip one-way isn't really feasible. We have been on our own for the last couple of years, and to be honest, it is kind of nice. This year we are just having a ham (I only like the dark meat of the turkey and hate the leftovers!) and some sweet potatoes and maybe some corn if I remember to get it out of the freezer. :)

I like not having to fuss with a big meal and I really like not having to put on real clothes if I don't feel like it. :) I do miss spending the time with my relatives though, but maybe we will make it back down there in a couple of years.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day no matter how you celebrate!!

Angela
Mama to Kami Allyse (10/10/04)
A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~Carl Sandburg

[caleymama]

It will be just the three of us this year. This is the first time I haven't had Thanksgiving with any extended family (either mine or DH's) and it's a little weird. My due date is Saturday, so we're just hanging out waiting for this little one to make its arrival. Family is all about 3 hours away and they'll come for the baby but we didn't make any T-giving plans since the baby could come any time now. We made our sides and dessert yesterday and DH will cook the turkey and potatoes today. No sign the baby's planning to arrive today so it looks like we'll get to enjoy a quiet meal at home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[crayonblue]

No family this year but we are going over to a friend's house. We were planning to go to NY to the Inlaws, but I was sick last week and just too tired to deal with the trip and the chaos. Last year I was 9 months pregnant on Thanksgiving so we went to this same friend's house. She is Iranian and cooked the most amazing mix of traditional American Thanksgiving dinner and Iranian food. Unfortunately, I was so big and so uncomfortable that I couldn't fit much into my stomach. I plan to make up for that this year! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

[houseof3boys]

Yes, we are doing a solo turkey day and loving it! It's 10:00 am and DH is taking a nap since he was up with early riser as usual today at 5:30. Ryan is taking a nap since he asked for one (even though we are trying to transition to one) today. And pregnant mommy is on the computer!

I'm about to leisurely make some dessert for later and then we'll just see....

I love days like this with no pressure!

Hope you have a fabulous day Jamie and the buffet is worth every penny. :)

[nohomama]

Dare I reveal that I'm just out of the shower and sitting here in my undies browsing??? I guess I just did :). I wouldn't be doing this if we had any guests for the day.

Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday and we love it regardless of whether we're on our own or hosting a crowd. Each has its merits. We rarely spend the day with family (they're far away) but often have friends. Everyone we thought to invite had other obligations this year but we're not letting it crimp our style.

I was able to find a small gobbler but if I hadn't been we would have done cornish game hens or some other small foul. We're leftover people so we're doing all the fixin's--dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie, yadda, yadda, yadda...

I hope everyone enjoys their day and the bounty no matter who they are or aren't celebrating with.

Cheers! Salut! Proust!

[babymama]

Yup, we were on our own this T'giving. I felt bad when I told my mom I wasn't going there (and not inviting her here), but we've seen them (my family) every weekend this month - they were just here 5 days ago for DS's bday party. Even though I felt a little bad, I loved having a very mellow thanksgiving. We went to a great home-cooking local restaurant (Threadgill's for anyone familiar w/ Austin), and it was fantastic! No clean up, no left overs, fairly cheap (about $35 total). Santiago even sat in the high chair - something I never expected my spastic wiggleworm to do!

I hope I set a precedent for future Thanksgivings.

Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[lmintzer]

Jamie,
Sorry you guys were by yourselves. If it makes you feel any better, we did a buffet brunch even though we were with my family. No one wanted to cook. Jack was a total pain in the rear--it wasn't even that fun. But the food was good!

Hope you guys had a godo time. We'll be alone next year--I know how hard that is.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, dh, and Kayla!

[tippy]

Jamie,

Well, how was your buffet? Great I hope. I know Kayla is a spaghetti girl. How did she like her turkey? If you don't mind me asking...where was your dad for the holiday? I thought he lived pretty close by.

If it makes you feel any better we sat in tons of Long Island traffic traveling to my dh's sister's, brother and sister in laws house (did that make sense???) then dragging our un-napped (is that a word?), hungry (wouldn't eat anything at their house) toddler all the way back to Westchester to have desert with my sister, her boyfriend, my mother and her partner and my cousin. It was nice to see everyone (whatever I could see of them in between running around after my ds in two un-baby proofed homes) but really I would have preferred a nice quite dinner home or out with DH and DS.

Teva
Mom to AJ born 1-8-03

[jd11365]

Well, the hotel was absolutely beautiful...it's brand new and there was hardly anyone there. This was different than everywhere else which were all sold-out. Kayla still wasn't feeling well and was a wiggle worm the whole time since she *gasp* didn't want to eat much. DH and I were having difficulty eating since we were trying to keep her entertained...until dessert. Since Kayla was wanting out of the high chair so bad, I figured I'd take her outside (we were sittting next to the patio door) to run around a bit. Where did she run? To the door on the left which was an attended playroom! And who was in the playroom? Someone I know and had worked with before! She offered to let Kayla stay for the last 15 minutes of our dinner while DH and I relaxed enough to enjoy dessert...and get over the indigestion from rushing through dinner. It was wonderful! We felt a little guilty since it was Thanksgiving...but that lasted just a second and we enjoyed the most delicious desserts. Kayla was the only kid there, so she had extra special attention...and cried when she had to leave. She even made a cute little turkey from her handprint and glued little feathers on together. So, all in all, our Thanksgiving worked out for the best...we're going back for Christmas. :)


Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[deborah_r]

I bet your pre-child self never thought 15 minutes of peace to finish eating would be such a valuable commodity!!! I can totally relate. My MIL is coming on Saturday, and DH are planning little things we will be able to go do since we will have someone to stay with Kai! Glad you had a good time!

Our dinner was very good, since DH is an excellent cook. He isn't being so dedicated to his no-meat policy, thankfully, so he cooked a turkey breast and he even ate some! Kai, however, continues to eat little or no meat. He ate green beans, corn, and cranberry sauce. And some dinner roll. He won't eat mashed potatoes either...I hope he changes his mind about those later, they are such a staple in our house. Then he had pumpkin pie with me, and later had blueberry pie with DH (we have different taste in pies...I made mine, he made his! Well, I like blueberry, but he LOATHES pumpkin)