Thanksgiving

[Rachmaninoff]

I realize that for those of you who are in Canada Thanksgiving is long over with. However for those of us who are in the states, it's coming up in the next couple of weeks. Sadly, I really don't know a lot about the holiday. I've never taken the time to learn about it's historical roots. But it is something that I remember and look forward to for obvious reasons. The family get together and all of the food. I won't deny that I love going to my parents on this holiday and meeting up with all of my family since it's one of the few times we all get together. So I always look forward to that.

My mom is of course an excellent cook and since I no longer live at home, I follow a type of family tradition where you are required to bring something to go with the rest of the food. I'm not much of a cook but I do try to bring something. XP

Most of the holiday is spent just enjoying leftovers and catching up on what everyone is doing. And staying out of the way of all of the insane shoppers for the next few days. It gets pretty crazy with all of the sales and such.

This year, I plan on going to a concert instead of staying inside like I always do. But other than that It will just be a time for family and friends. Anyway, what do the rest of you do on this holiday? Mine is pretty simple and yet all the more enjoyable since it's just a nice break from my otherwise busy schedule.

Oh and if it's over for you, what did you do this year and what have you done in the past? One of my wackiest Thanksgivings was agreeing to go with my mom on those shopping days. It was insane but I still had fun running around with her. I don't know if I'd want to do that again though. XP

[Panda]

The fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the changing colors of the trees, the crisp air and of course, Thanksgiving. I've always spent the holiday with my family. Great food, conversation and a day full of football! Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. I love that it hasn't become all commercialized like some of the other holidays. Being with family is the big part of this holiday.

When I got older I planned my wedding the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Thursday of Thanksgiving that year we had the biggest family gathering. Both my hubby and my families together for a huge meal. The Friday after T-day we did our rehearsal, decorating for the wedding and the ever important rehearsal dinner. Then on Saturday had a wonderful wedding. The sun was shining, the beautiful fall colors, brisk air... it was a gorgeous and memorable autumn day.

Since getting married my family and my hubby's family have celebrated the holiday together. One year we will drive to their home, the next we will have it at my house or my parents' house (we live in the same town). But things are going to be changing soon.

This year it's going to be a bit of a repeat of a decade ago. My brother-in-law is getting married! So pretty much repeat what we did about 12 years earlier. The only change is on Sunday we are having a big family brunch which will fall on my 12th anniversary. It will be nice to have all the family together to celebrate both my brother-in-law's marriage, our anniversary and Thanksgiving. It's going to be a really busy week! It's going to be interesting to see how the holidays change with the addition of another person and their family traditions.

I love Thanksgiving. :catgirl:

[eleanor]

[font="trebuchet ms"] My family doesn't really have a special tradition, other than gathering with family. But Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite holiday, because I love to cook and I love traditional Thanksgiving food. This year my family is hosting the get-together so I'm pretty much in charge of cooking everything. :)

I love leftover Thanksgiving food, too. I always take leftover turkey and bake it in the oven with provolone on bread and make yummy sandwiches. [/font]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I love Thanksgiving for the family get together of course. :catgirl: We always make lots of yummy food and then spend hours and hours just chatting, playing games or watching movies while we recover from eating so much good food.

This year though I'll be doing other things as well, I'm looking forward to it since I'll be visiting someone else's family as well as attending a concert the next day. It's going to be a very busy and yet fun Thanksgiving this year. I'll probably only have food at one place though. I can't imagine having two dinners in the same day. XP

In the past I've also gone to some of the sales with my sister, but that's more of a for fun deal than any really shopping. It's just relaxing to be out and not be in a hurry and watch everyone scurry like mad. Usually by now I have most of my shopping for the holiday's already done and this year is no exception. Other than a few things I'm already done. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Aside from this year, where I have to work throughout the Thanksgiving holiday week, our Thanksgiving's are really nothing special from anyone else's. We like to put together a lot of food and hang out and watch football games and such. This year is going to be a tad different, because I'm the only male above age 16 there and I won't be available to cook or anything until after 6 cause I'll have to work that day and I'm already dreading it. All those carts in the parking lot kinda scare me, lol.

As far as traditions we have, we always cook a ton of food, the normal Thanksgiving stuff. Our family always brings the desserts and I've gotta say, I'm a pretty good cook (shamless brag:rolleyes:) when it come to making pies and other baked goods. We normally watch football, but this year will be different since all of the dads in our friends' families are all gone to Korea, so we probably won't be watching much football. I'm probably gonna do something cool though for Thanksgiving and visit my girlfriend and she how she's doing, then head home and stuff my face with cold Thanksgiving leftovers. Yum.[/FONT]

[Nerdsy]

[color=deeppink]I dislike Thanksgiving. First, I don't like turkey... at all. Of course, that's what my family serves every year.

And since my parents are divorced, I end up having two Thanksgiving meals; perhaps 3, now that my mom is remarried. I have to put up with two gigantic meals, and I usually get yelled at at one or the other for not eating enough. Hmph.

Plus I just generally dislike holidays for some reason.[/color]

[Korey]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][color=deeppink]I dislike Thanksgiving. First, I don't like turkey... at all. Of course, that's what my family serves every year.

And since my parents are divorced, I end up having two Thanksgiving meals; perhaps 3, now that my mom is remarried. I have to put up with two gigantic meals, and I usually get yelled at at one or the other for not eating enough. Hmph.

Plus I just generally dislike holidays for some reason.[/color][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]The turkeys of the world appreciate your abstinence. Do you replace the turkey with ham or something? That's what my family does...we have Turkey and Ham, for those who dislike one or the other.

I sure would hate having to cram down more than one thanksgiving meal a year...because mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce only taste good the FIRST time. It's kind of an awkward situation that your family puts you in by making you eat both, because you don't wanna be mean and not eat one, but yet your body won't allow it. Quite a predicament, indeed.[/FONT]

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Korey'][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] Do you replace the turkey with ham or something?
[/FONT][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]While I love ham, no. I just choke down the turkey.[/color]

[Sangome]

[size=1]I love Thanksgiving to death. I love family getting together and eating like there's no tomorrow. It's always miniscule in comparison to Christmas.

Though sadly for me, my dad has to work on Thanksgiving, so we're going to the restaurant he works at for it. Which sucks because I don't know who else will be there...

But one thing I always love is Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I've been enamored with it since I was a child. [Pikachu balloon, ftw!] Definately my highlight of the holiday.

...Though, I could do without the dancing and blatant lip syncing of the Broadway musicals that fill up the first half hour or so of the show. XP[/size]

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][color=deeppink]While I love ham, no. I just choke down the turkey.[/color][/QUOTE]Well that's no fun. As much as I love turkey, I also love all the other stuff my family has prepared. With my parents, older brothers who are married and assorted relatives, we have a huge feast! And that includes far more than just turkey. We almost always have ham, some form of roast, different shrimp and rice recipes, etc. You can easily skip turkey at my parents place and no one would even notice.

[Japan]

[COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="1"]Thanksgiving is always kind of boring for me. We spend all day cooking to eat for an hour and then spend the rest of the day cleaning up dishes and watching football.

But this year will be different. I will be working from 7 am to 1:30 pm. So no more food preparation for me...cept what goes on a McDonald's sandwich. [/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

I enjoy Thanksgiving more for getting to see all of my relatives than I do for the food. But at the same time I do enjoy making lots of tasty food for everyone. Even if it can be rather tiring. I no longer do much beyond the dinner and simply hanging around the rest of the afternoon catching up on things, seeing how much the grandkids have grown, checking out all the new pictures of said grandkids, etc.

It's just a fun and crazy time and I enjoy it quite a bit. I'm already picking up the necessary items for what I plan on making this year. I've got a couple of new recipes that I want to try out this time around. If there's one thing I am good at, it's cooking.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff][font=lucida calligraphy]Oh yeah Thanksgiving. I think I'm working that day, but I can't remember. I know if I am it'll only be two hours in the morning and then two at night. But hey, holiday pay combined with my overtime pay is more than welcome this time of year.:animesmil

As for traditions and the like I doubt that anything can top the Thanksgiving of '05 when the ex had to come over to my mom's older sister's to pick up our daughter and she (the older sister) went upstairs so she wouldn't 'forget she was a Christian and beat the crap out of him' and the ex had the nerve to show up in his class A's like some kind of war hero. Thank God they're in Texas this year.:animesigh

Usually we have turkey, sweet potatoes, regular mased potatoes, cranberry sauce, squash (the good kind with maple syrup, walnuts and brown sugar) and my mom's stuffing with Italian sausage. Then of course dessert, I usually make pumpkin pie and we also have apple pie. Then there's the board games for a few hours and yelling at the televised football games. Because what fun is a holiday when you can't yell at people who can't hear you?

I'm not too worried about this year, it's next year that I'm dreading. Why you may ask? Because next year I'll be celebrating two Thanksgivings because I plan on visiting Lee's family up in British Columbia in October next year and I'm pretty sure I'll have to help with that. Just one question: Do you guys do football?[/color][/font]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Well with Thanksgiving being tomorrow I'm all set and ready for everything. ^_^ And now that everything I need to do is finished I did some looking online for the different comics and jokes that surround this holiday. I figured I'd share one since it's so true.

[CENTER][IMG]http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3046/catalogs1jb9.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]
Sometimes it's downright scary how quickly they toss up all the Christmas stuff. XP It's almost like you don't get to relax for the holiday at all. Even my neighbors have been putting up Christmas lights on their houses and running them at night even though Thanksgiving has yet to occur. lol[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Konata]

For me, Thanksgiving is a special day for having a family reunion~ =D

It is like a tradition for me and my parents to go to another city and celebrate with one side of the family. We feast and just relax. Unfortunately, my grandmother won't be coming this time though D: She's tired because she frequently travels to Japan in order to help her sister who is ill.

But I'll get to see my second cousins~ And cousins, etc.

I'm sure it will be fun. Thanksgiving has always been fun~

Also, today, in class, we wrote a little bit about the upcoming holiday. I found it so funny because one of my classmates wrote about how "Thanksgiving is the manifestation of gluttony, like other holidays (Christmas is like greed, Valentine's Day is like lust, etc)." So satirical, yet also, so true, in a sense. =P

Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving too~

(*＾▽＾)∠☆ !!!

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]I go to my girlfriends for thanksgiving since my parents are Jehovah's Witnesses. In fact, my Dad just left with my Mom for lunch with the parting salute of "Have fun with the pagans!", lol. Trippy gentleman, him.



The history of the Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock is, roughly and heavily summarized:

Pilgrims have ****** winter. Many of them die.
Pilgrims face ****** winter again, but out of the blue comes...
Indian appears out of nowhere who can speak English, offers them help. His name is Squanto.
Squanto was captured as a slave by the English a few years earlier, brought to England, learned the English language, somehow escaped and ended up back in North America to find that his entire tribe (and most of the New England tribes in general) had been wiped out by a plague. Ended up in another tribe.
Squanto acts as a translator, teacher, and mentor to the Pilgrims on New World horticulture.
Teaches the Pilgrims how to grow corn, catch eel, and acts as kind of a go between with the indians.
Pilgrims aren't facing too ****** of a winter after all. They hold a typical harvest festival that year, which over centuries is spun into 'Thanksgiving'.
I don't really remember how it was spun so much over two hundred years. These things happen I guess.

There were earlier 'Thanksgivings' held in America, a couple at least.

Two second Epilogue:

Squanto was distrusted by both the Indians and the Colonists. He dies mysteriously on the way back from a diplomatic meeting between Indians and Colonists.

The resulting expansion and success of the colonies across North America is well known.

The effect this had on the Native American populations and their success in the following centuries also goes without saying. Teach a man to fish, right?[/color]