Skipping Thanksgiving this year....wwyd?

[Anonymous]

We never get to travel over thanksgiving to see extended family either. In the only one who likes turkey, so some years I make turkey and some years I skip it. Sometimes I’ll just have a breast or legs. The first year I skipped it, my kids were upset that we didn’t have it. I pointed out that they didn’t like it, so it seemed like a lot of work for nothing. They said part of our thanksgiving tradition was complaining that they had to try a couple bites of turkey.

We usually have a big carb fest for thanksgiving. It’s like a bizarro buffet. Everyone (2 adults, 4 kids now) picks their favorite food and we make it or order it, no matter what. It usually winds up being Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken tenders from a nearby diner (picked up the day before and reheated because they’re closed on the holiday), and wonton soup, with some other random sides mixed in, plus maybe some turkey bits or ham. There’s no waste because it’s everyone’s favorites, and the kids love it because they help create it.

Before the meal, we take turns picking Christmas movies and cartoons to watch, then after the meal we put on our Christmas playlist and decorate the tree. When the tree is finished, we have dessert in the living room and watch Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and the segment from Jimmy Fallon’s shoe where Mariah Carey sings all I want for Christmas is you and they play elementary school instruments to accompany her.

We keep it super low key and try to incorporate everyone’s favorites, whether it’s food, activities, decorations, movies, songs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never get to travel over thanksgiving to see extended family either. In the only one who likes turkey, so some years I make turkey and some years I skip it. Sometimes I’ll just have a breast or legs. The first year I skipped it, my kids were upset that we didn’t have it. I pointed out that they didn’t like it, so it seemed like a lot of work for nothing. They said part of our thanksgiving tradition was complaining that they had to try a couple bites of turkey.

We usually have a big carb fest for thanksgiving. It’s like a bizarro buffet. Everyone (2 adults, 4 kids now) picks their favorite food and we make it or order it, no matter what. It usually winds up being Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken tenders from a nearby diner (picked up the day before and reheated because they’re closed on the holiday), and wonton soup, with some other random sides mixed in, plus maybe some turkey bits or ham. There’s no waste because it’s everyone’s favorites, and the kids love it because they help create it.

Before the meal, we take turns picking Christmas movies and cartoons to watch, then after the meal we put on our Christmas playlist and decorate the tree. When the tree is finished, we have dessert in the living room and watch Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and the segment from Jimmy Fallon’s shoe where Mariah Carey sings all I want for Christmas is you and they play elementary school instruments to accompany her.

We keep it super low key and try to incorporate everyone’s favorites, whether it’s food, activities, decorations, movies, songs.

This sounds really nice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why "skip it"? That's weird. I mean volunteering is good but there is no reason you need others around to make it special for you and your husband.

Maybe "skipping it" isn't quite the right phrase, but we don't really care about the meal itself and have no desire to roast a turkey and all the fixins, so we're not going to bother.

\

^^ So go online to Wegman's (or whatever) website and place an order. Done and done. No prep, no mess, and a good Thanksgiving meal.

You sound depressed. Or lazy. Or self-centered. Or combo.

This is OP and I’m cracking up at your armchair diagnosis of me looking for some fun ideas for a small family with a toddler on thanksgiving. Lol

The tone of your post was a far cry from "looking for Thanksgiving day activities" as you're now reeling it all back in.

Not to mention you said you didnt even want to bother cooking the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

What kind of reaction did you expect?

I guess I expected the helpful replies that 80% of the people responded with. How dare I not want to cook a traditional thanksgiving dinner for two adults and a one and a half year old! I’m the worst!!

Yes, you are. Nice that you recognize this major character flaw and now you can work on trying to be a nice person. It will take a lot of work but if you just keep slogging along then maybe by the time your toddler has a toddler, you just might have made an actual friend!

[Anonymous]

When my son was a toddler, we had a thanksgiving where it was just the 3 of us and we went out to an Indian restaurant for a buffet lunch and then went for a long walk. It was a nice time. My son actually loved the food. It was nice to be out at a restaurant having a nice meal but that didn’t have to be a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I did make a pie though bc I love pie .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never get to travel over thanksgiving to see extended family either. In the only one who likes turkey, so some years I make turkey and some years I skip it. Sometimes I’ll just have a breast or legs. The first year I skipped it, my kids were upset that we didn’t have it. I pointed out that they didn’t like it, so it seemed like a lot of work for nothing. They said part of our thanksgiving tradition was complaining that they had to try a couple bites of turkey.

We usually have a big carb fest for thanksgiving. It’s like a bizarro buffet. Everyone (2 adults, 4 kids now) picks their favorite food and we make it or order it, no matter what. It usually winds up being Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken tenders from a nearby diner (picked up the day before and reheated because they’re closed on the holiday), and wonton soup, with some other random sides mixed in, plus maybe some turkey bits or ham. There’s no waste because it’s everyone’s favorites, and the kids love it because they help create it.

Before the meal, we take turns picking Christmas movies and cartoons to watch, then after the meal we put on our Christmas playlist and decorate the tree. When the tree is finished, we have dessert in the living room and watch Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and the segment from Jimmy Fallon’s shoe where Mariah Carey sings all I want for Christmas is you and they play elementary school instruments to accompany her.

We keep it super low key and try to incorporate everyone’s favorites, whether it’s food, activities, decorations, movies, songs.

I love that your kids Thanksgiving tradition is complaining about having to eat turkey and they're sad when they don't get forced to eat turkey

I also think the mismatch of everybody's favorite food would be kind of fun