I do not like Thanksgiving. Why is Thanksgiving your favorite holiday?

[Anonymous]

Somehow this is one long weekend I always look forward - specially cause of the food and family get together and the 4 day long festive weekend

[Anonymous]

I am with you, OP.

But I came from a wildly dysfunctional family so thanksgiving was usually mostly about drinking which would lead to yelling and everyone staying up until 4 in the morning. Usually there would be a fight or some big family drama and more than one year someone would get thrown out of the gathering and then we’d all have to pretend things were normal afterwards.

Now I’m estranged from basically everyone and I have two sons who are under the age of 8. They are wild and rambunctious and I always end up taking them out so DH can cook. But he trashes the kitchen and usually doesn’t do a great job with the food and then expects gratitude and recognition for cooking. I’d much rather be in the house alone for 6 hours cooking than stuck with our kids alone, but DH loves making Thanksgiving dinner and doesn’t want to trade,

I don’t know, it just kind of sucks. It feels like extra work on top of my already stressful and overwhelming life.

I also struggle with overeating and part of how I deal with that is to not have massive amounts of food around. Thanksgiving makes it hard.

[Anonymous]

I dislike the food everyone brings to the table. Marshmallows with sweet potato purée is totally unhealthy and disgusting to me.
It’s been two years hearing “I’m thankful for my loving husband” from someone who has been cheating.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving Day at the beach this year.

[Anonymous]

It’s a 4 day weekend. A family gathering. The menu is pretty standardized and not difficult to execute. It’s not expensive. And once it’s done it’s the Christmas season.

[Anonymous]

I always get McDonald's for Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanksgiving is exploitative and cringy.

Now i understand why Kamala lost.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing people who like it are not driving 6 hours or so with the rest of the east coast

[Anonymous]

It’s a special time to gather and show gratitude. We all have things to be grateful for, no matter how bad things may seem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Maybe the monotony of the food is what kills it for me. I’ve always eaten the same things every year - Turkey, Ham, Yams, Greens, Sweet Potato Pie in an endless cycle. Now as an adult, I continue to make these same dishes. Maybe I need to let go of the pressure to have the traditional Thanksgiving dishes.

Small family size. So we don’t travel to gather. No one visits each other so it’s quiet and should be fun I suppose.

Bleh.

Thank you all for sharing. Keep telling me about you all’s Thanksgivings, I am enjoying reading about your reasons.

The point of Thanksgiving is you can make whatever you and your family like. If you don't like turkey and ham, don't make them. Make a tenderloin instead, or some elaborate vegetarian dish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. There is no equivalent day in France. I LOVE the concept of a Holiday to give thanks (even though its historic origins are steeped in abuse of native Americans).

I don't like the food served at Thanksgiving. But you give thanks with any food! And any guests!

My daughter hates thanksgiving food so we now eat whatever we want- homemade pizza, chocolate pie, I don’t care. 😁 But I have to have stuffing.

[Anonymous]

When family and friends eat ultra-processed and sugar-full foods, but you are going the opposite way to improve your health, things get quite challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. There is no equivalent day in France. I LOVE the concept of a Holiday to give thanks (even though its historic origins are steeped in abuse of native Americans).

I don't like the food served at Thanksgiving. But you give thanks with any food! And any guests!

Good point. Some people are taking it too far by refusing to visit family because they think it's bad to celebrate Thanksgiving due to the abuse of native Americans. I have friends like this and their families are upset about it.

[Anonymous]

I don't cook traditional food and my spouse isn't from the US originally. He doesn't like turkey and I've never really liked Thanksgiving food anyway. We eat something else, slow down our lives for a few days, and take the kids outside more.

[Anonymous]

Partly because November is my favorite time of year. The crisp, cool air, fall leaves, apples everywhere, fall sports wrapping up so we actually have weekends free as a family. Love it.

Then I love having an entire day too cook and eat. We spatchcock the turkey and smoke it, it's not dry at all. Plus that leaves the oven free so it's not stressful to get everything else cooked, it's a relaxed and enjoyable day. We usually incorporate some variation to the traditional foods - long ago gave up the traditional green bean casserole in favor of steamed green beans with butter / salt / sliced almonds, or some years we switch to roasted broccoli or brussel sprouts. Sometimes we keep the mashed sweet potatoes with pecan streusel topping, other years we roast or bake sweet potatoes, and one year we branched out to a sweet potato coconut curry side dish that was delicious. Some years we make soft buttery dinner rolls, some years we make a rosemary olive oil loaf, some years we just bring a bag of Hawaiian sweet rolls for the kids. Desserts get changed up a little every year, although there's always apple pie and something with pumpkin in it. So it's not exactly the same meal every year, it's definitely not bland, but there is still a nod to the traditional fall flavors.

The only thing we keep 100% traditional every year is mashed potatoes loaded with butter and cream, because everyone loves them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanksgiving is my absolute least favorite holiday. Better holidays- Christmas, Easter, valentines, 4th of July, Halloween, NYE, Memorial Day (bbq!)

I really can’t think of one good thing about it. Pressure to travel with screaming kids nonstop, squished into a house, terrible food (and I mean TERRIBLE. There’s not one spice present in the food on the Thanksgiving table I go to), cold and often snows and I have no control over any aspect of the holiday. It’s the worst. Maybe the pie I make is good (honestly the other pies are terrible). I can’t cook or bring dishes because we travel so far in advance. Turkey is cooked several days before Thanksgiving, then sliced and heated up again in the oven. I’m an adventurous eater and I find most of the food inedible. Kids whine nonstop about the food too which makes for a lot of extra battles with the kids (they won’t eat and then they’re hungry. If we make them eat, they fight us and whine. Can’t win). It’s completely joyous compared to all the other super fun holidays with incredible food. I actually really like Turkey, but properly basted, stuffed and sliced on the middle of the table while everyone watches.

I know the thread is about why people like it but I like answers like this.
The food is terrible. Can we all agree that the food is terrible.

I guess you or your family can’t cook? How is everything terrible?

One of my favorite meals of the year
Everything is delicious. Esp the stuffing!