What are your Thanksgiving plans?

Mr. DTBK took the whole week off because he thought we were going to California for my brother-in-law's memorial banquet, but that has been scheduled for December 15th. He took the week off anyway because he needs a break. I have to work Monday and Tuesday, but am then off for 5 blissful days. On Thursday we'll drive up to Wichita and stay in a hotel. We'll probably find a place to eat Thanksgiving dinner. I also want to visit my parents' and sister's graves because I never get up there. On Friday we'll go to our friends' house in Arkansas City, Kansas. They're Pakistani (as is Mr. DTBK), and the wife cooks a mean American Thanksgiving dinner every year and invites a bunch of friends. She makes the best pumpkin bread ever. She's having it Friday because others from Dallas and Houston are invited and can't go until Friday. We'll stay overnight with them and then head back to Tejas on Saturday.

What about you?

Working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then Thanksgiving dinner with my family on Thursday before working again on Friday and Saturday.

oh gods, i am so sorry

BUT, I get to be hidden in the back room all day, so I think it'll be okay. The only thing that has me down about it is that I'll miss the CU-Nebraska game. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to listen to it on the radio.

since I am separated, and my son is going to his grandmother's in Louisiana, and my family lives elsewhere... and I agreed to work every day except Thanksgiving, I am getting together with a friend and we are going to cook steaks, potatoes, salad, and have cheesecake.

:hi:

I only do Xmas with my biological family because it's too expensive and time-consuming to fly back to NY for both holidays.

Monday, Tuesday - work
Wednesday - take off
Thursday - dinner w/family
Friday - sleep until 12:00, avoid stores
Saturday, Sunday - go hang with friends

since my grandpa needs to stay here for his dialysis 3 times a week, and he won't be out of his rehab center until the week after thanksgiving anyway. So we're getting as much of the family here as we can. Since we're renovating a room for my grandpa's use when he gets out of rehab, there's no way we can actually do it in this house though. It's just far too much of a mess at the moment. The room that used to be his drafting room is the one we're renovating, and all the junk that was in that room is now inhabiting the dining room. And by 'all the junk', I mean ALL the junk. Three bookshelves worth of books. A giant desk. The bookshelves themselves. Boxes. Odds and ends. My grandparents are pack rats, and they've lived in this house since 1970. Lemme find a picture of the junk we took out of that room, I know I have one...



That's about half of the dining room right there. I don't have a picture of the other half. Yes, that's a lot of junk. And no room for the table. Or the people.

Thankfully my grandma's church has a nice big dining room/kitchen downstairs and they're gonna let us use it. :)

Since nobody wants to drive halfway across the country and then labor over a strange stove, most of the stuff is being bought pre-made and we'll just heat everything up there. But I noticed as I looked at the menu that was emailed to everyone that there's no squash there, so I figure I'll rectify that myself, what with me being here and all.

Hmm... didn't think about pumpkin bread. I'll need to either find some, or find a good recipe. That wasn't on the menu either.

Unfortunately all the family can't make it, my mom came up to see my grandpa when he was really sick, and now she doesn't have the vacation time to come up. So the only part of my branch of the family that's going to be here is me and my brother and his wife and daughter. And my aunt just opened a new store a few months ago, so she has to be home for Black Friday. So she won't be able to make it up. But two out of the four kids my grandparents had will be there, as well as myself and my brother's family to represent a third. :)

Actually, this year, for the first time since I was in college, I'll be spending Thanksgiving alone with my dog and my cat! I'm actually looking forward to it, because in general I find the holiday gatherings stressful. This will be a nice mellow week, I'm hoping--my first real break in a long time.

I really hate spending the time with my family. Really, it's fucking diner, "Why are people fighting?"

So I get out of the house and help people. Meet cool people that like to help. Avoid the drama and eat leftovers when everyone is asleep.

It has a flavor.

to go with the lamb for Thursday. Then we're going to set up my new computer and do a lot of reshuffling to fit it into the configuration. (The 24" monitor is what's going to take the most fiddling to get in)

17 people.
3 dogs
3 cats.

will then spend the day with friends who are all bringing their favorite dishes. I totally love the friends I'll be spending the day with as we're all into the same things (new-age philosophy thinking). When I get together with this group, I normally leave feeling like I'm on a cloud! I'm off on Friday and will get together with some others friends to go see a Beatles cover band (I don't even know the name of the band but they're supposed to be great). Then throughout the rest of the weekend friends and I are going to the L.A. Car show, then a movie binge.....looking very forward to the time off.

:evilgrin:

then eating at home with Mom, Dad, Sister......I have to do some work during the course of the day. Write my football story and figure out playoff points. I may visit friends or other family at night if I feel up to it.

and the bonus, my friends mil doesn't like her dil and makes nasty comments under her breath about her. I really do not want to go but her mil actually called me to invite us and then my friend called me to make sure we would show up. The whole situation just sucks and i feel bad for my friend because she really wants her mil to accept her but it's not going to happen. We will go and be good guests and help clean up and say please and thank you and try and get out early.

:hi:

Thursday Afternoon: Dinner at my SIL's house with the whole big family...

Thursday Evening: Visit Dad at VA hospital, along with lil Bro, and bring him leftovers

Friday noon-ish: Travel 100 miles to visit Mom and Brother and eat.

So my 4 day weekend is really a 2 day weekend, due to obligations. x(

Put a Hungry man turkey dinner on about 11:30, put Alice's restaurant on when it comes out of the oven share it with the cats and be happy as a clam.
I don't do family, my wife goes to her family dinner and I stay home.

We are having the traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the family. I'm off Thurs.- Mon. Can't wait!

:woohoo:

Plus, early office closing on Wednesday - Hurray! I can pedal home in the light! Nothing planned. Probably work on my latest video creation, when I'm not outside on my bike. And I'll skip the pig-out. If the temps turn hot and summery, I'll definitely catch some rays (Hey weather gods and goddesses, "Hint, hint.")

Call the family, and eat at a very nice restaurant.

If that's what you want to call it. I am employed at a business that is a 24/7/365 operation and I work each and every Thursday. But it pays 2.5 times my regular rate and it is likely that there will be little activity outside of watching football, my beloved Packers. But it's okay because there is a free community dinner at a local mall which I will eat at after work and then to my Uncle's house to play our annual poker game. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and may it be filled with love and peace.

I PLANS not to be at WORK!

Because I'm sick. SICK of being at work!

I'm sure we'll have lots of interesting conversations to report back on, this is the Mormon, hunting couple who wanted to talk to me about animal souls last year while my dinner got cold.

I might stay home.

In addition to immediate family, my aunt, great-aunt and uncle, and grandparents.

I'll probably be watching Legally Blonde: The Musical on MTV, as well. Its kind of addicting, and after the next couple days at school, I'm going to need some fluffy nonsense to recover.

I have to work four days this week. :grr:

but we are having about 20 close friends over on Friday to have dinner. We are going to the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving day, then afterwards we have dinner reservations followed by a night of dancing with some friends.

Our families are all over the place this Thanksgiving. My parents will be in Hawaii with my uncles, aunts, a few cousins, grandparents, etc, while his parents are vacationing in Europe except for his grandparents who are hosting dinner in Miami.

It should be a fun weekend. :)

Christmas this year is at my parent's winter house in SoCal. There will be about 60-70 family members and I've been begged to attend. *sigh*

my husband's birthday is Wednesday, so we're going out to a cool Asian fusion restaurant for dinner. Thursday it's just the two of us, and we're going to have T-giving dinner courtesy of Whole Foods deli. Maybe go to a movie as well.

Friday I have to work :-(

and I have no idea how many...not my favorite dinner guests
the MIL is a passive-aggressive person that looks for any chance to embarrass me.
I understand the MIL and FIL are bringing guests with them so this could be a particularly unpleasant day.
I am strategically parking my car in a convenient location so when she starts acting up, I can go to my refuge...

I :puke: holidays

Leaving Tuesday, coming back to Mississippi Saturday. I can't wait to see all my relatives and hear about the drought.

...Thursday is a normal work day for me anyway. My shift is different; I usually work 12-9p. Thurs I'm working 4:30pm to 1:30am.

we will have about 25 people. I am taking a chocolate pound cake, hot rolls, some asparagus to steam and a squash casserole. Everyone is bringing something. It will be lots of fun!

depending on how many other people respond to all of the invitations we've issued this past week. The crowd begins arriving tomorrow from everywhere in the US. My husband is sick, quite sick, and as the youngest of 7 siblings, the troops are arriving to rally around. I've got 4 organic turkeys, a vast bison roast (one of the brothers operates a bison ranch in CO), a spiral cut ham and a leg of lamb (one of our friends is Greek and lamb is traditional so.) - all of this is just to start!!! I'm a vegetarian as are 3 others who are vegans - we are collaborating on the sides whilst my pastry chef sister is concocting desserts. It's going to be a wild week.

As of this evening, I am taking off the next 4 days from the farm - I am hoping I don't even receive one call from my staff....

I am looking forward to a fabulous week filled with laughter, tears, joy and a ton of food. Good thing everyone LOVES to cook and we have the space, money and time to do it right. We've got an appointment at U of Chicago Center for Advanced Medicine at 8 am Wednesday which is the only glitch in an otherwise full calendar of sightseeing, food prep, euchre, pony rides, reminiscing, and copying old photos and documents from a recently discovered treasure trove of old family history.

I just finished scrubbing the last toilet and decided to sit down with a glass of wine and DU.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Most of them aren't American, and this will be their first Thanksgiving feast.

For the last two years, we had a Pakistani family over for Thanksgiving, but this year they are in Pakistan on vacation. When they realized that they would miss Thanksgiving, they asked me to wait on the dinner til they get back on the 29th of this month. I told them I would have two dinners, one on Thanksgiving and one on the 30th. Lots of cooking for me!

for our favorite restaurant.

she would be freaked out by that) are coming here. We'll be having brunch at the Starved Rock Lodge. My dad and I had Easter Brunch there and it was wonderful! http://www.starvedrocklodge.com/visitors_dining_room.cfm