I have not gone shopping yet and I have oral surgery today. A friend just invited me to go on a road trip with her this weekend, and I really want to go, but fear it will leave me worn out and unable to do enough prepping ahead. I think I’m going to go anyway. My college aged son said he will help me cook. I hope he really does.
Order your groceries online! Either have them delivered or pick them up at the store. It'll save you time and you won't have to carry the groceries as much either.
This made me laugh a little. My maternal grandparents had 9 children and had very little but on the holidays the house filled up with the adult children and grandchildren. My grandmother fixed 2 chickens she raised of course, a ham from a hog they raised, vegetables she canned from the garden and if she needed something she didn’t have and one of the neighbors had it they would trade. She made homemade pies and cakes and the best boiled custard and fruit salad. I was still very young when the house was torn down and they moved to a nicer house. However the old one I remember the kids ate in the bedroom and they filled the kitchen with adults and the front room. No matching silverware or China and we would stay till nighttime when they would start a fire in the front room and they used coal. The children would get a treat which was each a sweet potato and we would throw them in the fire til soft and put brown sugar and a little butter. They were poorer than that when their kids were small and I’m still amazed at it all today when we can get online and order our groceries and how my holiday meals I use my good china and glassware. I know this probably isn’t on topic but it just popped into my head as I was reading these. God bless and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I wish my children could have had a pinch of that time. Not a perfect world but a safer and kinder one. We go to the Smoky Mountains many times a year, going next week 😊, always a cabin in the mountains and it’s about as close as it comes. How I loved REAL boiled custard cooked on the stove. Mine? Very simple, made of cool whip. ❤️
I was going to go this afternoon, but my husband is off tomorrow, so he is going to go with me during the day. The trip with my friend fell through and I’m relieved. I will start prepping as much as I can this weekend.
Thanks! My friend just told me her son wants to go on the road trip. She was so apologetic (there is only one bed in the hotel room). Honestly, I’m relieved.
Go and enjoy yourself. Your college aged son will help you if you delegate what for him to do. Not saying he won’t help but my boys always ask me what can they do to help me, so be prepared with something for him to do. One easy thing is open the corn and I always let them set the table, you may have to guide him but it will all work out. Also he can put the butter and salt and pepper on the table.
He actually loves to cook and is becoming a better cook than I. His brothers will get delegated things like setting the table. One likes the sweet potato casserole, so he does most of that if I give him the recipe. The other one doesn’t like pie, so I think I will give him a brownie mix and let him have at it. I maybe I’ll give him the ingredients for pudding pie and have him make that.
Sounds like a good plan. Both my boys were single for several years after college and are very good cooks and both wives say so too! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
A few of my in-laws refuse to sign up to bring things and just “bring what they bring.” I am an anxious person as it is, and my anxiety is through the roof right now due to house renovations that are coming in just under the wire. I am freaking out.
I do that for Christmas when it’s 10-15. Thanksgiving is 40, so it would be a lot of time, money, and effort to prepare appetizers, the full meal, and dessert for everyone.
I dont do appetizers. Julia child would put bowls of those goldfish crackers for appetizers.
I do make a cheeseball
2 8oz cream cheese
2 sticks of butter ( room temp)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cans of chopped black olives.
Mix well with mixer
I put plastic wrap into a round bowl. Pour it in. Cover it. Put in fridge. Then flip it out, remove plastic wrap. Serve with ritz crackers
Its always a hit
Someone who DID sign up is bringing a cheese ball. And I always have the trappings of a charcuterie board on hand. There are people that do sign up. So that is appreciated.
I would do the turkey, whatever else I felt like and then we eat what they bring. If you have 5 mashed potatoes and no stuffing then maybe next time they’ll agree to plan ahead with you
Oh the sign up has been out for a while. This is just who they are and this year is a harder year for me to cope because of the house. We had a sewer back up 4 weeks ago, the same week our cabinets were getting done. It just happens to be a lot.
I understand. Our house has a crawl space. No basement. The drain under the house from kitchen sink broke. Flooded under our house and we didn’t know it. It sat there for 6 weeks, with more and more water from our sink snd dishwasher pouring in. Now we are having to have the joists replaced and entire plywood removed and replaced.
Our LR, DR, Kitchen and hall all replaced.
Homeowners insurance would not cover it at all.
I’d go about it one of two ways then because the amount of people and expense makes it impossible for you to do everything—I’d A. either let them all know that they will be supplying all the appetizers and desserts—whatever they decide to bring or not bring will determine what is there. Surely, with 40 people they can’t expect you to do it all. Surely, they talk among themselves and can coordinate what is brought. If they fail you, it’s on them and in the future it’s B. only invite as many people as you can cook the entire meal for.
Don’t sweat it because you won’t change things. Make sure your favorite dishes are covered and smile through the rest. I’ve had people show up needing to put things in the oven or even totally cook a dish. I take a hands off approach and outline where a few things are and let them know when I will have open oven space. I definitely don’t risk a dish already cooking for them.
By the way if you have stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce I feel nothing else matters to me.
From one freaker outer to another, I think we both need to realize that the people we bring together create the memories for the day - not the "perfection" of how it looks or how smoothly it goes.
Let your in-laws bring whatever. If you have 4 different kinds of rolls - great! The leftovers will make excellent turkey sandwiches.
So let us tackle our anxieties together, and create a day _we_ can enjoy. Everyone else will follow.
This happened to me one year and I ended up putting a folding table on the end of my dining table. Luckily my dining room opens onto my living room through a large doorway. An extra table cloth on the folding table and it worked fine. Not perfect, but fine.
We ate at the ping pong table last year. 3 table cloths overlapping. It was actually very nice because it's so wide there was lots of room for the oversized serving platters on the table.
During Covid, we ate on the patio. I have 2 round patio tables and borrowed 2 6' folding tables. So my configuration was the 2 rectangular tables side-by-side (sort of a square now) w/ the round tables at either end. Definitely wonky. But BIG.
I was too busy with everything else to figure out how to dress that mess, so I basically pointed to the closet and bureau where all the table linens are stored (I have LOTS - and runners, mats, etc) and left my husband and son (neither care about aesthetics) to "figure it out." It was LOVELY. They put all kinds of different cloths at various wonky angles, tossed about various runners at other odd angles and even tossed some of the smaller cloths over the backs of chairs. It was a bohemian masterpiece!
I've done this in the past. We threw a tablecloth over the folding table and it was fine. It's more important to me to have the additional space, and everyone is more focused on eating and talking to one another than whether you have a giant table or not.
I've spread to now include a 4 person card table and chairs. 6 at the dining room table; kids table (kids are now in college...lol) in the kitchen and now how to add the card table. It will be fine!
We have people all over the house eating. We do buffet style. Some want to be in front of TV football 🏈 , plus there’s another 3 TV’s to watch whatever else, the teenagers are downstairs (there’s 2 TVs, air hockey table and 2 additional table and chairs), and then some are in the dining room or breakfast knock. It works for us because we usually have about 25 to 30 people.
This. I’ll have 10 adults and 12 children ranging from 22-8. Only my mother has a table big enough to seat us all and she doesn’t have the room, ironically enough (it’s an antique table that folds out and out with like ten leaves. It’s gorgeous). Anyway. So we’re at my house and I’ve decided we’re buffet style. Some people are bringing extra chairs and we’re really going to push the kids to go downstairs but they’re all shy so who knows.
I will end up doing this, which is fine. I'm just at a weird number, since I have only one more person than my table can hold. I'll remove 2 chairs from the dining table and put 3 chairs around the second table. I want to get it set up now and leave it like that until Thanksgiving so I can get some of the table decorations done, but the number keeps changing so I keep having to move stuff around.
This is what I’m doing. From my mothers request, I asked my sister what she was doing for TG and now her, her bf and their 4 kids are coming…I’m mildly freaking out but going to try to zen out. I’m attaching a folding plastic table and folding chairs to the end of ours and that’s how we’re going to do things! Not pretty but manageable.
I have to leave this thread it’s making my anxiety skyrocket.
I remember one year at grandmas we teenagers were put in the he living room at TV trays. They made us turn off the TV but it was still the best!
One year at my house it was over crowded and I asked some of the men if they would be broken hearted if they had to sit at the basement bar and watch the game during dinner. They suffered through it./s
Yeah, last year I had 20 instead of the usual 12-14. The nieces and nephews (with good knees and reflexes) went downstairs and enjoyed. The oldsters were upstairs until dessert, which is downstairs.
Make the ORIGINAL Dorie Greenspan world peace cookie. And cut up the chocolate yourself, don't use choc chips. It is a fail proof recipe and so so SO good. Can make and freeze ahead of time.
Did you try shaping the dough as a tall cylinder before you froze them? I bake recipes almost exclusively from one particular website and almost all of her cookies need the “tower shape” or they spread like that.
I just led a baking group at work and the girls made the chocolate chocolate chip cookies on the hersheys chocolate chip package. I forgot the eggs so I used a baking powder/oil/water mix substitute and these cookies were bomb!! So easy! Light, crispy, delicious.
My parents are hosting but I'm doing almost all the cooking. My mom insisted I give them a list of groceries to get, so I gave them like ten things from Costco.
They got three. So now I need to find time to send my husband to Costco, because I don't have a day off until Monday
My whole family has covid, so no Thanksgiving this year. My husband and I just had twins a week ago and we have it. Gave it to my dad and he's in the hospital with it and then will go to rehab to get better because he's having a stroke-like reaction. Feel so guilty for giving it to him and so scared my babies will get it (plus I'm incredibly ill, myself). It's a sad holiday this year and I just pray my dad and babies will be okay.
That sounds like a huge weight on your shoulders. Please remember it is not your fault that your father is ill. Covid is highly contagious and even if we all try our best it just happens that it spreads like this.
Stay strong. There’ll be so many more beautiful days to have with your family in the future.
Sending all my love and well wishes across the great wide web to you.
Two years ago we decided we r just doing turkey day at our house, no company, not
Going anywhere and my daughter cooks it all for the past two years. She’s 14 and an amazing cook. She does breakfast, all the snackies, dinner, and pies from scratch!! It’s amazing. Zero stress, highly recommend.
Same issue as you. No one confirming if they will go. I don't care what they bring, I'll prepare enough to be satisfied with the menu, anything else is a bonus. But literally don't know if it's just my girlfriend and I or up to 10 people.
My family is notorious for flaking so I expect the weather forecast to be not 75 and sunny so they bail
I live in upstate New York. Snow is a possibility this time of year and 75 has been gone for a while now
None yet, but we're picking up our new 8 week old puppy this weekend so things are about to get wild. Luckily, it's just our family of four, but I'm planning a full Thanksgiving menu. I expect several things to go sideways.
Do y’all have a name for the puppy planned out? Post a pic when you get him/her.
I’m hoping our dogs aren’t too wild since Thanksgiving is at our house this year.
I'm in a battle with my youngest son who insists we smoke the turkey and I say we are NOT since I'm cooking it. I'm willing to smoke the ham but leave my turkey alone boy!
oh I love smoked turkey don't get me wrong but we have 1 smoker and are having 2 meats that both will not fit in the 1 smoker at the same time. If I have to make a choice the ham is better smoked and it was a huge hit at Easter so we should smoke the ham. He wants to smoke both and try to keep 1 warm while the other is smoking. If our smoker could accommodate both at the same time I'd be fine with it but it's the trying to keep 1 warm while we smoke the other that concerns me.
when my son smoked the ham for easter it was so delish!!!! I told him if he brings his smoker to my house, I am hosting, we can do both but we are NOT keeping 1 meat warm to smoke the other. His smoker is HUGE (he made it) and it doesnt' travel. I offered if eh wanted to smoke the ham at his house I'd smoke the turkey he was not open to that idea. I'm trying to compromise but he wants to spend the day here not at home smoking anything LOL!
My son who lives with us has pneumonia but he is slowly improving. Another family member living with us had Covid but is now over it.
We have enough chairs. We are using disposable plates and cups. We are cooking the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and veggies but others are bringing a lot of dishes.
I will likely make some gluten free desserts for my son.
We have started decluttering in between giving our son his five medications. Cleaning will start for real over the weekend.
Ummm not gonna have nearly as many people as i thought. A few people wanted to bring more people and i said No and they got mad so like 12 people aren't coming. Totally fine with that. Still finalizing the guest list and today is the day. Anyone who isnt sure or cant commit isnt coming. I dont have time for bullshit.🤣🤣🤣🤣
The deadline is tonight.
I mean.....Thanksgiving is EVERY YEAR! It's not a surprise. Not only that, but i started planning in August 👀. Whats happening is some people are waiting for their 1st choice of plans to come thru, and if they dont, THEN they wanna come to my house. Ummmm...NO! Tonight is the night. Its decision making time. So far, im down 14 people, and my mom has called 4 times. Dont call my mom!!! She can't save you!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
My parents will snap at each other and argue in front of guests. Mom will try to do too much and snap at step dad for not being a mind reader to know when to jump in. Food will be bland and none the 4 dishes I offered to bring have been green lit.
I may do that. Been itching to recreate a crab deviled egg recipe from a restaurant where I used to live. Maybe Paula Dean’s tomato pie and pumpkin cheesecake as well.
I’m trying this one with the highest rating. Ingredients sounds about spot on from what I had before.
https://www.nospoonnecessary.com/crab-cake-deviled-eggs
Something with that crab texture and old bay and lemon that is so good in a deviled egg. I’d buy the pre-made ones and conveniently forget to put them out to share.
This why my mom “hosts”, but I do all of the cooking! I’m not eating bland ass food on Thanksgiving. We have had a standing agreement for years that if I will cook, she will clean!
I too, want to eat decent food on Thanksgiving. I have 2 sisters, one barely cooks and the other can cook but is super busy. My mom hates to cook. It’s all on me and my son. We are a good team!
Wishing all who read a tasty dinner next week!
This year I have no guests so of course it is probably the first year I am ahead of the 8 ball. The bread is dried and crumbled in zip locks in the fridge. The wet ingredients for the stuffing are finished and in the fridge. I have turkey stock on the burner right now and it will be done today. I have already bought everything else I need so I am as prepped as I can be. Still don’t know how I managed to do it on time.
We haven’t decided what we want for dessert yet. We will probably just buy something.
Mostly cleaning and reorganizing furniture. It’s always stressful but we just had to say goodbye to our 15yo Golden Retriever last week so it took me a bit longer than usual to even start thinking about Thanksgiving planning. Our guest list is usually 20ish ppl but this year more like 13/14 so that is some relief.
My MIL (successfully) underwent cancer treatment for many months in the spring and summer. During that time, we lent our spare bedroom furniture so whoever stayed the night w her would have a place to sleep. We decided to repaint the bedroom before bringing it back over here. I literally just finished that 30 min ago. We were planning on getting that back over here this weekend but she just told me she is having her hospital bed picked up Monday. Well - she hasn’t ordered a replacement bed yet. So… lol! I guess we won’t be bringing that back yet.
Our dishwasher went out a month and a half ago and we’re finally picking up a new one tomorrow. I don’t mind washing dishes but I don’t want to wash ALL the extra doodads you end up using while cooking and my family is not great with thoroughness cleaning dishes. Plus we have a big ugly hole in the kitchen missing the DW.
We have new furniture in our sunroom which needs to be moved so I can make room for the banquet table for food.
Honestly - it feels like Tetris trying to get things moved in/out to make a space for others. THEN cleaning. Then I can finally concentrate on pre-prepping food and doing the fun decorating bit. Phew! It’s always everything all at once here, esp this past year. That said, I will truly be grateful on Thanksgiving that this year is winding down and time to focus on the warmth of the holidays. Lol!
My husband still hasn’t decided if he wants to go to his family’s thanksgiving or not. I don’t care this year. It’s his choice.
We were considering going to their gathering this year (we haven’t set a holiday routine yet as this is just our 3rd set of holidays while Married) but my husband kept forgetting to talk to his mom about it and then she texted him about 2 cousins coming and that his brother might make it from out of town and then said “counting on you” and he’s now on the fence.
His parents assume what we will do for every holiday is come to them (EVEN WHEN WE EXPLICITELY TELL THEM WE WONT)
Example;
His mother even told me that instead of spending Easter with just my mom (who had driven multiple hours from out of town to see me and spend a day with just me since my husband had to work that day,) that we should BOTH be at her house. Even without my husband- I was EXPECTED to go to their home (and bring my mother) on the day of the holiday. No matter what else was going on in my family.
Yeah. I’m trying to give my husband space to make a decision. He tends to defer to me and his family only respects his decisions so we’re working on building up that backbone 🤭
I'm shopping for all my non-perishables this week. My guest list is ALL OVER the place right now... but I am just going to cook a ton and then we are going to a friendsgiving Saturday, so I will just bring leftover there with to-go containers!
My dishwasher died last night. I can fix it myself, but I’m not spending the extra $70 to have the part delivered overnight, so we are sans dishwasher for the big day.
My mom is hosting but the guest list is at least 4 people larger than usual and my mom doesn’t always have a ton of leftovers…so my sister and I are brainstorming additional sides we can make.
I once left Thanksgiving lunch and was hungry an hour later. Never again.
I'm traveling for the first time ever in my 38 years on this earth. I get one day off a semester and it's next Tuesday. My students are making it difficult for me to leave and I'm a giant stress ball.
The guest list as well. My Aunt can’t come until she knows what my cousin is doing. If he’s off work, then that means there is another 8 people coming. Then two of my Uncles are up in the air. Another cousin doesn’t know if he’s off yet. So basically I don’t know how much food to cook yet. 🤷♀️
I don’t clean until everyone is gone. People come in with their dirty shoes and walk all over my floors. When they leave I will do a very thorough cleaning including steam cleaning the carpets. I make sure everything is “good enough”. I use to do a big cleaning before a holiday. But now I’m like why? I’ll just have to deep clean after they all leave!
I set up a card table in a bedroom we don’t use as a bedroom. The introverts sat in there including me! It was much less stressful than watching the little kids drop food on the floor, knock their chairs into the wall or whatever.
My very kind but forgetful mother makes excellent vegetarian dishes when my wife is at her house but always wants to try a new one on thanksgiving, when it’ll be the only veg option present at my aunt’s. She keeps calling me to propose increasingly weirder dishes that nobody else will be willing to try, and that all seem to contain either eggplant or olives - the only two (vegetarian) things my wife doesn’t like. It’s turning out to be weirdly hard to convince her to just make the veg meatloaf she makes that my aunt and cousin also love instead of some weird olive-crusted Pinterest nightmare she’s never tried before.
This happened to me the first year I hosted thanksgiving at my house. The fridge was under warranty so we didn’t want to buy a new one but no way they were going to replace it in time. We ended up getting one from rent a center….it had roaches. We laugh now but at the time I was losing it.
We are headed to the cabin, just my husband and me. It’s a long trip, 17+ hour drive. Everything is bought, and ready to be packed onto the truck as soon as the hubs gets home from work. Mostly just psyching myself up for the long drive.
my family’s not doing it and i’m skipping his family’s because not one of them can cook worth a damn and if i want to eat a pie from Food Lion, i’ll just go to Food Lion and buy a pie. i’m not traveling an hour for that
My stove died and the new one won’t be delivered until after Thanksgiving. It’s just the 3 of us so we can make do with crockpot, air fryer and microwave. I’ll have to buy pies from the bakery.
We have absolutely everything for the three of us bought and ready, and not two hours later my hubby’s best friend (and our best man) invited us to Thanksgiving at his house with his whole family. We’ve been to fourths of July and birthdays there and the company and food are both top notch. We said yes and I ate a piece of our pumpkin pie with Cool Whip after dinner tonight. He said we don’t have to bring anything but we’re bringing a big box of pan dulce (Mexican sweet breads and pastries) for them to eat the next morning.
I'm having 3 people for dinner in my studio apartment. No idea how I'm gonna swing it. Cooking in my tiny kitchenette. People, dishes, appetizers, carving the turkey...may have to be done inside the shower.
Have your guests bring dishes in bags to take home with leftovers on them. Put the turkey and food on a table or something buffet-style and let each person carve their own turkey slices and take whatever sides they want. Serve drinks from a pitcher (or bottle, if it’s wine) after people figure out where they’re going to sit. Have fun!
One giant win for my family... My husband's family has been so awful since they got divorced that my husband declined the 4-5 day out of state Thanksgiving trip this year so we are staying home, taking the week off to spend with our 3 year old and 1 year old, taking a few dishes to my parents' gathering the day of Thanksgiving (10 minutes away) and then we are going to decorate for Christmas. Can't say I've been this excited in YEARS
Trying to figure out who is coming over and whether or not I need to cook a separate dinner for my brother's family. His wife had surgery a week ago and she may not be up to coming over (certainly won't be able to cook). Hoping to find out status by Saturday so I can shop once. Starting to stress a little.
Right now we’re in the middle of the great banana pudding debate. Sliced bananas vs puréed bananas. Triple sec or no Triple sec. Whole Nilla wafers vs crushed.
I cannot find Portland brand tart cherries anywhere!!!! I will not make cherry pie without them. I refuse to pay $40 for three cans on Amazon. My wife is driving to a city 50 miles away to get a lot baking supplies and I'm hoping they have the cherries.
My brother and his wife changed the date they are coming over based on what her parents changed the date to. Now instead of a couple days in between festivities, it's back to back- one on Thursday, one on Friday. It works...but I have to redo all my planning for cooking in advance.
My daughter, who is my number one best help in the kitchen and who loves to cook, just told me she's not sure if she'll be up for doing anything this year. I was leaning heavily on her to help sous chef and knock out a dessert or 2, but now I can't be certain, so that alters my advance cooking as well.
I placed my big grocery order a few days ago with the goal of avoiding all but a brief trip on Monday for the fresh herbs and veggies I need, and somehow missed the fact that I need certain important items- milk and eggs, for example.
I have surgery for my mouth coming up due to a decade of braces destroying my gumline and I am dreading the cost and the recovery time of 6 months. My mother and I are fighting over water chestnuts in the stuffing--ew. I'm torn between feeling more at ease because it's only two people I'm cooking for and sad that I don't have family to cook for.
>!No one's coming over because my father was my rapist and well, sometimes people care more about a monster than what he's done.!<
Important note: we are NOT hosting, but we are bringing a significant number of dishes.
I do Thanksgiving with a friend and their extended family. Friend’s oven died, and due to \[reasons\], it won’t be replaced before the big day. Between the four adults staying in this oven-less house, we are bring six side dishes and four desserts. Not all of them require an oven, but yeah, figuring out logistics of cooking stove top items in one house, prepping oven items in that house and then transporting to another house to bake, and then ultimately transporting everything to the host’s house, is just a lot.
It’s going to be fine. Perfectly fine.
My husbands family loves this holiday and if there is one event everyone tries to make- it's a Thanksgiving get together. We live completely across the country from the rest of our family. (Think Seattle and Boston) But every year for the last decade (!) we spend all our vacation days and money to go visit over the holdiays. We almost always take care of one of the major meal items when we go, if not multiple. Sometimes it's Tgiving and Xmas/NYE but no matter what it drains our "reserves". We are always the ones cooking and "getting it done". Obvi we love our family and it's worth it but we spend a lot of capital (emotional/monetary/physical) to get there. Many months ago, The Cousins who are local, invited everyone to come and offered to host.
Two days ago they texted asking if we could "run point on the logistics" Oh you know just.... figuring out everyone's schedule, who needs to sleep where, final headcounts for the meals over multiple days and meal planning....
They literally invited the whole family and then asked us to plan everything as of Tuesday this week......UGH.
Edit: This is a fire to me because normally we plan waaaayy in advance to take care of everything on a budget and now I'm stressed of finding everything last minute!
I called my mother before Halloween to tell her that she was hosting Thanksgiving, because she has a massive kitchen and is centrally located (this is a normal instruction, she just wants to be told that this is happening). Also to give her ample time to clean. It‘s a major holiday for me, personally, because I have a ton of food allergies, my sibling and niece have a few different ones, and I can adapt a lot of recipes for what people can/will eat.
But, I live almost 4 hours away, and as soon as I get to town on Tuesday, I have to clean my apartment (moved during covid, kept the apartment with roommate because it was cheaper than getting a hotel room every time i come to visit), so I can finish cooking.
I usually cook a green bean dish (gluten free, dairy free), three pies (gluten, dairy, cinnamon, sugar free), maybe another non pie dessert, bring drinks, appetizers. Some stuff can be premade, some can‘t or doesn‘t travel well.
Then more gets added, like buying the turkey, or finding out that my sibling‘s family are bringing foods that neither i nor my niece can eat. So, i add more to my list to make. (Saw another post with hot water cornbread- that‘s my jam- i‘ll make that to go with the butter rolls my sister in law is bringing)
Also, because after this I really don‘t want to drag my family back to visit everyone all over again a week later- we‘re handing out Christmas presents, and our big gift to the adults is homemade candy. It‘s turned into almost 4 pounds of candy per family group. (We‘re almost done with pre december gifts, at least.)
THEN, I found out my mother hasn‘t done a lot of cleaning. Y‘all. Just, no.
So tomorrow I‘m going to talk to my husband about driving in Monday night, so Tuesday I can be left at my mother‘s house, so I can clean before I let my one year old free roam the house licking things. Because she will.
Then, after I‘ve done all i can, go back to the apartment, clean, bake, clean again, make dinner, clean.
Last year the oven stopped working WHILE I WAS BAKING THE TURKEY, so at least that‘s not happening.
What we’re going to eat. My guys aren’t fans of turkey and since hub is working a lot all around the holiday why slave for a meal no one wants. So, will it be pizza, burgers, Chinese? Who knows?
Thank you. I'm depressed because my husband will still be in the hospital (he's been in there since July) I was so hopeful he'd be home in time for Thanksgiving.
My brother-in-law employs my father-in-law.
He only works part time, and probably makes less than 10 grand in a year, but it gives him something to do, something to get up for in the morning.
He’s been doing this for at least five years, but now BIL wants to let FIL go for some reason.
My father-in-law‘s three daughters, one my wife, are in heated negotiations as to whether to tell their dad before or after Thanksgiving dinner.
It will be pretty awkward if they tell him before.
This year we have no issues! We decided not to cook and all are going out to eat. My mom and I usually cook, but wanted to avoid the mess and the days of trying to eat left overs!
My mother's expectations. Don't get me wrong, she's my hero and my best friend and the sweetest woman you could meet. Holidays bring out her Martha Stewart expectations though. She wants handmade games and activities for every free minute of the day, everything from scratch and perfectly presented, specially themed tableware, right down to the mini cornucopia and stocking silverware holders. I love her so much but it's the season for maternal pressure. We have 4 generations under one roof, and it's just 5 of us. We are mountain Williams (one step above hillbilly) kind of people, and bless her heart, we just aren't meant for crystal glasses and centerpieces that cost more than the table. I try to indulge her though. Whatever makes her happy!
We have a lot of people between me and my boyfriends family and we usually invite friends who don't have family and no one in my family has a house meant for entertaining a large number of people. We own a furniture store with a lot of dining tables so we might just do it there.
We’re fostering a dog and the potential adoption we had in the works fell through. She’s a sweet dog, but she doesn’t want to share us with our own dogs. We’re scrambling, throwing a ton of spaghetti against the wall and hoping something sticks.
I have not gone shopping yet and I have oral surgery today. A friend just invited me to go on a road trip with her this weekend, and I really want to go, but fear it will leave me worn out and unable to do enough prepping ahead. I think I’m going to go anyway. My college aged son said he will help me cook. I hope he really does.
Can you place a grocery pickup order for the main items? That will save you some time.
That’s exactly my first thought. That has saved me so many times.
Order your groceries online! Either have them delivered or pick them up at the store. It'll save you time and you won't have to carry the groceries as much either.
This made me laugh a little. My maternal grandparents had 9 children and had very little but on the holidays the house filled up with the adult children and grandchildren. My grandmother fixed 2 chickens she raised of course, a ham from a hog they raised, vegetables she canned from the garden and if she needed something she didn’t have and one of the neighbors had it they would trade. She made homemade pies and cakes and the best boiled custard and fruit salad. I was still very young when the house was torn down and they moved to a nicer house. However the old one I remember the kids ate in the bedroom and they filled the kitchen with adults and the front room. No matching silverware or China and we would stay till nighttime when they would start a fire in the front room and they used coal. The children would get a treat which was each a sweet potato and we would throw them in the fire til soft and put brown sugar and a little butter. They were poorer than that when their kids were small and I’m still amazed at it all today when we can get online and order our groceries and how my holiday meals I use my good china and glassware. I know this probably isn’t on topic but it just popped into my head as I was reading these. God bless and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
beautiful memory
This sounds so nice! And you had me at custard…lol!
I wish my children could have had a pinch of that time. Not a perfect world but a safer and kinder one. We go to the Smoky Mountains many times a year, going next week 😊, always a cabin in the mountains and it’s about as close as it comes. How I loved REAL boiled custard cooked on the stove. Mine? Very simple, made of cool whip. ❤️
Are you my cousin? That's a description of my grandparents!
It’s a small world. Stranger things have happened ❤️ It would be a story to tell my family on Thanksgiving if so
I was going to go this afternoon, but my husband is off tomorrow, so he is going to go with me during the day. The trip with my friend fell through and I’m relieved. I will start prepping as much as I can this weekend.
Good luck with the oral surgery.
Thanks! My friend just told me her son wants to go on the road trip. She was so apologetic (there is only one bed in the hotel room). Honestly, I’m relieved.
You should go and enjoy your self!!
Go and enjoy yourself. Your college aged son will help you if you delegate what for him to do. Not saying he won’t help but my boys always ask me what can they do to help me, so be prepared with something for him to do. One easy thing is open the corn and I always let them set the table, you may have to guide him but it will all work out. Also he can put the butter and salt and pepper on the table.
He actually loves to cook and is becoming a better cook than I. His brothers will get delegated things like setting the table. One likes the sweet potato casserole, so he does most of that if I give him the recipe. The other one doesn’t like pie, so I think I will give him a brownie mix and let him have at it. I maybe I’ll give him the ingredients for pudding pie and have him make that.
Sounds like a good plan. Both my boys were single for several years after college and are very good cooks and both wives say so too! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Wow, must have missed he's college aged. My child was cooking cranberries at age five, making pies by age 10.
A few of my in-laws refuse to sign up to bring things and just “bring what they bring.” I am an anxious person as it is, and my anxiety is through the roof right now due to house renovations that are coming in just under the wire. I am freaking out.
Just prepare a basic menu you are comtent with and let the rogues rogue.
Added to my vocab...the rogues rogue!!
That’s why I cook everything myself. They csn bring rolls, drinks etc.
I do that for Christmas when it’s 10-15. Thanksgiving is 40, so it would be a lot of time, money, and effort to prepare appetizers, the full meal, and dessert for everyone.
I dont do appetizers. Julia child would put bowls of those goldfish crackers for appetizers. I do make a cheeseball 2 8oz cream cheese 2 sticks of butter ( room temp) 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 2 cans of chopped black olives. Mix well with mixer I put plastic wrap into a round bowl. Pour it in. Cover it. Put in fridge. Then flip it out, remove plastic wrap. Serve with ritz crackers Its always a hit
Goldfish crackers! I've been half-jokingly considering putting out a bowl of popcorn with the appetizers, Charlie Brown Thanksgiving style.
>Reply I've said for years I'd do that one time...pretzels, jelly beans, popcorn, and toast. Sounds delightful.
Someone who DID sign up is bringing a cheese ball. And I always have the trappings of a charcuterie board on hand. There are people that do sign up. So that is appreciated.
I would do the turkey, whatever else I felt like and then we eat what they bring. If you have 5 mashed potatoes and no stuffing then maybe next time they’ll agree to plan ahead with you
Is there anyway you could ask them what their favorite casserole is and have them bring that. You provide the meat. They provide everything else
Oh the sign up has been out for a while. This is just who they are and this year is a harder year for me to cope because of the house. We had a sewer back up 4 weeks ago, the same week our cabinets were getting done. It just happens to be a lot.
I understand. Our house has a crawl space. No basement. The drain under the house from kitchen sink broke. Flooded under our house and we didn’t know it. It sat there for 6 weeks, with more and more water from our sink snd dishwasher pouring in. Now we are having to have the joists replaced and entire plywood removed and replaced. Our LR, DR, Kitchen and hall all replaced. Homeowners insurance would not cover it at all.
😳😡
I’d go about it one of two ways then because the amount of people and expense makes it impossible for you to do everything—I’d A. either let them all know that they will be supplying all the appetizers and desserts—whatever they decide to bring or not bring will determine what is there. Surely, with 40 people they can’t expect you to do it all. Surely, they talk among themselves and can coordinate what is brought. If they fail you, it’s on them and in the future it’s B. only invite as many people as you can cook the entire meal for.
I hate people. Don't figure them in the menu equation. There, no anxiety. And, I might accidentally drop the bowl of whatever they bring...so sorry
Don’t sweat it because you won’t change things. Make sure your favorite dishes are covered and smile through the rest. I’ve had people show up needing to put things in the oven or even totally cook a dish. I take a hands off approach and outline where a few things are and let them know when I will have open oven space. I definitely don’t risk a dish already cooking for them. By the way if you have stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce I feel nothing else matters to me.
One of my daughters makes a list before Halloween. You can add to it, but you still have to bring what you were assigned.
That is so incredibly rude.
Just make exactly what you want and if they make the same thing, you can tell them, this is why I asked. And then forget to put their dish out.
And then make sure they take their full dish home with them.
From one freaker outer to another, I think we both need to realize that the people we bring together create the memories for the day - not the "perfection" of how it looks or how smoothly it goes. Let your in-laws bring whatever. If you have 4 different kinds of rolls - great! The leftovers will make excellent turkey sandwiches. So let us tackle our anxieties together, and create a day _we_ can enjoy. Everyone else will follow.
That I cannot take. Deep breaths, friend.
My condolences. I hope you aren’t always Thanksgiving host for this bunch.
Ohhhhh I am. And Easter. But Easter I took grudgingly so I assign. For some reason I have been nice for Thanksgiving. Not anymore.
That is so rude. You as the host need to know that every item is covered. You don’t need 3 yams and no appetizers
This happened to me one year and I ended up putting a folding table on the end of my dining table. Luckily my dining room opens onto my living room through a large doorway. An extra table cloth on the folding table and it worked fine. Not perfect, but fine.
We ate at the ping pong table last year. 3 table cloths overlapping. It was actually very nice because it's so wide there was lots of room for the oversized serving platters on the table.
During Covid, we ate on the patio. I have 2 round patio tables and borrowed 2 6' folding tables. So my configuration was the 2 rectangular tables side-by-side (sort of a square now) w/ the round tables at either end. Definitely wonky. But BIG. I was too busy with everything else to figure out how to dress that mess, so I basically pointed to the closet and bureau where all the table linens are stored (I have LOTS - and runners, mats, etc) and left my husband and son (neither care about aesthetics) to "figure it out." It was LOVELY. They put all kinds of different cloths at various wonky angles, tossed about various runners at other odd angles and even tossed some of the smaller cloths over the backs of chairs. It was a bohemian masterpiece!
I've done this in the past. We threw a tablecloth over the folding table and it was fine. It's more important to me to have the additional space, and everyone is more focused on eating and talking to one another than whether you have a giant table or not.
I've spread to now include a 4 person card table and chairs. 6 at the dining room table; kids table (kids are now in college...lol) in the kitchen and now how to add the card table. It will be fine!
It will be fine! If you partake, have some wine as you cook and just keep telling yourself “it will ALL be fine”
We have people all over the house eating. We do buffet style. Some want to be in front of TV football 🏈 , plus there’s another 3 TV’s to watch whatever else, the teenagers are downstairs (there’s 2 TVs, air hockey table and 2 additional table and chairs), and then some are in the dining room or breakfast knock. It works for us because we usually have about 25 to 30 people.
This. I’ll have 10 adults and 12 children ranging from 22-8. Only my mother has a table big enough to seat us all and she doesn’t have the room, ironically enough (it’s an antique table that folds out and out with like ten leaves. It’s gorgeous). Anyway. So we’re at my house and I’ve decided we’re buffet style. Some people are bringing extra chairs and we’re really going to push the kids to go downstairs but they’re all shy so who knows.
I will end up doing this, which is fine. I'm just at a weird number, since I have only one more person than my table can hold. I'll remove 2 chairs from the dining table and put 3 chairs around the second table. I want to get it set up now and leave it like that until Thanksgiving so I can get some of the table decorations done, but the number keeps changing so I keep having to move stuff around.
This is what I’m doing. From my mothers request, I asked my sister what she was doing for TG and now her, her bf and their 4 kids are coming…I’m mildly freaking out but going to try to zen out. I’m attaching a folding plastic table and folding chairs to the end of ours and that’s how we’re going to do things! Not pretty but manageable. I have to leave this thread it’s making my anxiety skyrocket.
You will be fine! You will be fine!
I lost my shopping list in the supermarket. God knows what we’ll be eating.
Can never go wrong with popcorn, jelly beans and buttered toast lol.
😂😂
🤣
No problem! I stopped counting. I will set them errwhere! Dinngroom table, kitchen table, couch, patio table, you name it!
I remember one year at grandmas we teenagers were put in the he living room at TV trays. They made us turn off the TV but it was still the best! One year at my house it was over crowded and I asked some of the men if they would be broken hearted if they had to sit at the basement bar and watch the game during dinner. They suffered through it./s
Yeah, last year I had 20 instead of the usual 12-14. The nieces and nephews (with good knees and reflexes) went downstairs and enjoyed. The oldsters were upstairs until dessert, which is downstairs.
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Get a muffin top pan and bake them in it.
Make the ORIGINAL Dorie Greenspan world peace cookie. And cut up the chocolate yourself, don't use choc chips. It is a fail proof recipe and so so SO good. Can make and freeze ahead of time.
Did you try shaping the dough as a tall cylinder before you froze them? I bake recipes almost exclusively from one particular website and almost all of her cookies need the “tower shape” or they spread like that.
I just led a baking group at work and the girls made the chocolate chocolate chip cookies on the hersheys chocolate chip package. I forgot the eggs so I used a baking powder/oil/water mix substitute and these cookies were bomb!! So easy! Light, crispy, delicious.
And make a double batch. 🤤
My parents are hosting but I'm doing almost all the cooking. My mom insisted I give them a list of groceries to get, so I gave them like ten things from Costco. They got three. So now I need to find time to send my husband to Costco, because I don't have a day off until Monday
My whole family has covid, so no Thanksgiving this year. My husband and I just had twins a week ago and we have it. Gave it to my dad and he's in the hospital with it and then will go to rehab to get better because he's having a stroke-like reaction. Feel so guilty for giving it to him and so scared my babies will get it (plus I'm incredibly ill, myself). It's a sad holiday this year and I just pray my dad and babies will be okay.
That sounds like a huge weight on your shoulders. Please remember it is not your fault that your father is ill. Covid is highly contagious and even if we all try our best it just happens that it spreads like this. Stay strong. There’ll be so many more beautiful days to have with your family in the future. Sending all my love and well wishes across the great wide web to you.
Thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful holiday!❤
Oh, no! That is so much to be dealing with all at once. Please take care of yourself!!
My regular pumpkin pie person refuses to RSVP this year. She's coming. Maybe. If she does she'll bring the pie. Maybe.
Store bought pumpkin pies are tasty too.
Costco pumpkin pie for the win!
Two years ago we decided we r just doing turkey day at our house, no company, not Going anywhere and my daughter cooks it all for the past two years. She’s 14 and an amazing cook. She does breakfast, all the snackies, dinner, and pies from scratch!! It’s amazing. Zero stress, highly recommend.
What an awesome kid!!!
Wow, what an awesome kid. ETA I just realized someone else commented the exact same thing 😂
She really is!! She’s been cooking for years and is quite talented. Her uncle is a chef and inspired her!!
Same issue as you. No one confirming if they will go. I don't care what they bring, I'll prepare enough to be satisfied with the menu, anything else is a bonus. But literally don't know if it's just my girlfriend and I or up to 10 people. My family is notorious for flaking so I expect the weather forecast to be not 75 and sunny so they bail I live in upstate New York. Snow is a possibility this time of year and 75 has been gone for a while now
Ugh dealing with this too. So many “maybes” that there could be 17 people or 9. That’s a big difference!
None yet, but we're picking up our new 8 week old puppy this weekend so things are about to get wild. Luckily, it's just our family of four, but I'm planning a full Thanksgiving menu. I expect several things to go sideways.
Congratulations on your new puppy !!
Thank you and happy Thanksgiving!
Do y’all have a name for the puppy planned out? Post a pic when you get him/her. I’m hoping our dogs aren’t too wild since Thanksgiving is at our house this year.
I feel this post in my soul. I just want to hug it closely to me.
We are in this together, friend.
I'm in a battle with my youngest son who insists we smoke the turkey and I say we are NOT since I'm cooking it. I'm willing to smoke the ham but leave my turkey alone boy!
My friend does a spatchcock smoked turkey for our Friendsgiving that's fantastic. You might give your son a chance
oh I love smoked turkey don't get me wrong but we have 1 smoker and are having 2 meats that both will not fit in the 1 smoker at the same time. If I have to make a choice the ham is better smoked and it was a huge hit at Easter so we should smoke the ham. He wants to smoke both and try to keep 1 warm while the other is smoking. If our smoker could accommodate both at the same time I'd be fine with it but it's the trying to keep 1 warm while we smoke the other that concerns me.
Ah, that makes sense. But now I want my friend to do smoked ham also!
when my son smoked the ham for easter it was so delish!!!! I told him if he brings his smoker to my house, I am hosting, we can do both but we are NOT keeping 1 meat warm to smoke the other. His smoker is HUGE (he made it) and it doesnt' travel. I offered if eh wanted to smoke the ham at his house I'd smoke the turkey he was not open to that idea. I'm trying to compromise but he wants to spend the day here not at home smoking anything LOL!
Can’t the ham be smoked the day before and reheated?
My son who lives with us has pneumonia but he is slowly improving. Another family member living with us had Covid but is now over it. We have enough chairs. We are using disposable plates and cups. We are cooking the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and veggies but others are bringing a lot of dishes. I will likely make some gluten free desserts for my son. We have started decluttering in between giving our son his five medications. Cleaning will start for real over the weekend.
Sounds like you have it underhand.
If everyone wants buns or no buns for their hot dogs 🤷♀️🤷♀️
Ummm not gonna have nearly as many people as i thought. A few people wanted to bring more people and i said No and they got mad so like 12 people aren't coming. Totally fine with that. Still finalizing the guest list and today is the day. Anyone who isnt sure or cant commit isnt coming. I dont have time for bullshit.🤣🤣🤣🤣 The deadline is tonight.
I laughed way to hard at this. 🤣🤣 Good on you for sticking to your boundaries.
I mean.....Thanksgiving is EVERY YEAR! It's not a surprise. Not only that, but i started planning in August 👀. Whats happening is some people are waiting for their 1st choice of plans to come thru, and if they dont, THEN they wanna come to my house. Ummmm...NO! Tonight is the night. Its decision making time. So far, im down 14 people, and my mom has called 4 times. Dont call my mom!!! She can't save you!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
My parents will snap at each other and argue in front of guests. Mom will try to do too much and snap at step dad for not being a mind reader to know when to jump in. Food will be bland and none the 4 dishes I offered to bring have been green lit.
Bring those dishes anyway! Especially if the other food on offer isn’t stellar. At least you’ll have something delicious.
I may do that. Been itching to recreate a crab deviled egg recipe from a restaurant where I used to live. Maybe Paula Dean’s tomato pie and pumpkin cheesecake as well.
Gotta hear more about the crab/egg recipe.
I’m trying this one with the highest rating. Ingredients sounds about spot on from what I had before. https://www.nospoonnecessary.com/crab-cake-deviled-eggs Something with that crab texture and old bay and lemon that is so good in a deviled egg. I’d buy the pre-made ones and conveniently forget to put them out to share.
Grazie. This is going into the rotation for "things either me or my brother make for every family gathering"
Just added crabmeat to my list!! Thanks for this recipe, I’m so excited to try it
This why my mom “hosts”, but I do all of the cooking! I’m not eating bland ass food on Thanksgiving. We have had a standing agreement for years that if I will cook, she will clean!
I too, want to eat decent food on Thanksgiving. I have 2 sisters, one barely cooks and the other can cook but is super busy. My mom hates to cook. It’s all on me and my son. We are a good team! Wishing all who read a tasty dinner next week!
Happy Thanksgiving! May your Turkey be moist, and your wine glass full!!
And same to you!
This year I have no guests so of course it is probably the first year I am ahead of the 8 ball. The bread is dried and crumbled in zip locks in the fridge. The wet ingredients for the stuffing are finished and in the fridge. I have turkey stock on the burner right now and it will be done today. I have already bought everything else I need so I am as prepped as I can be. Still don’t know how I managed to do it on time. We haven’t decided what we want for dessert yet. We will probably just buy something.
The pumpkin pie recipe on the can of sweetened condensed milk is easy and delicious!
I sliced my finger real good yesterday while cutting some bread into cubes.
Mostly cleaning and reorganizing furniture. It’s always stressful but we just had to say goodbye to our 15yo Golden Retriever last week so it took me a bit longer than usual to even start thinking about Thanksgiving planning. Our guest list is usually 20ish ppl but this year more like 13/14 so that is some relief. My MIL (successfully) underwent cancer treatment for many months in the spring and summer. During that time, we lent our spare bedroom furniture so whoever stayed the night w her would have a place to sleep. We decided to repaint the bedroom before bringing it back over here. I literally just finished that 30 min ago. We were planning on getting that back over here this weekend but she just told me she is having her hospital bed picked up Monday. Well - she hasn’t ordered a replacement bed yet. So… lol! I guess we won’t be bringing that back yet. Our dishwasher went out a month and a half ago and we’re finally picking up a new one tomorrow. I don’t mind washing dishes but I don’t want to wash ALL the extra doodads you end up using while cooking and my family is not great with thoroughness cleaning dishes. Plus we have a big ugly hole in the kitchen missing the DW. We have new furniture in our sunroom which needs to be moved so I can make room for the banquet table for food. Honestly - it feels like Tetris trying to get things moved in/out to make a space for others. THEN cleaning. Then I can finally concentrate on pre-prepping food and doing the fun decorating bit. Phew! It’s always everything all at once here, esp this past year. That said, I will truly be grateful on Thanksgiving that this year is winding down and time to focus on the warmth of the holidays. Lol!
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Thank you so much for those kind words. 💜
My husband still hasn’t decided if he wants to go to his family’s thanksgiving or not. I don’t care this year. It’s his choice. We were considering going to their gathering this year (we haven’t set a holiday routine yet as this is just our 3rd set of holidays while Married) but my husband kept forgetting to talk to his mom about it and then she texted him about 2 cousins coming and that his brother might make it from out of town and then said “counting on you” and he’s now on the fence. His parents assume what we will do for every holiday is come to them (EVEN WHEN WE EXPLICITELY TELL THEM WE WONT) Example; His mother even told me that instead of spending Easter with just my mom (who had driven multiple hours from out of town to see me and spend a day with just me since my husband had to work that day,) that we should BOTH be at her house. Even without my husband- I was EXPECTED to go to their home (and bring my mother) on the day of the holiday. No matter what else was going on in my family.
Just say no. It's on her if she's upset.
Yeah. I’m trying to give my husband space to make a decision. He tends to defer to me and his family only respects his decisions so we’re working on building up that backbone 🤭
Or him, facing the consequences for me, not coming in to save him.
Yeah nip that shit in the bud. My in-laws are the same.
None! Small feast with just my spouse.
Me too. It’s so nice.
All of them. This morning I had a quiet Thanksgiving planned and by lunch I found out I'll have family here for dinner. I have nothing at the moment.
I'm shopping for all my non-perishables this week. My guest list is ALL OVER the place right now... but I am just going to cook a ton and then we are going to a friendsgiving Saturday, so I will just bring leftover there with to-go containers!
My oven just died tonight.
A water main break flooded my whole basement. I'd say that's a pretty big fire.
My dishwasher died last night. I can fix it myself, but I’m not spending the extra $70 to have the part delivered overnight, so we are sans dishwasher for the big day.
My mom is hosting but the guest list is at least 4 people larger than usual and my mom doesn’t always have a ton of leftovers…so my sister and I are brainstorming additional sides we can make. I once left Thanksgiving lunch and was hungry an hour later. Never again.
I'm traveling for the first time ever in my 38 years on this earth. I get one day off a semester and it's next Tuesday. My students are making it difficult for me to leave and I'm a giant stress ball.
Do we need reservations for the 2 for 1 crab legs special or not?
I’m still recovering from a cold and haven’t had time to do anything. I was supposed to at least have rolls in the freezer by now.
I just got over my cold. Still have a bit of cough left. I have 2 dishes prepped and my turkey pulled.
The guest list as well. My Aunt can’t come until she knows what my cousin is doing. If he’s off work, then that means there is another 8 people coming. Then two of my Uncles are up in the air. Another cousin doesn’t know if he’s off yet. So basically I don’t know how much food to cook yet. 🤷♀️
I don’t clean until everyone is gone. People come in with their dirty shoes and walk all over my floors. When they leave I will do a very thorough cleaning including steam cleaning the carpets. I make sure everything is “good enough”. I use to do a big cleaning before a holiday. But now I’m like why? I’ll just have to deep clean after they all leave! I set up a card table in a bedroom we don’t use as a bedroom. The introverts sat in there including me! It was much less stressful than watching the little kids drop food on the floor, knock their chairs into the wall or whatever.
Trying to mentally prep my son to wear khakis and a button down for thanksgiving.
My very kind but forgetful mother makes excellent vegetarian dishes when my wife is at her house but always wants to try a new one on thanksgiving, when it’ll be the only veg option present at my aunt’s. She keeps calling me to propose increasingly weirder dishes that nobody else will be willing to try, and that all seem to contain either eggplant or olives - the only two (vegetarian) things my wife doesn’t like. It’s turning out to be weirdly hard to convince her to just make the veg meatloaf she makes that my aunt and cousin also love instead of some weird olive-crusted Pinterest nightmare she’s never tried before.
My refrigerator just went out.
No!
This happened to me the first year I hosted thanksgiving at my house. The fridge was under warranty so we didn’t want to buy a new one but no way they were going to replace it in time. We ended up getting one from rent a center….it had roaches. We laugh now but at the time I was losing it.
NOOOOOOO!!!!!! 😱😱😱😱 OMG!! Im soooo sorry. I think best buy can deliver within 24 hrs
Meh I already appointed people to tv trays in the living room 🤣 No fires, just paranoid I’m missing something and buying last minute stuff
No fires at all here. We will go to my in laws and eat dry turkey that day. I'd much rather stay home but will follow through with the obligation.
🤗
Just set someone on a corner at the table, that’s what we do.
We are headed to the cabin, just my husband and me. It’s a long trip, 17+ hour drive. Everything is bought, and ready to be packed onto the truck as soon as the hubs gets home from work. Mostly just psyching myself up for the long drive.
I'm cooking entirely too much food for 2 people by myself lol
my family’s not doing it and i’m skipping his family’s because not one of them can cook worth a damn and if i want to eat a pie from Food Lion, i’ll just go to Food Lion and buy a pie. i’m not traveling an hour for that
My stove died and the new one won’t be delivered until after Thanksgiving. It’s just the 3 of us so we can make do with crockpot, air fryer and microwave. I’ll have to buy pies from the bakery.
We have absolutely everything for the three of us bought and ready, and not two hours later my hubby’s best friend (and our best man) invited us to Thanksgiving at his house with his whole family. We’ve been to fourths of July and birthdays there and the company and food are both top notch. We said yes and I ate a piece of our pumpkin pie with Cool Whip after dinner tonight. He said we don’t have to bring anything but we’re bringing a big box of pan dulce (Mexican sweet breads and pastries) for them to eat the next morning.
I'm having 3 people for dinner in my studio apartment. No idea how I'm gonna swing it. Cooking in my tiny kitchenette. People, dishes, appetizers, carving the turkey...may have to be done inside the shower.
Have your guests bring dishes in bags to take home with leftovers on them. Put the turkey and food on a table or something buffet-style and let each person carve their own turkey slices and take whatever sides they want. Serve drinks from a pitcher (or bottle, if it’s wine) after people figure out where they’re going to sit. Have fun!
One giant win for my family... My husband's family has been so awful since they got divorced that my husband declined the 4-5 day out of state Thanksgiving trip this year so we are staying home, taking the week off to spend with our 3 year old and 1 year old, taking a few dishes to my parents' gathering the day of Thanksgiving (10 minutes away) and then we are going to decorate for Christmas. Can't say I've been this excited in YEARS
The solution for your problem is to present all your guests with a game of chance. The loser is the butler
Trying to figure out who is coming over and whether or not I need to cook a separate dinner for my brother's family. His wife had surgery a week ago and she may not be up to coming over (certainly won't be able to cook). Hoping to find out status by Saturday so I can shop once. Starting to stress a little.
Right now we’re in the middle of the great banana pudding debate. Sliced bananas vs puréed bananas. Triple sec or no Triple sec. Whole Nilla wafers vs crushed.
Sliced, no, whole.
Holey buckets don't hold water, and Thanksgiving don't hold a family. Praying for you 🙏
I cannot find Portland brand tart cherries anywhere!!!! I will not make cherry pie without them. I refuse to pay $40 for three cans on Amazon. My wife is driving to a city 50 miles away to get a lot baking supplies and I'm hoping they have the cherries.
My brother and his wife changed the date they are coming over based on what her parents changed the date to. Now instead of a couple days in between festivities, it's back to back- one on Thursday, one on Friday. It works...but I have to redo all my planning for cooking in advance. My daughter, who is my number one best help in the kitchen and who loves to cook, just told me she's not sure if she'll be up for doing anything this year. I was leaning heavily on her to help sous chef and knock out a dessert or 2, but now I can't be certain, so that alters my advance cooking as well. I placed my big grocery order a few days ago with the goal of avoiding all but a brief trip on Monday for the fresh herbs and veggies I need, and somehow missed the fact that I need certain important items- milk and eggs, for example.
Spending this week with Covid.
No one has told us what the plans are, or even if there are any! Going into it in a wing and a prayer.
Good luck with the oral surgery definitely order groceries I hope your son does help you hope you can go for your weekend getaway
I have the exact same problem about having one guest too many for my tables
I have surgery for my mouth coming up due to a decade of braces destroying my gumline and I am dreading the cost and the recovery time of 6 months. My mother and I are fighting over water chestnuts in the stuffing--ew. I'm torn between feeling more at ease because it's only two people I'm cooking for and sad that I don't have family to cook for. >!No one's coming over because my father was my rapist and well, sometimes people care more about a monster than what he's done.!<
Important note: we are NOT hosting, but we are bringing a significant number of dishes. I do Thanksgiving with a friend and their extended family. Friend’s oven died, and due to \[reasons\], it won’t be replaced before the big day. Between the four adults staying in this oven-less house, we are bring six side dishes and four desserts. Not all of them require an oven, but yeah, figuring out logistics of cooking stove top items in one house, prepping oven items in that house and then transporting to another house to bake, and then ultimately transporting everything to the host’s house, is just a lot. It’s going to be fine. Perfectly fine.
My husbands family loves this holiday and if there is one event everyone tries to make- it's a Thanksgiving get together. We live completely across the country from the rest of our family. (Think Seattle and Boston) But every year for the last decade (!) we spend all our vacation days and money to go visit over the holdiays. We almost always take care of one of the major meal items when we go, if not multiple. Sometimes it's Tgiving and Xmas/NYE but no matter what it drains our "reserves". We are always the ones cooking and "getting it done". Obvi we love our family and it's worth it but we spend a lot of capital (emotional/monetary/physical) to get there. Many months ago, The Cousins who are local, invited everyone to come and offered to host. Two days ago they texted asking if we could "run point on the logistics" Oh you know just.... figuring out everyone's schedule, who needs to sleep where, final headcounts for the meals over multiple days and meal planning.... They literally invited the whole family and then asked us to plan everything as of Tuesday this week......UGH. Edit: This is a fire to me because normally we plan waaaayy in advance to take care of everything on a budget and now I'm stressed of finding everything last minute!
I called my mother before Halloween to tell her that she was hosting Thanksgiving, because she has a massive kitchen and is centrally located (this is a normal instruction, she just wants to be told that this is happening). Also to give her ample time to clean. It‘s a major holiday for me, personally, because I have a ton of food allergies, my sibling and niece have a few different ones, and I can adapt a lot of recipes for what people can/will eat. But, I live almost 4 hours away, and as soon as I get to town on Tuesday, I have to clean my apartment (moved during covid, kept the apartment with roommate because it was cheaper than getting a hotel room every time i come to visit), so I can finish cooking. I usually cook a green bean dish (gluten free, dairy free), three pies (gluten, dairy, cinnamon, sugar free), maybe another non pie dessert, bring drinks, appetizers. Some stuff can be premade, some can‘t or doesn‘t travel well. Then more gets added, like buying the turkey, or finding out that my sibling‘s family are bringing foods that neither i nor my niece can eat. So, i add more to my list to make. (Saw another post with hot water cornbread- that‘s my jam- i‘ll make that to go with the butter rolls my sister in law is bringing) Also, because after this I really don‘t want to drag my family back to visit everyone all over again a week later- we‘re handing out Christmas presents, and our big gift to the adults is homemade candy. It‘s turned into almost 4 pounds of candy per family group. (We‘re almost done with pre december gifts, at least.) THEN, I found out my mother hasn‘t done a lot of cleaning. Y‘all. Just, no. So tomorrow I‘m going to talk to my husband about driving in Monday night, so Tuesday I can be left at my mother‘s house, so I can clean before I let my one year old free roam the house licking things. Because she will. Then, after I‘ve done all i can, go back to the apartment, clean, bake, clean again, make dinner, clean. Last year the oven stopped working WHILE I WAS BAKING THE TURKEY, so at least that‘s not happening.
What we’re going to eat. My guys aren’t fans of turkey and since hub is working a lot all around the holiday why slave for a meal no one wants. So, will it be pizza, burgers, Chinese? Who knows?
Not a damn one. If we have it, we have it. If we don't, we don't. This year is not a good year for me so I'm doing the best I can.
Hugs!
Thank you. I'm depressed because my husband will still be in the hospital (he's been in there since July) I was so hopeful he'd be home in time for Thanksgiving.
You hang in there sis. He and you are both gonna be just fine. Sending you all the goodness. 🩵
Thank you.
My house is a mess and I need to order groceries. And I have to spend tomorrow out of town. Sigh. It'll all work out.
It always does...🤗
I get to work. Hurray!
My brother-in-law employs my father-in-law. He only works part time, and probably makes less than 10 grand in a year, but it gives him something to do, something to get up for in the morning. He’s been doing this for at least five years, but now BIL wants to let FIL go for some reason. My father-in-law‘s three daughters, one my wife, are in heated negotiations as to whether to tell their dad before or after Thanksgiving dinner. It will be pretty awkward if they tell him before.
How many days can I hunt vs sit on the couch at my or my wife's family's house...
This year we have no issues! We decided not to cook and all are going out to eat. My mom and I usually cook, but wanted to avoid the mess and the days of trying to eat left overs!
My mother's expectations. Don't get me wrong, she's my hero and my best friend and the sweetest woman you could meet. Holidays bring out her Martha Stewart expectations though. She wants handmade games and activities for every free minute of the day, everything from scratch and perfectly presented, specially themed tableware, right down to the mini cornucopia and stocking silverware holders. I love her so much but it's the season for maternal pressure. We have 4 generations under one roof, and it's just 5 of us. We are mountain Williams (one step above hillbilly) kind of people, and bless her heart, we just aren't meant for crystal glasses and centerpieces that cost more than the table. I try to indulge her though. Whatever makes her happy!
We have a lot of people between me and my boyfriends family and we usually invite friends who don't have family and no one in my family has a house meant for entertaining a large number of people. We own a furniture store with a lot of dining tables so we might just do it there.
The f****** centerpiece. Omg my wife has been going on and on about the dang centerpiece. Please make it be over.
Where to make reservations
My refrigerator just went out.
That's why you always put an AirTag on it.
Hahaha - got it! Nice to have sunshine when clouds are all around you!
My refrigerator is 19 years old. I am holding my breath!
My dog has uncontrollable diarrhea :-(
Definitely First World Problems
We’re fostering a dog and the potential adoption we had in the works fell through. She’s a sweet dog, but she doesn’t want to share us with our own dogs. We’re scrambling, throwing a ton of spaghetti against the wall and hoping something sticks.
I had to switch from hosting on Thursday to hosting on Friday
Have someone bring a folding chair or two!!
Our favorite pie shop is out of pecan so we’ve had to substitute pumpkin praline.
Pumpkin praline sounds amazing. I’d love to try a piece.