The OFFICIAL Thanksgiving thread

[DaveInSeattle]

MIL just told my wife she's not coming for dinner because "she's tired". Wife in tears. She busts her ass to help both her parents and they shit on her.

That sucks. Sorry mate...

My thanksgiving is consisting of laying on the couch, cycling between football and the Simpsons marathon. GF is at her Ex's, having dinner with their daughters.

This flu is fucking brutal. After the 3rd round of "hot/cold fever" cycle last night, I decided that I just couldn't do it today.

[govmentchedda]

MIL just told my wife she's not coming for dinner because "she's tired". Wife in tears. She busts her ass to help both her parents and they shit on her.

Sucks.

[bfj]

MIL ended up coming over after SIL went to her house and used adorable 4 year old nephew to get MIL out of bed and come to dinner. Hugged my mom extra tight when she left tonight, she knew why.

[DaveInSeattle]

At the risk of exposing my limited cultural upbringing, I've never seen mac'n'cheese at Thanksgiving. Is it a regional thing? Ethnic?

[BSF21]

At the risk of exposing my limited cultural upbringing, I've never seen mac'n'cheese at Thanksgiving. Is it a regional thing? Ethnic?

I love my grandmas mac and cheese. She makes it every year.

[Johnnie]

I'm going to guess regional. My upbringing was the traditional "7 course Italian feast marathon binge from when you woke up until when you passed out from exhaustion." I don't remember Mac and cheese.

Similarly, I had no idea green bean casserole even existed until I joined the military and had my first thanksgiving away from home.

And I always thought the cranberry sauce that came out of a can which took on the shape of it was a table decoration because literally no one ate it. It just say there. Alone. All day. Like the step child it was.

[A_B]

ALmost always had mac and cheese. Green bean casserole is an abomination. My wife was assigned green bean casserole and refused, instead making regular old seasoned green beans which several people raved about.

[Brontoburglar]

I haven't had a day off since last Monday.

I want a day off.

[Johnnie]

I haven't had a day off since last Monday.

I want a day off.

Thank you for your service.

[A_B]

I haven't had a day off since last Monday.

I want a day off.

Two phones, ringing off the hook!

[Brontoburglar]

I haven't had a day off since last Monday.

I want a day off.

Thank you for your service.

#supportthewriters

[Brontoburglar]

I haven't had a day off since last Monday.

I want a day off.

Two phones, ringing off the hook!

MY LIFE IS SO HARD

[EnochRoot]

Here's an observation:

If you're going to bring your children whilst you friendsgiving-crash an otherwise established Thanksgiving dinner, then kindly parent them when they're in our midst. Because beyond toddler, they're past the cute date.

[Shirley]

Here's an observation:

If you're going to bring your children whilst you friendsgiving-crash an otherwise established Thanksgiving dinner, then kindly parent them when they're in our midst. Because beyond toddler, they're past the cute date.

Did someone show up at your house uninvited with their whole family? To eat? That's beyond my comprehension.

[EnochRoot]

Here's an observation:

If you're going to bring your children whilst you friendsgiving-crash an otherwise established Thanksgiving dinner, then kindly parent them when they're in our midst. Because beyond toddler, they're past the cute date.

Did someone show up at your house uninvited with their whole family? To eat? That's beyond my comprehension.

It wasn't my house. In-law(s). Here's the lowdown: my sister in-law got married a few weeks ago. Her husband's brother has a girlfriend, and between the couple they have four children (two each from previous relationships). They range in age between um...5-ish and 10 (I guess?). They crashed the Thanksgiving where my mother in-law, sister in-law, her husband and wifey/myself were already seated and eating. New guy who married my sister in-law actually seemed happy to see them (they live in the same town, so it's not like he drove any great distance). Of course, my wife's mother was ecstatic to see children at all so she went and fixed up additional place settings, as I fetched a card table for the little darlings.

I'm giving new-to-the-family-guy the benefit of the doubt that he didn't know of the TurkeyDay crash ahead of time, because you'd think had he known, he'd have told the hens who were prepping the meal of the added mouths at the table, and hell the need for a second table.

Stepping inside the head of brother of new-to-the-family-guy..What the hell kind of thought process is this? Is this like 'Travelers/Gypsies' stuff? Should I be wary of flyers in my mailbox about roofing specials?

[sancarlos]

Stepping inside the head of brother of new-to-the-family-guy..What the hell kind of thought process is this? Is this like 'Travelers/Gypsies' stuff? Should I be wary of flyers in my mailbox about roofing specials?

About the only slack I'd give is if he thought he was invited. Otherwise, it's just an asshole making a dick move.

[EnochRoot]

Stepping inside the head of brother of new-to-the-family-guy..What the hell kind of thought process is this? Is this like 'Travelers/Gypsies' stuff? Should I be wary of flyers in my mailbox about roofing specials?

About the only slack I'd give is if he thought he was invited. Otherwise, it's just an asshole making a dick move.

That's were I am. Or where I was.

[DC47]

We spent the holiday hiking the hills and beaches of California just north and south of San Francisco. Stunning places, great weather.

We had our Thanksgiving meal at a hostel in the Marin Headlands. Our guest was Tom, a 70 year-old Vietnam era veteran and christian street evangelist who has been living without regular housing for the past few years. We were joined after dinner by Manish, a 20 year-old Nepalese immigrant who had fled poverty in his home country. It was a nice evening, enriching in various ways for each of us.

[elflaco]

usual thanksgiving ...l drove down the turnpike to md, stayed with my folks, cooked the whole meal (nothing from the can or premade, and the green bean casserole rocked).. usually my brother does the bulk of the planning and i do the turkey and one stuffing.. he 'realized' his gf's mom&her gf were coming to town-queens- and he forgot so he called my mom on wed to let her know he wasn't coming (dick) -- 20lb turkey for 13 people, no politics at the table, but the redskins shit the bed. good weekend, got to play halo and fifa in the gametruck that my sister brought to my parents house on saturday for her 8yo's birthday.
shitty drive back north yesterday

[EnochRoot]

We spent the holiday hiking the hills and beaches of California just north and south of San Francisco. Stunning places, great weather.

We had our Thanksgiving meal at a hostel in the Marin Headlands. Our guest was Tom, a 70 year-old Vietnam era veteran and christian street evangelist who has been living without regular housing for the past few years. We were joined after dinner by Manish, a 20 year-old Nepalese immigrant who had fled poverty in his home country. It was a nice evening, enriching in various ways for each of us.

The west is just bolder than the east..and I've held that it's because they get the air first (in my stunningly unqualified point of view)..

[Giff]

The flu...that's what I'm having for Thanksgiving.

Yup.

[The Sybian]

We host every year. I handle the cooking. Went with a brined turkey for the first time, and it was great. I brined overnight, per the recipe, but I'd brine it longer next time. Not enough flavor for my taste. My parents couldn't make it this year, which bummed me out. My parents came back from a 2 week cruise, and almost everyone in their group got sick with some viral respiratory illness. My father rarely gets sick, but this had him out for 10 days, couldn't stay awake for more than an hour or two for several days. One of their friends spent 2 nights in the hospital from this virus.

Anyways, politics was a very intense topic of conversation, but everyone passionately hates Trump so it wasn't all that exciting. Saturday my son ran a 5-miler with my SIL's husband, which is becoming a tradition. Kind of cool they bonded over running.

[DC47]

I haven't had a day off since last Monday.

I want a day off.

Two phones, ringing off the hook!

MY LIFE IS SO HARD

Women. They're like that. They want the alpha male to be by their sides at the parents on the major holidays. I imagine it's hard to allocate your time fairly.

[DaveInSeattle]

We host every year. I handle the cooking. Went with a brined turkey for the first time, and it was great. I brined overnight, per the recipe, but I'd brine it longer next time. Not enough flavor for my taste.

Brining is great for avoiding the dreaded "dry turkey" problem, but I tend not to do it because, to my taste, it makes the pan drippings too salty to use in the gravy, and I'm all about the gravy.

We did an early Thanksgiving (the weekend before) with my GF's brother, his wife, and the GF's father. The brother did a turkey confit...cutting the turkey into parts, brining it, and then slow roasting (about 7 hours) the legs/thighs in a roasting pan full of duck fat. Holy crap, it was soooooo damn good. The breasts were roasted and were pretty good, but not quite the same.

[Rush2112]

I'm thinking about smoking the turkey next year. Might get me to finally get to building the bourbon barrel smoker that I've been planning on making (at least I have the barrel, eh?)

[BSF21]

I'm thinking about smoking the turkey next year. Might get me to finally get to building the bourbon barrel smoker that I've been planning on making (at least I have the barrel, eh?)

My dad smoked his this year. Said it was the best bird he had ever done. Damn near ruined the countertop and cabinets because of how juicy the bird was.

[Moreta]

We ran out of turkey Sunday. Too soon. I may have to make another over the weekend.

[Sabo]

We ran out of turkey Sunday. Too soon. I may have to make another over the weekend.

Our 12-pound turkey for three people lasted until yesterday. I did save one of the breasts and put it in the freezer for later use.

Gotta say, this was the most flavorful turkey I've made. I did the Alton Brown recipe, but I made the vegetable stock for the brine instead of relying on store bought. I think it made a huge difference.

[mister d]

... but I made the vegetable stock for the brine instead of relying on store bought. I think it made a huge difference.

The only thing I did at the in-laws was the gravy and I got made fun of for making a quick stock rather than using a box.

[sancarlos]

Real homemade gravy, made from stock/pan drippings is the best. I am really fortunate that both my mother and my wife make excellent gravy, so I've never really done without.

[mister d]

That was the impetus. Before kids, we used to split up Thanksgiving and then alternate on Christmas, so my first Thanksgiving without gravy was a disaster I never want to deal with again.

[A_B]

This is what my Thangiving Thursday consisted of, ranked in order of how appalled I was that it happened (least to most):

- Wife's grandmother's mac and cheese was not up to standards. She's 85. It's ok, gramma.
- Salad was available. Not a cold veggie salad or a broccoli salad, but just a garden salad with various dressings. Eh. It can be avoided. Plate space too valuable for such a thing though
- There was something called pineapple pie available but which I avoided on general principal
- Strawberry pretzel salad (family tradition, surely not a thing for most families) was not good at all, but I happened to be in line behind the person that made it and she decided to spoon me a big 4 full strawberries worth onto my plate way too early in the line. Again, plate real estate is at a premium.
- There was no Pumpkin Pie. Also, some evil soul decided to bring sweet potato pie to this gathering for the first time ever but chose not to label/announce it as such. Yuck. I don't care for sweet potato pie that much, but much less so when I thought it was pumpkin.
- Corn pudding was runny and generally unflavorful
- Mash/potatoes grits. This is the same bullet point because I thought they were grits, my wife says they were mashed potatoes and neither of us can be convinced otherwise. If I am right it means NO potatoes were available, if she is right it means the potatoes were so bad (she does concede this point) that a guy who has had a fair share of both grits and mashed potatoes in his life could not tell them apart. I guess it's possible it was instant potatoes, which makes everything worse.
- Broccoli casserole was pretty much terrible. Like the person assigned it that morning forgot until 10 minutes before they had to leave bad. No flavor, some of the broccoli not cooked.
- Cold turkey. We had an issue a few years ago where the turkey wasn't cooked in time so now it's cooked well in advance, stored in the fridge then "warmed up." Which could potentially have been saved were it not for:
- No fucking gravy. At all. Homemade, storebought, hand jerked from a live turkey, whatever. No gravy. Unacceptable.

It was like the whole family had a brain fart. I hated being unthankful on Thanksgiving, but dang people.

So anyway I called a do over and we made an entire Thanksgiving dinner at home on Sunday and corrected all the mistakes that were made. Weekend saved, what with the copious amounts of bourbon involved.

[mister d]

Broccoli casserole shouldn't be ahead of mashed potatoes on the disaster list, should it?

[Shirley]

So anyway I called a do over and we made an entire Thanksgiving dinner at home on Sunday and corrected all the mistakes that were made. Weekend saved, what with the copious amounts of bourbon involved.

See, now that's awesome.

[govmentchedda]

Nice job saving Christmas, Clark.

[A_B]

Broccoli casserole shouldn't be ahead of mashed potatoes on the disaster list, should it?

Well, it made it lower because my wife makes my favorite brocolli casserole, she signed up for it, but got told to make something else because her aunt also signed up for it but didn't look at the list when she signed up. So there was disappointment as well. But this family also isn't great at mashed potatoes, either, so expectations were never high for the potato dish.

[Nonlinear FC]

My weekend was politics free, other than some sidebar confabs among like-minded folks. The food as delicious.

Also, I have apparently been fully appointed as the carver. This responsibility was passed to me despite this being an in-law driven dinner (there's strength in numbers... It's pretty much just me and my mom, and I guess my kids, they have, like 20 on their side of the ledger.)

Anyways, I once looked up how to properly carve a turkey and now I'm pretty damn good at it. (It's not all that difficult, but if you fuck it up you can really mangle the turkey.)

They have a really kick ass carving set, with an ingrained handle and a sharpener thing.

[A_B]

So anyway I called a do over and we made an entire Thanksgiving dinner at home on Sunday and corrected all the mistakes that were made. Weekend saved, what with the copious amounts of bourbon involved.

See, now that's awesome.

It was, and it likely will be again tonight (though with chicken instead of turkey because we didn't get a huge whole tom for four people).

[sancarlos]

So anyway I called a do over and we made an entire Thanksgiving dinner at home on Sunday and corrected all the mistakes that were made. Weekend saved, what with the copious amounts of bourbon involved.

See, now that's awesome.

+1

[sancarlos]

But this family also isn't great at mashed potatoes, either, so expectations were never high for the potato dish.

We went out on Thanksgiving, but had mashed potatoes with beef stew on Saturday night. I was in charge of the potatoes and received beaucoup compliments. Because they didn't need to know that before I mashed/whipped, I added an appalling amount of warm cream and butter.