How was your Thanksgiving?

[kenny]

Ours T-Day was perfect.
Very low stress.

This year we went with south of the border traditional holiday food - Tamales.

We found a place that specializes in tamales from Guatemala (wraped in banana leaves instead of corn husks) El Salador, and Mexico.
The Guatemalan ones were my fav, not too spicy but bursting with flavor; the masa was very fluffy like whipped cream though I hear they use no lard.

The T in T-Day is short for tamales.

The sunny weather got up to 87 degrees F here in So. California.

How was your day?

 

[Karl_K]

was cold here only got up to 38 and was windy
had to change locations because of plumbing problems at one house.
otherwise it was good.
Had a nice visit with everyone and good food.

 

[Burberrygirl]

Mine was very nice and low stress too. We had a fire going and the food was delicious

 

[Callisto]

Yummy tamales! We had fajitas a few years ago for thanksgiving. Honestly I''d choose food like that over turkey any day.

Thanksgiving was good although I wasn''t able to go home and spend it with my family for the first time in about 7 years, so that wasn''t ideal. I ended up with one of my roommate''s grandparents which was nice. Very quiet compared to the 20 person thanksgivings I''m used to and very dry as well. My family are big social drinkers, you have a glass of wine or a beer in your hand from the time you walk in the door usually. So this was an interesting change considering we only had a very small amount of wine with the food only. But the food was delicious.

I got to skype with everyone at my parent''s house thought which was fun. The joys of modern technology.

 

[diamondringlover]

Mine was stressful, I have a sister that wants to cook more food then a army could eat, way too much work to cook and clean up...next year I vote for eating out!!

 

[soocool]

My nephew and his wife hosted their first Thanksgiving this year (just married in August) and though she was extremely nervous about everything turning out ok she had nothing to worry about. After we went around the table saying what we were thankful for, my niece broke down and cried and said she was thankful for the wonderful family she married into plus her own. We were all in tears after that.

The entire day was fantastic. I brought the desserts, a sour cream apple pie, a pecan pie, a chocolate pecan pie, and pumpkin cookies. There was just enough food and after the main meal we went outside and sat around the fire pit eating dessert and drinking hot apple cider singing Christmas caroles (we had nice warm/cool weather). We all went home around 9 pm (ate around 3pm) and I tried to sleep in this morning, but the dog woke me up at 5 am and then DH decided he wanted to get up early for Black Friday to get a miter saw at Home Depot. Maybe I''ll take a nap later.

 

[monarch64]

My mother made too much food, we spent way too much time involved in cleanup after the (wonderful) meal, enjoyed some family time, then went to SO''s "parents" home and had dessert/wine with them. It was cozy, stress-free, and very very happy, just the way Thanksgiving should be.

 

[janinegirly]

It wasn''t bad, but still stressful. Hit 2 houses (both sides of family), baby got sick on the way there, had to drive home same day (1 hour) so I could go to work today. Sadly have issues with SIL (married into family, not DH''s sister) and she did not disappoint. Was prancing about and telling stories about how a celebrity she passed in the street (A-List celeb married to supermodel) stopped to check her out (ie she claims he was hitting on her). Table was silent since it was drawn out story meant to add to her mystique but had opposite effect. Not to mention not realistic story and her DH was next to her while she told it.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/27/2009 8:05:01 AM
Author: diamondrnglover
I have a sister that wants to cook more food then a army could eat, way too much work to cook and clean up...next year I vote for eating out!!

One family member brought lots of carbs and I was thinking, wow, we have so many carbs. I vote for going out to eat for my family too! It was delicious but I rather have a lighter meal for Thanksgiving! I do Christmas at my house and it is not so heavy and I like that; I usually do cut up fruit for dessert, yum! I hate feeling like people need to wheel me out the door.

We did go for a walk in 60 degree weather and went and saw the movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox!!! It was a great movie!!!

Kenny, yum to tamales!!!

 

[bebe]

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving DAY, but it ended on a very sad note that evening.

DH and I hosted 14 people for Thanksgiving, we had a full house and lots of wonderful yummy food.
The Texas Longhorns came through and beat the Texas Aggies - a perfect season for the # 3 Longhorns.

Later in the evening, we learned my husbands mother had passed away. This was very unexpected, even though
we knew she was in the hospital, but had been told she was stable. She was 89, sharp as a tack, but heart issues
and dialysis eventually got the best of her.

 

[Smurfysmiles]

Let''s just say I don''t plan on hosting thanksgiving again for a VERY long time!

In one night I managed to:
Forget to buy propane for the turkey fryer
thaw the turkey all the way out
burn the mashed potatos
rip a fake nail off, ouch!
find a cat eating fruit from the fruit bowl
break an entire bottle of new expensive gin dh had just gotten at our wedding

In the end we ended up sending the boys to Boston Market, we got their last precooked turkey and had to only wait 90 minutes for it

Thanksgiving was salvaged but what a hassle! at least my GF stuffing turned out really yummy!

 

[Smurfysmiles]

double post ignore me

 

[HollyS]

We had an absolutely picture perfect sunny day in the mid 60s here in Texas. And that''s pretty much the usual weather for T-Day around these parts. Beats the heck out of the gray, dreary, and often rainy Illinois T-Days of my childhood.

DH and I hosted the family at our new home this year. We had the normal for us food: turkey with all the trimmings. But I must say, although I''ve been doing bread dressing for decades, this year''s effort was stellar! And no, I won''t be humble about it - - it really was delish!

Everybody had such a good time, it looks like I''m stuck with the Christmas Eve family party. That''s the thanks I get for channeling my inner Martha yesterday

 

[MonkeyPie]

Our day was busy, but great.

Had breakfast with my aunt and a family friend, after which they headed back for the long drive home to Kansas.
Had lunch with my in-laws, which was awesome and fun like always.
Had dinner at my brothers with my family, at which point I felt like exploding, but it was so relaxed.

And then we got home at 6 and fell asleep from turkey coma lol.

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 11/27/2009 12:07:01 PM
Author: bebe
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving DAY, but it ended on a very sad note that evening.

DH and I hosted 14 people for Thanksgiving, we had a full house and lots of wonderful yummy food.
The Texas Longhorns came through and beat the Texas Aggies - a perfect season for the # 3 Longhorns.

Later in the evening, we learned my husbands mother had passed away. This was very unexpected, even though
we knew she was in the hospital, but had been told she was stable. She was 89, sharp as a tack, but heart issues
and dialysis eventually got the best of her.

I''m so sorry for your family''s loss bebe. The next few days will be especially hard for you, but you and your husband and his family will be in my thoughts and prayers. Forgive me for saying that I "hate" it when someone dear passes away on a holiday, because that darned holiday is even more of a reminder, or a reminder in a different way. A childhood friend of my husband''s took his own life on Christmas Eve it will be three years ago this Christmas, and now every Christmas Eve so far, has been about his friend and what he did.

 

[ladypirate]

We went out for dinner then came home and watched Ghost in our PJs! I love our T-Day tradition because it involves no stress and no clean-up!

 

[elrohwen]

Mine was possibly the best Thanksgiving ever! (shh, don't tell my parents) DH and I had dinner with 5 of our good friends at one of their homes that's in a beautiful wooded setting. We got to take a walk through the woods to see the waterfall on their property, the boys played football, we all learned how to smoke a turkey, we petted the chickens, and had a totally awesome meal. It was great! I'm not much of a turkey fan, but that smoked turkey was better than any I've ever had times 10. We also cooked 80% of the food the day before, so most of the work was just heating it up. That meant more time standing around chatting.

Though we were all a bit disappointed because we had planned to play Wii games after dinner, but we all passed out on the couch in a food coma instead! Lol. 3 hours later we had barely moved except to get dessert, and then we all went home. I can't say I'm complaining though

 

[Rachel9]

I would say it was the easiest ever! First time baking a 22lb turkey was easier than I thought, mom did not complained so it had to be really good. The day was mostly outside due to great weather, kids [+2 parents] had a blast making smores in the evening. Too much food though....not eating today

Tamales

tamales

Love Tamales!

 

[kenny]

A couple years ago we went to my SO's house for Christmas where the ladies of the family, all of Mexican descent, made tamales from scratch.
I had no idea how much work tamales are.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

It was wonderful!

BF does not have his kitchen supplies yet (we both just moved). So he took me out to a very nice restaurant. It was a mix of buffet and sit down. Our table was overlooking the water. I had sushi, shrimp, pumpkin bread, maple butter as a first course. Than we both got an entee from the kitchen. Than back to the buffet for apple/cranberry cobbler, chocolate covered strawberries, as well as a lot of other fun desserts.

One of the best meals I have ever had and no cooking/cleaning

 

[bebe]

Date: 11/27/2009 1:20:08 PM
Author: gemgirl

Date: 11/27/2009 12:07:01 PM
Author: bebe
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving DAY, but it ended on a very sad note that evening.

DH and I hosted 14 people for Thanksgiving, we had a full house and lots of wonderful yummy food.
The Texas Longhorns came through and beat the Texas Aggies - a perfect season for the # 3 Longhorns.

Later in the evening, we learned my husbands mother had passed away. This was very unexpected, even though
we knew she was in the hospital, but had been told she was stable. She was 89, sharp as a tack, but heart issues
and dialysis eventually got the best of her.

I''m so sorry for your family''s loss bebe. The next few days will be especially hard for you, but you and your husband and his family will be in my thoughts and prayers. Forgive me for saying that I ''hate'' it when someone dear passes away on a holiday, because that darned holiday is even more of a reminder, or a reminder in a different way. A childhood friend of my husband''s took his own life on Christmas Eve it will be three years ago this Christmas, and now every Christmas Eve so far, has been about his friend and what he did.

Thanks Gemgirl, in our case we are thankful it was a holiday. Because it was a holiday, she had a day with her family all around her. Had it not been a holiday, everyone would have been busy with their lives - working, their own families and such. She got to see her great grandchildren and they gave her such pleasure. So we are thankful it worked out like that.
How sad for the family your husband knew. I do understand that and that memory will always be there for them.

 

[gwendolyn]

Don''t read if you don''t want a bit of a downer...





Mine was one of the worst days I''ve had in years, and definitely the worst Thanksgiving ever. Was greatly missing my family, so I cried a bit, then J got (bizarrely) angry at me crying over my homesickness, and then I spent about 4 hours crying while he either ignored me or yelled at me. When things finally settled down enough to talk, we had a serious discussion about whether or not we should even go ahead with the wedding. In the end, we are, but are going to look into some sort of professional support (couples counseling and anger management for him, his suggestion).

It was pretty awful.

 

[ladypirate]

*hugs* Gwen. I''m really sorry your day was so rough.

 

[Lauren8211]

Awww Gwen I''m so sorry to hear you had such a bad day.

I hope you and J can work this out soon.

*HUGS*

 

[elrohwen]

Aww, Gwen. Big hugs from me. I really hope you guys can work this out!

 

[kenny]

Gwen big hugs from me.
I know this time of year can make people crazy.
It made me crazy till I was in my 40s.
It wasn't till that age that I was able to adjust myself so it doesn't drive me crazy any more.

All the best to you two.

 

[gwendolyn]

Thank you LP, elle, elrohwen and kenny for your kind words. I know these are supposed to be happy threads, but that's not how it ended up.

Hopefully things (in the holiday department) will turn around a bit today, as we're having some friends over for a Thanksgiving party. I'm doing up a big meal (with chicken, not turkey, since a turkey wouldn't fit into our little oven!) and have made two pumpkin pies, and we're all just going to eat until we burst and sit around and play video games and listen to music and hopefully have a good time. So maybe after today, my holiday weekend will have improved considerably!

As for James and me, we're doing ok at the moment. I still feel really awful about what happened, but know it won't help to dwell on it. Although, that being said, hopefully he won't just forget about the things he promised he would do to try to help the situation, because that won't solve any problems long-term. We both need to find a way to work together to stay positive and supportive of each other. Hopefully talking to someone will help us be able to do that no matter how challenging things get. And of course, bettering our financial situation so we can fly home to see my family more often than once a year would definitely help with the homesickness as well.

Thanks again for your caring words. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend!

 

[katamari]

I also wish you the best, Gwen! I know you and J will be able to work through it. I also have family in the UK and they actually suggested we not call them on T-day simply because it was so hard for them to be away when all of us were gathered together. It is certainly reasonable to be upset.



My T-day was also kind of unsettling. I was offered a job the day before, which had me on an incredible high. But, it is 2500 miles away from the ILs and 3000 miles away from my mom, so it was very bittersweet to see them dealing with being so happy for me about the job, but so saddened by the move.

 

[radiantquest]

Mine was a disaster. We put the turkey in at 9:00 and drank some mimosas. We checked a couple times and were wondering why it wasn''t making any juice. We realized at 11:30 that we were out of gas and the oven hadn''t been making heat for some time.

We ended up driving our food 3 miles to his parents house and cooking it there and then bringing it back to the house to serve. We thought about just having the dinner at their house, but since they recently split up the house was a mess and couldn''t accomodate people eating there.

All in all, we ate. It wasn''t great, but we were together with family and we could luckily laugh about it. I guess it will just be one for the books and good memory of the 1st time hubby and I hosted a holiday.

 

[zoebartlett]

Our Thanksgiving was great, and it was so nice to have my family here. We've never had them as overnight guests before, but then again, we've never lived so far from family until now either. I made the majority of the meal, with my sister helping and my mom directing. It was really fun, and the food was yummy. Other than that, we went to the movies (saw the Blind Side, which was really good), took a guided tour of our city(which my husband and I ad never done before), went for a walk in the park, saw a play, and hung out at home. We didn't do too many touristy things, but all in all, we had a great time. We just dropped everyone off at the airport, and I'm sad they're gone.

ETA: I just read further on, and I'm sorry that you didn't have a great Thanksgiving, Gwen, Radiant, and Katamari.

Gwen, not that this is the same situation, but we live far from family too, and the homesickness is tough to deal with. I find that keeping in touch by e-mail, FB, and phone helps. I wish I had advice for you, but I wanted you to know that I can empathize.

Radiant -- my mom has a saying, "either things work out well or they make a great story." She says this all the time, and we have lots of stories about things not working out so well at first. Eventually, you get to a point where you can laugh about them.