We both love Thanksgiving, but cooking a turkey is a lot of work. In the past, we've gone out to dinner on Thanksgiving a few times. It's not quite the same, but the logistics are a lot easier!
Now that the kids are getting older though, we're making more of an effort to turn it into a regular celebration at home.
Do you celebrate Thanksgiving every year?
nectarine / 2054 posts
One of our friends in the city throws a big annual Thanksgiving feast with his husband, so we tend to go there. Last year I went nuts and also got a smallish turkey and roasted it too. It was the first time LO was old enough to eat turkey, though, so I wanted to make his first turkey. Not sure what our plans will be this year!
pomegranate / 3388 posts
We love cooking a full Thanksgiving meal for ourselves. The past few years we've visited family for Thanksgiving, which has been a lot of fun... but we really miss doing the meal for ourselves with the dishes we really like.
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
yes, but we go to family across the country, so the logistics are in flying/driving, not cooking. at home I guarantee I would fake it some years. this will be the second year I've been weeks from delivering at Christmas, which means we have to host family vs going to them. last time I tried to do way too much cooking, this time I am not even going to pretend. we like to eat a meal at home but I will order it!
honeydew / 7589 posts
Yes, every year. I usually don't cook a turkey though (we are vegetarian) unless we are having guests.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
Yup, every year. Though scheduling gets tricky and we often have several Thanksgivings.
pineapple / 12793 posts
Twice!
We cater the Canadian Thanksgiving. It ends up being cheaper and easier than doing it myself. Then we fly home to have american thanksgiving with my family. It's my favorite holiday!
pineapple / 12526 posts
Yes! I made a 25lb turkey last year! Now that we're home, we'll go to my aunt's house.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
We always do something, but it is low key since we don't have family around.
grapefruit / 4006 posts
Gasp. I can't even believe you'd suggest not celebrating it! Its our favorite holiday.
grapefruit / 4817 posts
Not always. Sometimes we go out of town to avoid the holiday family dramaz and then we'll travel on thanksgiving day because the roads are dead. We didn't celebrate last year and visited friends instead.
nectarine / 2173 posts
We go to my in laws typically. I definitely wouldn't cook a whole turkey if we didn't do that!
pear / 1750 posts
We do celebrate just the two of us, but I don't cook a turkey because DH is vegetarian. I usually make salmon (technically he's pescatarian, I guess). I don't miss the turkey, the side dishes are my fave anyway. Stuffing and cranberry sauce!
This year we'll see how much cooking my pregnant self will feel Iike doing. I may let Trader Joe do most of the work 
pineapple / 12566 posts
Not always. It's not a holiday here, so people are working. Also, my oven is pretty tiny, and they don't really sell big turkeys...I would have to find a really big chicken.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
When I lived abroad, I hosted thanksgiving the weekend following, complete with a huge turkey...it was a bear to find, but I had to go to a butcher to special order it and it cost me something like $100!
Now, we host at our house.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Yes, but we've only done it at our home once (I cooked the turkey - everyone else brought all the sides). I can definitely see not doing it if it's just your little family and your kids are still small!
persimmon / 1129 posts
Always. Although last year we hosted at our house and my mom actually brought the turkey!
One year when I was a kid my mom suggested going out to dinner and it made me cry! I guess I was pretty attached to the tradition from an early age.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Yup. This can include going out to eat Thanksgiving feast or us kids will host the dinner for all the adults.
grapefruit / 4089 posts
Always! More than anything it is a great time to get together with our families and eat good food and catch up. The "low expectations" holidays are my favourite... no gifts, just family and fun.
pear / 1672 posts
Most of the time. Before LO was born, I started celebrating in my home and I loved it. We went away last year to visit my family and they live in another country. My cousin ended up having Thanksgiving dinner since we were there and because he used to live here in the US. We're going back this year, and I'm excited.
pomelo / 5720 posts
Yes, and we have been hosting at our house the past several years. I hope to avoid doing that this year as we will have a newborn, but I have a feeling we will end up doing it anyway. It's the only holiday that we have managed to get both DH and my family together all at once which means we don't have to travel all over the place.
pomegranate / 3872 posts
Always! Sometimes we do two thanksgiving dinners! In years we've traveled to the ILs, we don't always get the special dishes we like so we'll do it all over again the following week!
pomegranate / 3759 posts
Yes but I feel like the tradition is kind of getting lost over the years. Turkey is less common and there is more 'complaining' over the work of it. Once we get a bigger house, I will have no problems hosting dinner to keep it going.
bananas / 9227 posts
No. There was a year when I wasn't particularly happy with certain people's actions and there was no way in hell I'd cook them a Thanksgiving dinner when I wasn't thankful. The next year I was just too busy with a new baby. I may cook this year though.
*I only get away with it because I live abroad and no one celebrates Thanksgiving here, so it's not huge statement to anyone if I don't invite them for dinner.
coconut / 8472 posts
Yup, we celebrate every year. But then I'm never the one doing most of the cooking.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
Well we don't have a Thanksgiving in England but now we have a Canadian daughter I think we will always celebrate it. I don't know much about the traditional trimmings of the meal etc, but we do it like a Christmas dinner (which for us is always turkey, veg, gravey etc)
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
Celebrate as in have a home cooked meal? Yes*
*one year I moved on Thanksgiving, so I treated my moving helpers ie family to Cracker Barrel.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
Yep! I love Thanksgiving!! I spend the entire day before and morning of in the kitchen but it's sooooo worth it.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
Yes, we always host. I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner! Alton Brown's brining and turkey recipes are the best.
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
Yes, it's a pretty big holiday for us because it's really close to my husband's birthday, my brother's birthday, and my step dad's birthday. We celebrate twice - once on thanksgiving with my parents (they usually cook) and once the Saturday after with my husband's parents (we all pitch in).
honeydew / 7622 posts
Yes, every year. I don't mind cooking a turkey. You could always do a spiral ham or just 2 breasts.
pomegranate / 3272 posts
Absolutely! DS was one week old during Thanksgiving so we weren't going to go to the big family celebration. Instead, we made a turkey breast with all of our favorite sides. I strapped that baby on and went to town.
pomegranate / 3791 posts
Yep, but I'm generally just responsible for a side dish or two. We alternate between celebrating it with my family and DH's. This year is DH's family's turn.
clementine / 911 posts
Our families are both in the same town, so yes, we celebrate every year. In fact, sometimes it's a bit much having to see both families.
The years when it's been a smaller crowd, we just cooked a big turkey breast - it doesn't have to be a full bird. One year, the turkey didn't turn out right, so we ran to the grocery store and got 2 rotisserie chickens as a back-up. There are ways of celebrating without going crazy in the kitchen.
| Today | Monthly Record | |
|---|---|---|
| Topics | 0 | 1 |
| Posts | 1 | 3 |
Ask for Help
Make a Suggestion
Frequently Asked Questions
Bee Levels
Acronyms
Most Viewed Posts
Hellobee Gold
Hellobee Recipes
Hellobee Features
Hellobee Contests
Baby-led Weaning
Bento Boxes
Breastfeeding
Newborn Essentials
Parties
Postpartum Care Essentials
Sensory Play Activities
Sleep Training
Starting Solids Gear
Transitioning to Toddler Bed
All Series
Who We Are
About the Bloggers
About the Hostesses
Contributing Bloggers
Apply to Blog
Apply to Hostess
Submit a Guest Blog
Hellobee Buttons
How We Make Money
Community Policies
so yes
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
38 comments