Any other Thanksgiving haters?

[sb2009]

Christmas, I like - it's about the kids, they have fun, I have fun, no problem.

Thanksgiving? It's the same every year: On the outside, I do a great job. Plan and prepare a wonderful meal. Have friends over, lots of sparkly conversation, everyone laughs and enjoys each other.

On the inside, I'm darkness personified. What's the point, I ask myself? Who really cares? Does anyone even *like* turkey? Sure, friends are together and having a nice time. But it will be over soon. Everyone will be back to thier hectic overcrowded lives straining for some ideal that's completely out of reach. The kids will want pie everyday for breakfast and I won't even stop them. Everything will switch into high-gear for the consumerfest of Christmas and it will all be the same thing year after year. The people in the Normal Rockwell picture are mocking me with thier happy expressions..."you don't get it, you don't get it."

I thought I would escape it this year until last night when I threw down the book I was reading and burst into sobbing tears. My husband said "Oh fuck, it's the end of November again, isn't it?" I'm so pathetically predictable that it's funny any *other* time of year, just now now!

And the fucking turkey still frozen!!!!!

 

[ownedsubgal]

western "holidays" suck in general, and leave many people feeling overwhelmed, or lost, or grumpy, or horribly depressed. so you are not alone. thanksgiving just reminds me of how i've never been close to my biological family and growing up always felt like an unwanted, unpleasantly mysterious foreigner at family gatherings. literally hours of me sitting around and talking to no one, and no one talking to me other than a fake "hi, how have you been?" to which no one wants a real answer. a very lonely day.

but since i've been owned it hasn't been as bad, i have been taken in by Daddy's family but still there is always that sense of being an outsider. i was just born to be that weird silent girl in the corner i guess.

but thanksgiving is a joy compared to new year's...talk about a depressing holiday!

 

[sb2009]

New Years....the last decade or so I've not been hungover on NY day so it's like a housecleaning day for me usually LOL

 

[Netzach]

I'm SO HAPPY. I have an out this year a total out. I'm not doing a day that is purely about stuff I can't eat, and M HATES it, and doesn't even like turkey, so his sick wife is the perfect out.

I feel like we have a get out of jail free card. Additionally M put his foot down over Xmas and we're coming over for a cup of tea and a ONE GIFT gift exchange and that's it.

Now it's just the regular amount of stress plus a little maybe. I'm not sure I'm ever going back - we may be doing warm weather vacays for the rest of our lives to avoid this.

 

[intothewoods]

Well, it hasn't always been the most fun, but I generally like Thanksgiving.

That I don't celebrate Christmas probably helps. After Thanksgiving, I sit back and watch the Christmas celebrations and craziness, maybe go to a few parties, celebrate Chanukah in a lowkey way, and then have dinner on New Year's. Plus I don't have a big family.

I really like cooking, so figuring out my traditional dishes has been really fun. I have the ones I've kept from my family, and then I've added in a few new things over the years. I brined my turkey last year and it was awesome. I'm not up to cooking this year, but next year I might do a dry brine, I think it's called (salt).

 

[ecstaticsub]

Thanksgiving is different for me every year. Sometimes I am working, sometimes we just have one friend over because we are stationed someone in the middle of no where under a foot of snow and sometimes like this year I am going to be with my entire family at my mom's house. It has been well over 25 years since we have all been together at her place, let alone for a holiday. We all more or less get along. I had wonderfully fun Thanksgivings while growing up, i am so longer forward to this holiday.


I guess for me because we have moved so much the one thing that has remained consistent is us...my husband, my kids and I. My family is everything to me. I see the holidays as a celebration of my family. I really try not to stress out about them. We will be together, I'm happy. We had two years where my husband returned from deployments just a month or so before Christmas and another one where he left a week before Christmas . So I am thrilled when we all can be together.

I even love turkey...

 

[sb2009]

Bah, Humbug!

I *am* grateful for my family..mabye I have "pre holiday drop" or something!

 

[ecstaticsub]

Bah, Humbug!

I *am* grateful for my family..mabye I have "pre holiday drop" or something!

LOL, sorry to rain happiness on your rant thread..

I have so many friends who are separated due to deployments for the holidays, it is impossible for me to feel anything but happy and very grateful this year (and to be honest a little guilty)

 

[sb2009]

I know about the guilt feeling...that's usualy my motivation for having soldiers over who aren't home with thier families. Even if they do call me "ma'am" LOL

 

[intothewoods]

Seriously, for those who do not like turkey, try brining! I won all the turkey haters over last year. I used Alton Brown's recipe because it was fairly easy. The only issue, really, is finding a container large enough to do the brining in. Also, you can't stuff a brined turkey, but some guy in the NY Times cooks his in foil-covered muffin tins so it steams nicely. I'm telling you, brined turkey is so flavorful!

 

[HottieMama]

I don't like Thanksgiving. Haven't since I was 12. That year, my grandfather (the only father I had.) died the day before Thanksgiving. Since then, it has always been a bit of a "dark" day for me. This year will be even harder because my two oldest sons will be with their father and not with me.

Thankfully, (lol) my HusDom doesn't like turkey so I am not cooking a big meal. We are going out for Chinese food and then I will be going to bed early in order to be up at midnight and ready to go BF shopping. THAT is a holiday for me. Shopping...no kids...no husband...plenty of $$ for the things I want to get...store frenzy followed by a quiet breakfast at the diner.

 

[Keroin]

I stopped "doing" holidays about ten years ago and I'm so farking glad I did. It was tough and I faced a lot of resistance from family but I was firm about it. Why celebrate things I don't believe in?

I still sent my nephews a small gift at Xmas and birthdays until they were grown. Now, instead of buying a shitload of crap no one really wants, I just make a nice donation to a charity then I send a holiday email to the "inner circle" and tell them about the donation I made in their name and wish them a happy year. I don't bother with Thanksgiving at all - I try to be thankful every day - but if I happen to be somewhere someone's celebrating and I'm invited then I'll join in.

I do love turkey, though. Yum, yum, yum!!! And then you make a hole in the middle of your mashed potatoes and turn them into a gravy volcano!

 

[ownedsubgal]

Seriously, for those who do not like turkey, try brining! I won all the turkey haters over last year. I used Alton Brown's recipe because it was fairly easy. The only issue, really, is finding a container large enough to do the brining in. Also, you can't stuff a brined turkey, but some guy in the NY Times cooks his in foil-covered muffin tins so it steams nicely. I'm telling you, brined turkey is so flavorful!

brined turkey (and chicken too) IS awesome. i have been brining poultry for 6 or 7 years now, and it always comes out wonderfully. as far as a brining container, i always use a crab/lobster pot. if you are on the lazy side, use one of those plastic brining bags and put the turkey in that, then in the pot.

if you really want an awesome turkey, brine it and then deep fry it. the BEST, we do a few a year. but never on holidays, we do it any old time. thanksgiving/xmas/holidays do NOT have a monopoly on turkey, dangit!

 

[sb2009]

yeah, my husband just called to see if my annual breakdown was going according to schedule...arsenic in his food, perhaps? Insanity defense?

 

[intothewoods]

brined turkey (and chicken too) IS awesome. i have been brining poultry for 6 or 7 years now, and it always comes out wonderfully. as far as a brining container, i always use a crab/lobster pot. if you are on the lazy side, use one of those plastic brining bags and put the turkey in that, then in the pot.

if you really want an awesome turkey, brine it and then deep fry it. the BEST, we do a few a year. but never on holidays, we do it any old time. thanksgiving/xmas/holidays do NOT have a monopoly on turkey, dangit!

I used my spaghetti pot, but I had a smallish turkey. I don't have a crab/lobster pot (although I guess what I have is about the same size), but I have heard of people using coolers for really big turkeys.

I've heard many people ooh and ah over the deep fried turkeys, but I've never tried it. Do you have a deep fryer?

 

[graceanne]

*hugs* I totally hear you.

I had gotten to where I hated the holidays; both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The outright, overwhelming greed of this time of year, the constant advertisements and the pressure to make everything 'perfect'. So much so that every year, for several years, I landed myself in the hospital over either Thanksgiving or Christmas for three years in the row (I had bleeding ulcers). When we realized that was what was causing my relapses my husband decided (with my full approval) that it was time to de-complicate our holidays. Why do thinks you hate doing just because everyone else is doing them?

One of the things we did was stop cooking turkey and/or ham. I don't like turkey or ham, why do I make it? We make pasta for our holidays. Fettuccinni Alfredo or Lasagna or Spaghetti or something of it's like. The holiday is about giving thanks. I can't bring myself to be thankful over turkey or ham.

Another thing we did was cut down on the socializing; it was overwhelming. Both our parents are divorced and remarried, so we had SEVERAL families demanding our time. For Thanksgiving we (normally) keep to our immediate family. There is nothing fun about spending three or four minutes with family members in a large group where you can't hear and then move to the next. I spend plenty of time with my family, I don't have do it when EVERYONE else is there. On Christmas we go to his families the weekend before Christmas, we have a nice dinner for our immediate family at home Christmas Eve (then read the Bible, sing, and let the kids open ONE present). On Christmas Day his dad and step mom meet us at our house early and we open presents, then have a nice breakfast, and then we have an open house. I make a big pot of chilli and two pans of corn bread and if people want to see us they know where we are and that they'll be fed. This is awesome because it spreads out who's gonna be there and when. Then the day after Christmas we meet my mom at my grandma's to open presents and have something to snack on.

The result? Yesterday I sang Christmas song VOLUNTARILY. I don't scream when they mention a holiday on the radio. I can ignore the annoying commericals and the ridiculous displays at the stores.

 

[macanudo]

We tend to have a non traditional meal with other "outcasts" from the family. One year it was fajitas, the next homemade pizza on the grill. It started when I had to travel during the week before Thanksgiving and I couldn't do any of the prepwork = the birth of the non traditional Thanksgiving. A modified turduken this year, nobody knows it yet. Intothewoods is dead on on the brining, just find a fresh, not frozen bird, that HAS NOT had any liquid/saline solution added. That is just more salt.

These are the holidays that are remembered for generations.

 

[sb2009]

These are the holidays that are remembered for generations.

This is probably the deep dark reason for my angst...i feel like my kid's future holiday's will be measured against what they have now, and I just can't handle the pressure! They will either want Thanksgiving "like mommy made!" or "Hell no, I do not want to even think about holidays as a kid!" There is no gray area for me...LOL

Too.Much.Pressure.Head.Exploding.

 

[00Syd]

Well, I love Thanksgiving. I even love doing all the cooking.

My mother has basically given up on Thanksgiving. Its too much work for her, and she doesn't give a shit. But I love it! I love the whole meal, and the traditions of it. Last year I cooked almost our entire meal and it was great.

This year I'm going to Seb's house for Thanksgiving, and bringing my famous Pumpkin Pie. His family is from Argentina, but have totally gotten into the tradition of Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to trying their version of the dinner

 

[*Twisted*]

I'm not a huge fan of it this year for sure, I'll be working nights, we're having 25 people over for Thanksgiving proper, soooo just not a good time LOL, that and I'd rather be doing other things..

 

[Nymphomaniacal]

I used my spaghetti pot, but I had a smallish turkey. I don't have a crab/lobster pot (although I guess what I have is about the same size), but I have heard of people using coolers for really big turkeys.

I've heard many people ooh and ah over the deep fried turkeys, but I've never tried it. Do you have a deep fryer?

My dad usually does a deep fried turkey. Its pretty damn good, until ya know he burns himself, mom is screaming, dogs are running amok with the brothers, the grandparents fighting and theres general chaos with me thrown in the middle.

Eff thanksgiving, bring on New Years. At least I can be shitfaced on New Years Oh, and I wont be home for it so yay!

 

[graceanne]

This is probably the deep dark reason for my angst...i feel like my kid's future holiday's will be measured against what they have now, and I just can't handle the pressure! They will either want Thanksgiving "like mommy made!" or "Hell no, I do not want to even think about holidays as a kid!" There is no gray area for me...LOL

Too.Much.Pressure.Head.Exploding.

Yeah, that's what was getting me. But, honestly, the kids pick up on the parents stress and have more fun if the parent is more relaxed and having fun. I figure by reducing how much we were doing, and how much I had to do, they enjoy themselves more.

 

[DVS]

I like turkey. But, I work nights, so I'm not really all there mentally, when at the family gatherings. Red eyes, less than my perky, talkative self, and constantly watching the clock...thinking about making my graceful exit. I need to sleep before work. I work Thanksgiving night.

Normal people (people who live in the daylight) don't really understand. Noon comes out to about 10 PM for me. We eat, we sit back and maybe watch a football game, and soon it's 4 PM. That's about 2 AM for me. I've got 7 hours to drive home, sleep some, then wake up and be at work on time. Oh, and I have to stay awake for the next 8 hours, too. I'm too old for this shit.

But, if I want to stay home, because I would rather not feel miserable for 8 fucking hours, I hear about it from my family. "It's Thanksgivng, damn it! You should be there."

OK, let's see all of my relatives get together and eat Thanksgiving dinner at midnight. Then, we'll all sit around and chat until about 4 in the morning, before everybody drives home. Let's see them all go to work the next day and not feel miserable because they didn't sleep enough. Maybe then, people will understand how difficult it is to work the night shift.

Thanksgiving with the relatives? Sure, I'd like to eat a good meal. I'm a single guy. I don't get to eat that good very often. But shit, I think I'd rather sleep.

 

[BiBunny]

About the only thing I can say about Thanksgiving is that I like the food. If it were possible to have Thanksgiving with my friends, my Owners, and Kitty (and no one else), I'd be all for it. My family just drives me nuts. They're annoying, and I don't fit in. Mother and Daddy are (usually) fine, unless Mother gets on a tirade about something. The rest of them, not so much. Unfortunately, most people I know actually want to spend Thanksgiving with their kinfolks and not do a rogue Thanksgiving with me. Of course, if I did that, I'd never hear the end of it from my family, so I guess it's just as well that I don't.

 

[sb2009]

It's just not Thanksgiving until someone cries!