<p>gloworm - That’s wonderful!!
We all go to my sister’s place despite having a tree fall on it in Sandy! Poor thing, her beach house ‘was’ in Breezy Point…flooded not burned.
But she would NEVER give up having Thanksgiving at her place!</p>
<p>It will just be DH and our two S’s this year which is fine w/ me. S1 deploys to the Middle East a couple of days after Thanksgiving so it will be our last chance to see him until he returns next summer.</p>
<p>I hate Thanksgiving. My husband wants a full Thanksgiving turkey at noon and my elderly narcisstic mother wants to eat later. Same thing every year. My mother comes over, complains about the food and falls asleep in a chair after she insults me and complains about the relatives. Last year I cooked a duck and I loved it but she didn’t. She didn’t even like the coffee. And then she thanked me for having her over! Last year, after the Thanksgiving problems, I didn’t invite her for Christmas and ended up with paremedics at her house on Christmas because she fell and taking her to the hospital on New Years Day. </p>
<p>I haven’t decided what I am doing this year. I may decide to go into hiding for a month.</p>
<p>I think we are having our kids, DS’s girlfriend, her Mom (Dad has to work), my sister and her family and maybe my parents. DH’s parents were hosting something at their place but we had already invited the above crew and now they only have a few people coming (DH’s siblings and family) so they may end up here too? The more the merrier I say. We could have anywhere from 12 to 26 people.</p>
<p>PackMom - Enjoy this very special holiday with both of your boys. Thank your son for his service from the CC crowd and let him know that our prayers for his safety go with him.</p>
<p>gloworm - What an exciting Christmas to look forward to!! Keep us posted on the impending arrival. I am looking forward to grandchildren but I don’t dare say it out loud…even typing it may not be a good idea (birth control is your friend if my boys read this!!).</p>
<p>woody - Your SIL is a brave soul. I would not be having people over if a tree just fell on one house and another became a ‘was’. Maybe she just needs a good dose of family and normal.</p>
<p>Shyanne - I hear Christmas cruises are wonderful! Perhaps you could talk your husband into one this year? It’s not a month, but a week can do wonders. ;)</p>
<p>We have some dear close friends (2 families)who come for Thanksgiving every year. Counting our kids there are 2 HS boys and 4 college student girls. The kids love it and so do we. Sometimes we have other friends join us but these are the regulars.</p>
<p>Christmas is another story. We are hundreds of miles from family and our friends all have other plans (even our friends who don’t celebrate Christmas have plans), so it will be just us.</p>
<p>Sadly, neither son will be home for Thanksgiving – this is a first for us. So I don’t know what DH and I are doing. (I don’t know what the sons are doing, either.) For Christmas, thank goodness, both sons will be home, with our two dogs and S1’s dog as well. Hopefully, the dogs will get along well. We’ll all go for a looooooooooong walk in the woods before dinner, so the pups are tuckered out.</p>
<p>Once my mother passed away, we have always just had Thanksgiving at home with both sons. This year, S2 is bringing his girlfriend!! We’ve met her and she’s nice, but we’ll see what it’s like to have her. And S2 said he’s going to her house for Christmas!! She’s a teacher and has to be back right after New Year’s. He’s in grad school, so will be coming home for New Year’s when she leaves to go back to work.</p>
<p>For the first time in a very long time, both kids will be home for Thanksgiving! (Kids went to college across the country, so we never flew them home for T-day.) D1 is graduated now; D2’s college just changed their academic calendar so that the quarter ends before Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>Add in my father, who just moved into an assisted living place in the next town over, and perhaps my brother who lives about 4 hours away…we’re having a full house!</p>
<p>Looks like my number above has increased. My 88 year old mother-in-law calls me this evening from her cell phone. She is out to dinner with a friend and the friend’s “gentleman friend” and wants to know if she could invited the two of them for dinner as they have nowhere to go. She is with them as she is calling, so what am I suppose to say? She kept saying," If it is a problem I won’t ask them." Again, if they are sitting right there listening to her conversation, I would be a real B**ch to say no!</p>
<p>For me this year, first Thanksgiving in the States in twenty two years with son and daughter and some of their friends and colleagues! I may end up making the turkey.</p>
<p>Christmas in the Bay Area, an every two years event and I put on the Christmas Eve party for family members, a chips and dip affair at a hotel. Christmas at my sisters. Family which contracted around the time my parents died is now growing again.</p>
<p>For those who have family members missing, make it fun the best you can and I totally understand. This year, I have my family close by!</p>
<p>I will be working thanksgving , christmas eve and christmas day . 6:30pm-7:30am.During the day I sleep. The only inconvinence in that to me, is that I won’t be able to stay awake to go shopping on Black Friday! Hopefully, I will be off cyber monday.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys. We are excited.</p>
<p>I hope those in stressful situations get through okay. I remember some not too nice holidays from my youth.</p>
<p>pageagain: I’m trying to guess. Nurse? Doctor? Police officer? Fire fighter? 411 operator? Poison control hotline? Suicide hotline?</p>
<p>Nurse. I have been looking over recipes for something to bring in for my co- workers. I usually bring in a store bought desert. This year I am thinking about bringing in something I made myself. Maybe a pumpkin cheesecake. Any ideas?</p>
<p>For Thanksgiving it’ll just be DH, our 2 sons, and me. We used to invite members of DH’s family until a falling-out 6 years ago. I can do wihout the drama and stress, altho the cooking is about the same, just smaller quantities.</p>
<p>For New Year’s Eve (we’re Jewish, so don’t celebrate Christmas), it’ll be the same group with the addition of S1’s GF. This has become a real tradition for our kids since they were younger. They like going to the grocery store to choose all the junk food we’ll eat that night, and picking out the games we’ll play until the ball drops. Even though they’re in they’re 20’s now, they still prefer spending New Year’s Eve with us, which is really nice. I was totally shocked when S1 was in HS and college and he turned down going out with his friends because he wanted to stay home for our traditional New Year’s Eve.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving will be all the usual suspects, but since we couldn’t quite get the renos done in time we will be hosting everyone at Ruth Chris. Christmas is the real kicker. We had expected to go to the DR after too much family drama last year. Instead I will board my sweet natured pup so I can dog sit my moms nasty, smelly, elderly dogs which will allow my parents to spend Christmas with my sister, who has 3 children under 4. I don’t begrudge my parents or my sister, but I have as yet not found the words to divulge this to DH who is less than fond of aforementioned dogs. DH is very easy going, but he loves our dog. Not loving the thought of this upcoming conversation.</p>
<p>We will be traveling 900+ miles to visit S2 who is in the Army and have not seen in 10 months. We have to bring everything including all food, pots, pans, napkins, etc… (Can you say “bachelor”)? And we are very much looking forward to it.</p>
<p>We moved up closing so we will be on our new house a week before Thanksgiving. So we are taking over the messy part from a cousin, who’s son is expecting twins any day now. It could be up to 8 of us, or any combination depending on when her first grandchildren are born.</p>
<p>Christmas my kids are coming home.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving is always a hard one for me. DH, DD and I. DS is in law school across the country. Hasn’t been home for Thanksgiving in 7 years. He always spends it home alone then calls us and we all end up miserable. I hate the idea of him alone in his apartment eating dominos pizza. I try to tell myself he could make other choices but it doesn’t help. Day after Thanksgiving we are going to Book of Mormon so that will be fun but I will miss having DS with us for that one. And I tell myself that he could be deployed somewhere and lots of people are not with their family. Intellectually I get it. Emotionally not so much. He will be home at Christmas and probably will sleep most of the holidays.</p>