@Pizzagirl, I think you are right. One summer, I bought a load of fresh peaches at a peach festival, and proceeded to make a beautiful peach pie from scratch. D2 took a few bites and said, “OMG, this is so good! It tastes just like that Sara Lee peach pie you made last time!”
And she was right. It was just like a bakery or even frozen pie.
“First, I noticed that DH had set the table with the silver completely wrong - despite years of my attempts to teach him that the knife and spoon belong together on the right”
My ex did that several times and I finally asked why. He looked puzzled and said, “Doesn’t the fork go on the left?” And I said with irritation that it DID, but as usual, he’d placed it on the RIGHT. Turns out he has mild dyslexia that results in a problem with left vs. right. He’d had to teach himself little tricks over the years to compensate (before he was diagnosed). Once it dawned on him that he’d been setting the table wrong as a single guy he learned how to get it right, but honestly, it’s not a law and no one will die if the fork is on the wrong side, so I left it alone if he slipped up.
Good: Had a great day. Went out for breakfast, saw a movie (great show!) and then went to DS GF’s family’s house for dinner.
Bad: Nothing at all.
All good.
We (husband and I, son, daughter and boyfriend) joined my other daughter and her husband’s family. This is the fourth or fifth year we’ve joined them for Thanksgiving, so names and faces have become familiar. No drama … everyone gets along. I like these people and I’m pretty sure my SIL’s family likes us.
Everyone takes a dish or two to make the cooking easy on the host. I brought pumpkin and pecan pies (not homemade) and a pineapple-cranberry sauce to go with the turkey/stuffing. We came home … late … to a clean kitchen.
We had a delightful day and a nice, quiet dinner with friends. Sharing the cooking is always fun. I told the hostess to assign several dishes to me. Otherwise, it wouldn’t seem like Thanksgiving! Her turkey may have been the prettiest one I’ve ever seen–'twas a beautiful, golden color; a perfectly roasted bird.
I often try a new recipe and test it out on TG crowd—usually a variation of traditional TG sides. This year, I made a butternut squash souffle and it was a big hit!
“This year, I made a butternut squash souffle and it was a big hit!” – I bet! @rutgersmamma . (I’d love a recipe, if you feel like PM’ing me sometime.)
We had a quiet TG, our S stayed at school (he would have had to leave today to go back for a performance), and we to our mutual delight didn’t have turkey! I made my favorite macaroni and cheese dish, we had that, a big salad and some nice white wine, and for desert made a twice cooked apple pie that came out great (my wife saved the day with it, I had trouble with the crust and getting it to line the pie plate). It was relaxed and easy, and given that neither of us has family nearby and are alienated from the rest, didn’t have the stress it has in the past. Someday I think we would like to have a large thanksgiving, maybe full of friends and such who are like us, don’t really have family, or maybe are experiencing it for the first time, that would be fun.
I’d forgotten one of the best things about Thanksgiving : the day after. The fridge is full of yummy leftovers, nothing I have to do, no place i have to go. Ahhhh!
(I refuse to participate in the Black Friday insanity.)
Honestly, it was not enjoyable. My dear children tried to contribute but brought dishes that still needed to be baked…on top of all the stuff I needed to bake already and didn’t have room for! Then, we didn’t realize the cicuit had blown to the turkey roaster and poor dh could not figure out for the longest time why the temp was not rising on the thermometer. We were two hours late eating.
AND I broke a bottle of beer on the floor. It’s one of those inexplicable things…how do they get 10 gallons of liquid into a pint bottle?? :))
It was stressful as we had yds’s future MIL and BIL and his gf …strangers…join us. Glad it’s behind us.
We are almost out of turkey leftovers. 
Mr. ate both drumsticks/thighs, and the cats certainly contributed their eating power! Glad I have a second turkey to roast tomorrow. 
Finally did some shopping online when Neiman’s site unfroze for 10 minutes.
I was alone all day yesterday. Ds live out of state and didn’t have time to come home, but they live in the same city and got together with my brother and his girlfriend for the evening. Seeing a pic of them all on the subway last night made my day. H lives with his parents. He promised to call me but didn’t.
Today, my family gathered at my mom’s house for lunch. It was low-key and fun. Food was a combination of homemade and take out (Chinese). My desserts were well received. I was most concerned about whether the dogs (my one, my sister’s two) would get along. They did, so that was a big relief. In sum, a good time was had by all.
My Huskies won the Apple Cup. And my nephew received word today that he’s accepted at Univ of Oregon. He’s the youngest of the grandchildren, so thus ends the parenting-a-college-applicant chapter for my generation.
All good here! Drove 3 hours to eldest D’s house and had dinner with her family. She is a wonderful cook. Then we heard from youngest dd that she and her boyfriend scored decent plane tickets and were coming home. So on Friday we drove the other direction and picked them up. Spent the night playing cards and having a lot of fun!
Good: I had planned on doing 2 tables, one in dining room and one in kitchen. H was able to borrow a long card table, we turned my dining room table on an angle and were able to fit everyone at one big long table. Food was good and easy as everyone chipped in.
Bad: my mother fell in my foyer on the way in - she was totally fine and mostly just embarrassed, but it caused a scare as she had had a hip replacement last year. She was holding desserts and luckily they were intact lol. My MIL with Alz had a little accident on my leather family room couch which no one realized til after she left. But she seemed to enjoy herself and gave an appropriate answer when we all went around and said what we were thankful for.
Good: wonderful meal at my daughter and SIL’s new house. He brined and smoked the turkey in the grill and it was just delicious. Lots of yummy sides and desserts between them his Mom and grandparents and us. And some delicious punch as well.
Bad: his dad and stepmom showed up late as usual. The meal was timed for 6 & the rest of us were there a little earlier to do our respective sides. Some things that are better served freshly cooked were cold by the time they showed up half an hour late. I felt bad for the kids as they put so much time, effort and planning into their first time hosting a holiday meal. It was delicious anyway. Other bad - no leftovers (they did offer some but we declined because we are trying to eat healthy right now - i sure was craving some the next day though!)
Had my oldest sister’s children and grandchildren, besides my own. My sister died on Halloween. So it was wonderful to have her family. We toasted and remembered her at dinner.
My families side used to all get together at Thanksgiving. My two sisters, S1 and S2, and my brother. This was the first time my and my oldest sister’s, S1, family have spent a Thanksging together since my mom died 4+ years ago.
We all live in different states, kids have grown and have their lives. Mom’s home was the center place we could congregate. I see my S2 at least 1 or 2 times a year. We were always closer.
All the kids, mine and siblings, have said how much they loved getting together at holidays. We centered around our parents. I guess we now need to make it happen on our own. I haven’t seen my Bro since my mom’s funeral.
Good: S came home with lots of fun stories from his new life post college in San Diego. He really likes his job and his relationship with his GF of two years is going well. D (college Junior in PA) met up with my family in NYC but we will see her in 2.5 weeks for a month over winter break. We hosted the “Orphan Thanksgiving” this year - several very appreciative guests who ate heartily and seemed to enjoy themselves. Oh, and my gravy was stellar this year. It’s taken me 30 years but I think I’ve finally found the secret…
Bad: The turkey took an hour longer than I had estimated. The dark meat was done, the white meat may have been slightly over done but the gravy helped that. My least favorite Thanksgiving chore - degreasing the kitchen - between cooking the turkey on Thursday and making turkey stock for soup out of the carcass yesterday (an incredibly messy job), I had to spend most of this afternoon deep cleaning the kitchen. And I really hate cleaning…
ETA: I was really proud of myself for only snapping at H once on Thanksgiving. He tried to close the kitchen windows as I was standing there cooking, oven going full blast as well as several burners on the stove. “H !!!, Don’t touch the windows!!!” Jeez, I wasn’t trying to let in the arctic air mass, it was 65 degrees outside!
Best: no mess in the kitchen because the turkeys were cooked on the grill.
Worst: I might have to deep-clean the grill at some point in the spring…
An undiscovered worst: I wanted a fresh turkey, not frozen (too many years of discovering at the last minute that the bird was still frosty inside!) I got the biggest one I saw (16 lbs). Smallest turkey I have ever cooked and every bit gone by Saturday lunch. Yes, we had a crowd, but I mean every single bit. I have a lot of really good gravy in the freezer but nothing to put it on.
I have never gotten a turkey less than 20# @dragonmom Those charts showing how many pounds per person always seemed too low for me.
We had a 21 pounder for seven people so we had leftovers for two days plus I could send some home with people.