Let’s talk Thanksgiving, y’all! It’s just a few days away, so what are your plans? My little family will be eating our big meal at my FIL’s on the Upper West Side. He still lives in the same apartment that Drew grew up in, so Jackson will get to see where his daddy lived when he was a baby (which Drew may be more excited about that Jack). Then, two of my besties, Chad and Matt (one of our His Take contributors), will be visiting from Chicago so I’ll be spending a majority of the holiday weekend hanging out with them. They came for Thanksgiving weekend last year and we ended up doing a spontaneous karaoke crawl, hitting four different karaoke spots while they were here and pretty much bringing the house down everywhere we went. This year, we’ve got karaoke at home, so we can warm up our pipes before we even step outside (everybody better watch out). Last year, we also walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, starting from our apartment in Prospect Heights and walking all the way up to Chelsea in Manhattan (it was the first day of the season I got to break out my vintage fake fur white Jordache coat; you know you’re jealous). We may have stopped several times along the way to fuel up on booze. Let’s just say there was a lot of booze-y fuel-ups over the weekend. With a baby this year, things will be a little different, but still lots of fun, I’m sure.
So, what are you up to? Also! What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving or fall recipes (or, if you don’t cook, what’s your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving table)? I’ve been making this butternut squash soup recipe this year and it’s super delicious! I half the cream cheese, add a Macintosh apple, use chicken broth instead of water, and add about 1/4 cup of apple cider if I happen to have some. Yum, yum, yum! Oh, and will any of you be “meeting the family” for the first time on Thanksgiving? If so, good luck! Don’t drink too much… unless your significant other’s uncles are making fun of your wrinkly balls. In that case, cheers!
![\"\"](\"https://d5nxst8fruw4z.cloudfront.net/atrk.gif?account=r/y/j1a0Sn00OI\")
*HmC* November 18, 2011, 5:33 pm
Ah, well now I’m bitter that I don’t have any coats half as fun as that one, so hot! Sounds like a fun holiday plan Wendy!
This Thanksgiving will be my first big holiday with my boyfriend of about a year and a half included in the festivities… I’m a little nervous but mostly excited. 🙂
Carolynasaurus November 18, 2011, 5:38 pm
My husband volunteered us to host Thanksgiving for the first time this year. I told him we couldn’t do it unless he took responsibility for everything, but it’s kind of like a kid with a puppy. No matter how much they promise to take care of it, you know you’ll be doing everything yourself. So, I am desperately searching for recipes I can prepare in tiny oven that’s older than I am and a crockpot.
I’d say it’s a recipe for disaster, but most likely it’s just a recipe for vegetarian stuffing that got out of control.
honeybeenicki November 18, 2011, 5:38 pm
I have the same hectic thanksgiving schedule as usual. Going to my aunt’s house for the Packer game and an early dinner and then to my great-aunt’s for another dinner. Then I get to make a dinner at home on Friday for me, my mom, my sister and all the kids. Saturday I am hanging out with my step-kids and my mother-in-law and brother-in-law for a post-Thanksgiving day. In there somewhere, I gotta work (woohoo). But, overall its always fun. And unfortunately, none of my uncles will be talking about my SO’s wrinkly balls, but my aunts might.
honeybeenicki November 18, 2011, 5:40 pm
And I must add that I LOVE the turkey oven bags 🙂 They make an excellent juicy turkey. I’ll season and then just throw it in the oven and ignore it and it always turns out great with no basting. And my favorite, favorite, favorite food is sweet potatoes. I boil them up, then mix a bit of water with brown sugar, coat them and then bake them for about 20 minutes. Yum yum.
Rachel November 18, 2011, 6:34 pm
Yes. Those bags are a god-send. I never thought I would be able to not screw up a turkey, but it’s no effort with the bag!
Heather November 18, 2011, 5:50 pm
I’ll be cooking with my mom in my hometown in Ohio. I live in Pittsburgh now. I show up for the meal for the stuffing! Plus the pumpkin pie. My siblings and their families will be there! I spent 10 years in a bad marriage and missed Thanksgiving with my family. Now that I’m free, I’m loving being with my family!
AKchic November 18, 2011, 5:50 pm
This year, my three older boys and I are going to my mom’s tiny 2-bedroom apartment for Thanksgiving while my SO and the youngest are going to HIS mother’s (again). This is the last holiday it happens. I put my foot down and flat out told her on Halloween (I stopped in while she was at my house while I wasn’t home – the only time she ever comes into the house) that we will no longer be divided for the holidays and if she wants to see her grandson, she will now come to MY house or not see him at all (since I’m not allowed to her home at her request).
She, so far, as declined to show up for Christmas. My family and my SO’s brother will be attending.
For Thanksgiving – since it’s at my mom’s house, she’s doing the majority of the cooking, but I offered to buy, since I’ve got the majority of the “guests”. I’m taking my stepfather shopping this weekend because my mom has the stomach bug that’s going around. I’m also contributing my famous homemade macaroni and cheese. Serves 12, 5lbs of cheese (variety of cheeses). I swear you can SEE yourself getting fatter and your arteries clogging.
XanderTaylor November 18, 2011, 5:51 pm
Thanksgiving is my birthday this year, so I get to pick the meal. Jambalaya. Yum! We have an awesome crockpot receipe. It smells so good all day. Along w/Village Inns pies for desert. How can I go wrong? It will be just my kids & me – we don’t have any family where we are. We will put the tree up over the weekend; none of that crazy Black Friday shopping for us. I am hopeful neither of my childrens’ SO’s will come over…… Do I have to invite them? I mean, it’s MY birthday. I do, don’t I? Dang it.
callmehobo November 18, 2011, 7:34 pm
Ohh Jambalaya- that sounds delicious. We usually make a big batch of Creole to go with our Thanksgiving meal!
GertietheDino November 21, 2011, 11:29 am
My B-Day is Thanksgiving too! I’ve already celebrated with my family, boyfriend and friends (3 mini parties, I know…spoiled!). Actual Thanksgiving will be with the BF’s parents.
Ally November 18, 2011, 6:00 pm
So jealous of the amazing coat Wendy and your friend on the right has amazing facial hair!
Marie November 18, 2011, 6:15 pm
We are having a pre-thanksgiving this weekend (tomorrow actually -ack!). We somehow accidentally invited 10 people to our 1 bedroom SF apartment. It started off with four and then spiraled out of control. I’ve decided that as long as we get the signature cocktail right the rest will probably end up being OK. Should be super fun! Then next week we are going home to Canada for thanksgiving (we always spend American thanksgiving in Canada and vice vs.). BF is meeting the extended family, I’m not too worried though my family is super chill and nice and the BF is incredibly social and funny. He always tells me that I should be worried they will like him better than me :).
Addie Pray November 18, 2011, 6:18 pm
Oh, this Thanksgiving is going to be a very special one, for three reasons, in order of least importance: 1) It’s my birthday. My birthday falls on Thanksgiving every so often, which is fun, I guess, because my family is usually around, but shitty at the same time because my friends are never around. It’s also extra shitty when “for my birthday” my mom makes me a “birthday” turkey and pecan pie. Uh-huh. (2) Thanksgiving this year is being held at MY place! As the youngest of five kids, no one – NO ONE – ever sees fit that we hold a holiday at my place. I’m the one that’s hopping Southwest flights left and right to go visit them and their brood. Not this year, suckers. [HOLD THE PHONE, DOES THE FACT THAT I’M “HOSTING” MEAN I NEED TO BE THE ONE COOKING? I JUST ASSUMED THEY’D DO THAT IN MY KITCHEN. TO BE DETERMINED.] And (3) This Thanksgiving is EXTRA EXTRA special because my two year old nephew is… well, he’s alive and thriving. About this time last year, at his one-year check up, he was diagnosed with cancer. After a round of chemo, surgery to remove a kidney and tumors, and another round of chemo, he is a healthy boy – cancer free since this summer! This past year was rough, needless to say. My nephew is the cutest thing you will ever see. He calls me Niinii, which is super cute (and close enough to my name!). But what’s even cuter is how he calls everyone else Niinii, including his grandma and his other aunts and uncle. I, of course, love it. 😉 They do not. But hey, there can only be one favorite auntie!
Rachel November 18, 2011, 6:36 pm
Aw, that’s so great about your nephew! It’s good to have something to really be thankful for.
JK November 18, 2011, 6:37 pm
I´m glad your nephew is doing well, I can only imagine what a horrible time you all must have had with the diagnosis, treatment, etc!
AKchic November 18, 2011, 6:39 pm
Awwww!
Nobody ever wants holidays at my house either. Even though I have the biggest place, they all avoid my place like the plague. For various reasons listed, but what it comes down to is: I’m the granddaughter/daughter/niece and they can’t see having it at the younger generation’s place AND they’re all ultra religious (to the point of praying before dessert as well as before meals) and I’m pagan. While most of my family is content with a few “tasteful” family photos on the living room walls, I’ve got tons of family photos and paintings of “wicked pagan” dragons, elves, and faeries (Nene Thomas, Ed Beard Jr, and another that I can’t remember the name of the artist, but it’s a celtic design with a belly dancing faerie and a white dragon). I also have signed, framed pictures of some of the early Iditarods, framed artwork of the kids, etc. It’s a hodgepodge and I love it. It fits with the general “decor” of my house. Cozy, thrown-together and mismatched. Comfy-chaos is what I call it.
Glad that your nephew is doing better. It is never ANY fun having a sick kid, whether it’s a small cold or something more life threatening.
amber November 18, 2011, 7:55 pm
i’m glad you guys have a happy thing to celebrate this year. and being an auntie is the best!
Rachel November 18, 2011, 6:39 pm
Every year since I’ve moved to Colorado we’ve all done a friends Thanksgiving dinner, because most of us can’t afford (and don’t want to deal with) flying for the short break. Whoever has the biggest dining room table and best TV for football will host, and cook the turkey, and the rest of us handle the sides. There is always much laughter and even more wine, and let’s be honest, the whole thing is much more relaxing than dealing with family ever is!
katie November 18, 2011, 9:51 pm
friendsgiving is the best!!!
Michele November 18, 2011, 6:42 pm
A couple years ago my bf and I started our own Thanksgiving tradition – we stay home and cook a mini-Thanksgiving dinner just for us. I make a smallish turkey and then we each pick a couple side dishes to make together. It is really unstressful and low key and we both love it! Some people have felt the need to insist we join them so we’re not “alone”…but the point is to enjoy it together, just the 2 of us. His family lives across the country, my dad lives a plane ride away in the winter (snowbird retiree) and my extended family usually leave the area for Thanksgiving. Over the years I’ve enjoyed dinner with many different friends and families and have loved it each and every year. But there is nothing quite like creating a new tradition with my man in our home. I am looking forward to it even more this year because we brought my great-grandmother’s dining room table to our house over the summer (it’s 113 years old!) and I have my mom’s china and crystal to serve on. It may be dinner for two, but it’ll be a fancier version this year!
The rest of the weekend will be spent working on our house (we’re getting ready to remodel the bathroom!) and hopefully skiing!
JK November 18, 2011, 6:49 pm
My husband and I usually stay in for NYE (we don´t live in a place that celebrates thanksgiving), I think people feel sorry for us, and flood us with invitations, but it´s actually quite nice, I hate staying out til late with 2 young girls, and esp. hate the drive home with the streets full of drunk idiots driving! So we make a nice meal, yummy dessert, and just relax (then watch the fireworks).
Bethany November 18, 2011, 8:27 pm
We do the same thing! I’m glad I’m not the only “party popper”!
SpaceySteph November 20, 2011, 5:51 pm
This is awesome. I’m kinda anti-travel around the holidays (all the people, all the snow, all the strip searching… air travel November-January is worse than ANY other time), and I hate getting drunk in public because drinking makes me sleepy. I would love a NYE where we cook a fancy dinner for two, pop our own champagne at midnight, and go to bed soon after.
Maybe I’ll try to convince the bf that’s what we should do this year. For Thanksgiving and Christmas we already have (overpriced, nonstop-because-getting-stranded-sucks) plane tickets to visit family, so its too late to get out of that.
AKchic November 18, 2011, 6:56 pm
This Christmas will be the first time my family (Mom, Grandma, and us) have eaten on the “family” table that my Grandpa bought out of the Sears & Roebuck catalogue in 1961 that now sits in my dining room (he gave it to me in 2001 after he bought my grandma a new dining room table). It still has the wear marks from where he’d lean his elbows on the table to do his crossword puzzles. It might be the last year we do it too… table is getting rickity and the chairs are all broken and gone and I’ve found a table set I really like. I’ll put the table away and store it until my kids need a table in one of their homes.
amber November 18, 2011, 8:00 pm
my husband and i will be staying in our new hometown for thanksgiving. only my second thanksgiving ever without being with family. it’s kind of nice to get to plan for the holiday for just the two of us. we’re making a turkey and only two sides. i could probably live off of the sweet potato casserole i’m making, but he hates it and loves stuffing which i hate. so we each get our own side, haha. and of course ocean spray cranberry sauce in a can. i know people say homemade is better but we’ve been eating the canned stuff for so long it just wouldn’t feel like thanksgiving without it!
Bethany November 18, 2011, 8:25 pm
I’ve never actually liked Thanksgiving much… I don’t like the food, and the holiday always required traveling 5 hours to my grandparent’s house and sharing 1 bathroom between 6 people. We’re going up there tomorrow to do early Thanksgiving, and then Thanksgiving Day will be spent with my husband’s family. One of these days I’d like to make our own fun traditions, but for now I’m still stuck with the ones from childhood!
katie November 18, 2011, 9:59 pm
i get to have 3 thanksgivings this year! and i almost got to have 4… but im working. so on thursday my mom will be making dinner. I dont have any family so it will just be her, her boyfriend and my sister and me. then thursday night at midnight be and my 2 friends are going black friday shopping (ive never been, so im excited!! lol), then going back to one of their houses (maybe sleeping??) and then friday we are all cooking a dinner for us. and then on sunday i get to have thanksgiving with my boyfriend! he is a chef and so he will be working thurs, fri, and sat, which makes me sad but i still get my day with him so thats fine.
for a second, can i just rant at how mad i am at all the petitions and public outcry for retail employees having to work on thanksgiving? i am pissed. that one guy who started the petition against target…. he didnt ever seem to care about the millions (maybe thousands, i dont know, but still significant amount) of people who work every holiday every year until his work wanted him to work. and now all of a sudden there is all this “thanksgiving is about family!!” crap going around…. which in itself definintely isnt a bad thing, but where has all this outcry been for the years and years that people have been working holidays? oh, and i love the people who are saying that they will not give their money to stores who make their employees work on thanksgiving. yea, because then you have to refuse to give money to any restaurants, hotels, hospitals, gas stations, electric companies, airports, snow removal services, ect that people use on holidays ALL the time.
ok, thank you. i feel better.
Nadine November 19, 2011, 7:58 am
I agree. There was an outcry here (Australia) about government funding for kindergartens or daycare (not a parent and cant remember which is which) to cover Saturday-run sessions also. There was lots of hand-wringing about how ‘now parents will just dump their kids all week” and “saturday should be family day” and lots of elitist bullshit. What about all the families who work retail, or hospitality, or shift work? Saturday is just another work day for so many families, who deserve just as much childcare as anyone else. It does not mean they are not prioritising their families.
My partner is a bartender so I am a bit sensitive when it comes to this type of attitude. I work Mon-Fri, in an office but it doesnt mean everyone does. Society would be very different if we all worked the same hours.
amber November 19, 2011, 11:19 am
my husband has worked as a retail manager since i met him and mother worked retail the whole time i was growing up. the outcry this year has made me very upset too. like you said it’s not like it’s the first year that it’s happened. i’ve gotten very used to having thanksgiving whatever day works best for everyone. it’s not about the day you have it on, it’s about how and who you celebrate with. and i don’t understand why people are getting so upset about the whole saturday daycare thing. i mean i work in the science field and for two years straight i worked a wednesday to sunday shift. my ‘weekend’ was monday and tuesday. if i had kids back then i would have had to have sitters on the traditional weekend. people are so crazy sometimes.
Katie November 19, 2011, 6:36 pm
so true about saturday just being another day for a lot of people.
ever since the world become so 24/7 where you can basically have any need met at any time of every day, the working on holidays argument went out the window, i think. and i totally agree with you, amber- celebrating a holiday shouldnt be so much about the day, but about the people you spend it with and what you do with them.
GatorGirl November 18, 2011, 10:04 pm
I had never had a Thanksgiving until 4 years ago wih my BF’s family. My family owns a restaurant that is open on Thanksgiving and it is literally our busiest day of the year. 600+ people come through in 5 hours. It’s is insanity and every family member who is over the age of eight and with 100 miles is basically required to work. By the time the day is over we’re all too tired to eat so we just go to bed.
BUT this year will be my 4th Thanksgiving with my BF and his wonderful family and we’re going to South Carolina! His family has a super rural peice of family land with a single wide trailer and a tiny house from the 1800’s. About 10 or 15 of us spend three days squeezed in the trailer eating and running around the property. It’s so sweet and old fashioned and I love it. Plus two years ago I shot my first gun there and laughed so hard I cried. I can’t wait to do it again. Oh and his Aunt’s red velvet cake. Omg it is amazing and apparently this Northerner can’t bake them.
silver_dragon_girl November 18, 2011, 10:52 pm
I invited my bf to my family’s Thanksgiving. It’s the first time I’ve ever brought a guy home. I know they’ll love him, but for some reason I’m still nervous. Mostly that my dad will embarrass me by going all “overprotective father” on him!
L November 18, 2011, 11:32 pm
This Thanksgiving will be spent without my boyfriend as he works retail.
Thus, I will spend my day with my family and gorge on delicious Thanksgiving comfort foods while fielding the awkward “When are you going to get married to ___?” questions…
I remember the first time I had brought my boyfriend to my family’s Thanksgiving a couple years ago. My family went to my dad’s side in the afternoon and my mom’s side in the evening — I’m fortunate that a lot of my family lives nearby. (Needless to say, both sides of my family are rather large. When everyone’s there on my dad’s side there are about 50 people; when everyone is there on my mom’s side it’s about 25.) I introduced him to everybody on my dad’s side, and as we sat down for our noon meal, my uncle jokingly challenged my boyfriend to recite everybody’s names. Well, he did! He went around the table and was able to recite all 30 names correctly. And then he did the same for my mom’s side later that day. What a keeper. 🙂
Portia November 18, 2011, 11:41 pm
That sounds like such a fun Thanksgiving weekend! Thanksgiving is kind of a big deal in my family because we have 20+ every time and it’s an afternoon and evening affair. We have some family, but it’s mostly family friends, cousins of family friends, and random guests. However, this year is extra special because after being together for 6 years, my boyfriend’s family is coming to our house. I can count on one hand the number of times our families have spent time together, so this will certainly be interesting… I just hope everything goes off without a hitch. (And that my boyfriend’s mom doesn’t bring too much! She told me over the phone the other day what she was bringing and I think she’s bringing us an entire Thanksgiving dinner!)
Visharoo November 19, 2011, 4:28 am
Wow…. this is my first time participating in a DearWendy post, though I have been reading DW for years! Anyway, this thanksgiving will be unique. This summer we moved to Italy. We were invited to a gathering of fellow Americans at a friend’s small house about an hour away. It will be a blast! There will be hodgepodge group of married people without kids (like my husband and myself), a bunch of parents with their little ones, and the crazy single guys. Of course there will be turkey, but I am sure someone will bring some Italian cuisine as well!
Nadine November 19, 2011, 7:51 am
I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, but I am excited about my first Northern Hemisphere Christmas this year! I’m used to barbecues and Chardonnay in the sun for Christmas, but this year I’ll be watching snow fall and finally understanding things like roasting chestnuts and being able to sing carols about the snow without feeling silly!
Sorry for non-themed comment… I guess if you do celebrate Thanksgiving you dont really want to think of the next holiday right now……
Anna November 19, 2011, 2:33 pm
Thanksgiving will pretty much be the same as it has been for the past 8 years, but this may be the last year for this particular “norm.” My boyfriend and I always go to both of our parents’ houses for the holiday since they both live within driving distance. My parents always eat early, around 2-3pm so we go there first, then we go to his parents’ house where they usually don’t eat until 7 or even 8ish. I usually either make or buy a dessert to contribute to each house. We are currently in the midst of a big transition, so next year I will either be a single girl going to my folk’s house alone or a married woman living in a different state far from my family but near his. So I guess this year I’m thankful that for one more year we will be able to see both families.
Addie Pray November 19, 2011, 3:44 pm
Yikes – I hope whatever happens in your relationship this upcoming year is the right decision for you! Change is scary though.
Anna November 20, 2011, 10:28 pm
Thanks, I’m still shaking in my boots so to speak! This has been the longest 6 months of my life…
Kristen November 21, 2011, 5:04 pm
Any clues that he’s planning to propose? I’ve been thinking about you!
Addie Pray November 19, 2011, 3:49 pm
I detect a new, smiley picture, Wendy. Nice. You need to add some feathers soon though, or a pilgrim hat. *Or* a birthday hat. You know, because on Thursday everyone will be celebrating, ahem, my 33rd, with turkey, stuffing, pie, etc. and they won’t even know it. Thirty fucking three. When did that happen? I’m 23 going on 13 in my head.
JK November 20, 2011, 8:45 am
My 33rd is December 2nd, and I feel the same way!! I remember years ago working out that I was going to be 21 in 2000, and thinking how old that sounded.
Addie Pray November 20, 2011, 8:50 am
Ha – me too!!
amber November 20, 2011, 9:30 am
JK we share a birthday! 🙂
JK November 20, 2011, 10:27 am
With Britney Spears we´re in great company then :D. How old are you turning??
amber November 20, 2011, 2:40 pm
haha i forgot about that! and 30 🙂
Morgan November 19, 2011, 3:59 pm
My boyfriend and I will be apart for Thanksgiving, which I’m kind of bummed about. My parents host thanksgiving for both sides of the family, and he could have met all my extended family. But he’ll be doing mini ski vacation thanksgiving with his grandparents, one of his brothers, and and some family friends. I’ve done thanksgiving with them once, but it turns into three days of his grandmother being really mean to me (she wishes I ate meat, she wishes I skied, she wishes I were republican, she wishes I weren’t dating her grandson). He’s not looking forward to it, but he wants to see his grandfather, who had some major health issues recently. I’m excited for Thanksgiving at home…..yummy food, then going to a football game on actual Thanksgiving, probably seeing a movie with my family on Friday (our own little black Friday tradition), and then my father’s birthday Saturday. I’m also happy that both my maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather will be there. They both had major surgeries in the past 6 months, but they’re both doing reasonably well now, and I’m so thankful.
SpaceySteph November 20, 2011, 2:48 pm
This Thanksgiving is gonna be crazy. We’re going to my boyfriend’s parents house. And by we I mean my boyfriend, me, my parents, and my sister and brother… eek! I have met my boyfriend’s family a few times and he has met mine… but this time they are meeting each other!
Its awesome, because of what it means for our relationship (the families meeting was my boyfriend’s idea!) but its scary because… well because who knows whats gonna happen. His parents are hosting 24 people at their house, my parents are flying in from Florida and have all these plans for sightseeing and meeting up with other people they know in the area… and I’m just wishing I could have one of those thanksgivings described above where you cook for two people and stay home. Maybe next year?
Addie Pray November 20, 2011, 8:07 pm
Ooooooh, he’s going to propose. I just know it. (Keep in mind, I don’t really know it.) But I know it.
Firegirl32 November 21, 2011, 11:49 am
That’s what I thought!!
SpaceySteph November 22, 2011, 3:14 pm
I have that suspicion as well. I hope he’ll do it not like right there in front of our entire families though because I hate being the center of attention. But probably he won’t propose at all. We’ve only been dating a year and a half… but I’ll let you guys know on the next weekend thread 😉
SGMcG November 20, 2011, 4:00 pm
My sister, my husband and I will be spending Thanksgiving together at a Farm to Table restaurant. All the ingredients of our meal will be within a 100 mile radius of where our dinner will be served. There will be turkey, but there will also be pork, two types of stuffing, various root vegetables, salad and desserts. I’m just happy that I don’t have to do dishes and that I get to spend some time with my sister.
We’ll also be exploring the city where the restaurant is. What we’ll be actually exploring remains to be seen though. All of us definitely have one item on our agenda: see the Muppet Movie in the theatre. 🙂
BTW: I love the updated pic on your header Wendy!
scattol November 21, 2011, 7:11 am
No longer featured on “the frisky”?
You are probably doing well from the new google ads anyways.
bittergaymark November 21, 2011, 5:15 pm
Roadtripping up to San Francisco to hang with my best friend and his girlfriend. (Ryan and I have spent the last ten thanksgivings together — which blows my mind!) Thanksgiving with the friends is the best, man. No, seriously. It is… Fortunately, I see my family so much as it is, several times every summer up at the cabin in Minnesota, at Christmas (of course!), and then we all meet up in the Arizona desert in the middle of winter, too. And I just spent Halloween with my sister, her husband, and MY nephew! 🙂 So, that’s a lot of family time as it is!
Thanksgiving has been my long weekend in SF now for the past decade, and I love it!!
I’m driving up the girlfriend’s brother on tuesday. Sure, it’s a tight fit in their tiny apartment, but we all make it work. Ryan cooks up a surprisingly amazing turkey that I am already hungry for. As they live right in the city it will be five days of fun, shopping (Chinatown and Union Square), games… Oh, and of Onion Cakes from the House of Nanking!!