Looking forward to---- Not cooking? The good thing about traveling all day, is I don't have to cook or clean up.
Dreading---- I will miss my family. We were supposed to have my nieces and now they are all staying at their own homes. They both asked me for my stuffing recipe (and so did my friend). That made me smile, but it sucks that we won't get turkey dinner and ESPECIALLY stuffing. All the places doing Thanksgiving where we are headed will be closed by the time we get to town.
Looking forward to - Potato filling. It's a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe from my mom's family that we do for stuffing the turkey.
Dreading - Related to above, I literally broke the zipper on my pants last week and am down to 2 pairs that barely fit. I am dreading trying to get dressed in the next few days, and the impending diet that needs to happen Monday!
Post by hopenotlost on Nov 26, 2014 11:44:18 GMT -5
Looking forward to: Making my first turkey (I got a 6 lb breast) and all the sides by myself, and hopefully not screwing it up. Also looking forward to not having to be around MIL and that whole clusterfuck this year. I always have to pretend to enjoy myself, and now I don't have to! YAYAYAYAYAY!
Dreading: DH has to work 3-10, so he has to leave around 2:30 to get there. Oh well...holiday pay is nice too I guess.
Post by crashgizmo on Nov 26, 2014 11:47:15 GMT -5
Looking forward to: my entire extended family (14 people- we have a small family) all at my house. This is the first time in 11 years that everyone has been together. My DH hasn't even met some of them. I have an awesome tablescape and great recipes.
Dreading: My grandmother and mom who don't get along and like to put me in the middle. I tend to drink a lot of wine.
Looking forward to - seeing my family, my BF and I spending our first Thanksgiving together (last year we were dating but only for a month or so, so we were apart). Also yummy food.
Dreading - this is the first Thanksgiving without my Grandpa and it's going to be weird. We'll be at my grandparents' house and it's going to be painfully obvious he's not there with us. My Grandma also recently had hip replacement surgery so she's not in great shape. Thanksgiving has always been a big grandparent holiday so I'm dreading the change.
My cousin left her husband in June and moved back home (from across the country) and about a month later some other dude who we've never met moved in with her. Guess who's coming to Thanksgiving? Random dude and his 4 kids.
I'm sure they're great, but...this should be interesting
Looking forward to: DH made his red velvet cake, and I made my mom's holiday mashed potato recipe. There will be at least 2 edible things at Thanksgiving with the IL's.
Dreading: Everything else. To give you an idea, DH and I have a rule that I am not at any point to be left alone with his mother. Otherwise, I'll get a lecture on things like how I'm financially irresponsible (lol), how selfish I am for forcing my poor, abused husband to relocate for my job (really lol), or something related to my lack of having produced grandchildren. Also, his family sucks at cooking.
Looking forward to - mashed potatoes, hot rolls, my cousin's smoked ham, playing cards, the first Thanksgiving where B will be more interesting than a newborn blob (and can try some fun new foods!), playing games, seeing (most) family
Post by dancingirl21 on Nov 26, 2014 12:10:53 GMT -5
Looking forward to: Pumpkin pie
Dreading: H's family (22 people) who crowd around one really large and fancy dining room table, with an elaborate centerpiece. Everyone is yelling "Pass the butter!" "Where are the rolls?" as they all try to dish their plates at the same time. I wish MIL would make it more of a buffet style thing and we could all still eat at the fancy table, but alas, she refuses. It's hectic and crazy and makes my mind spin out of control.
Looking forward to being together with my parents and siblings at my parents house where we all grew up. There is something very comforting about us all being home together. We will also do a lot of drinking and playing games which I also love.
Dreading: Having to stop by DH's dad's house on our way up tonight. He invited us for Thanksgiving last week and we had to decline bc we already had plans with my family. DH talked to his aunt and aunt said that his dad had been planning Thanksgiving at his house for over a month but only invited us last week. Weird.
- Seeing wonderful family friends - An empty Manhattan. Many people clear out today so it is a great night to go out, and there's no better morning in New York than a holiday morning. So quiet and peaceful.
Dreading:
- The drive, particularly if the muffler falls off our car - My mom acting batshit and then flipping out when I laugh at her for being batshit
Post by dragonfly08 on Nov 26, 2014 13:22:37 GMT -5
Looking forward to the fact that it's just the four of us here at home, so no travel or family drama (beyond the usual when dealing with my kids)
Not dreading anything. Of course I'd have loved to order a meal in from Wegmans instead of cook it myself, but it's not a huge deal since we keep it pretty simple.
Post by jerseyjaybird on Nov 26, 2014 13:49:58 GMT -5
Looking forward to: cooking some of my family favorites on Friday for a private meal for DW and me, champagne, wine
Dreading: Tomorrow. My in-laws' in-laws. The chaos and noise and yelling and the kids being insane brats. The political conversation. The lack of any dairy and most gluten. Womp wommmmmmmp.
Post by explorer2001 on Nov 26, 2014 14:16:03 GMT -5
Looking forward to: - Seeing my best friend - Havying no one have crazy expectations of me - Enjoying my homemade cranberry sauce which apparently shipped well and arrived intact and in time - Getting to hang with my best friend and meet more of her family - Stress free fun - Exploring a new city - People watching in the airport - Time away from the office, there have been some stressful times the last few weeks - Hopefully getting more help from my doctor, they told me to call when I'm up on Monday to get trst results and come in if I need to.
Not so much looking forward to my family's subsequent freakout and attempted guilt trips for missing Thanksgiving with the family. Note these are the same people who ditched me last minute last year to spend the day with my uncle who hit me 2 hours away.
Looking forward to: Pumpkin pie! That I'm bringing. The rest of the food is normally kind of meh.
Dreading: The rest of the day. Holiday get togethers at the ILs are always awkward affairs. H has a large extended family in the area and they are all there. Uncomfortable conversation, not a lot of room to sit, eating cold food on our laps, feeling like I should try to socialize more with his aunts/uncles/cousins, but not really having much to talk about. His aunts view my 35 year old H as a child, so they don't have normal conversation with us, more like advice giving. One of his aunts is a pregnant belly rubber, and being due in a week I'm sure she'll have her hands all over me. H had a falling out with one of his uncles a couple years ago, and I can't stand this guy for other reasons, so seeing him is not fun either. But, otherwise they are lovely people lol.
Not looking forward to any of it. We had to put my dad in a 5 day respite hold on Thanksgiving last year. We didn't even realize it was black friday even though there was tons of traffic at 2am. I'm trying to convince someone to bring me thanksgiving dinner in the bed fort I intend on making as soon as I walk in the door tonight.
Looking forward to a really nice meal at one of my favorite restaurants, that after the year we've had my mom is doing great (although she has a little cold), vacation has been extended a day because the airline cancelled my original flight and rebooked me a day later ( which I didn't notice until today), and avoiding the insanity of my ILs.
I don't know that I'm dreading anything per se, but it's weird being away from MH for a holiday.
Post by treedimensional on Nov 26, 2014 15:53:36 GMT -5
Looking forward to giving MIL her gift early.
Absolutely DREADING my elderly, frail cat being alone for several hours. I'm being a controlling bitch and setting a very strict time limit on being away but I don't care.
Absolutely DREADING my elderly, frail cat being alone for several hours. I'm being a controlling bitch and setting a very strict time limit on being away but I don't care.
It's killing me to be away from our cats. I may have written an entire page of instruction for the kitty sitter. :? -crazycatparent
Dreading the 3 hour drive if we decide to go with my parents to Atlanta. We're leaving at 7am and plan to get home by 6pm. And we'll be driving separate because there's too many of us and we want to take the dogs.
Looking forward to a dim sum lunch if we go. But really looking forward to our traditional hot pot dinner instead of turkey. Also excited we don't have to spend half the day with H's family... Well FIL is coming over for dinner with my family. We felt bad for him being home alone.