# How is Thanksgiving celebrated at YOUR house?



## jujube

The turkey is still rock-hard frozen, so we put it in the dryer for two hours.  All new guests are told that we are playing a cd of tribal drumming in honor of the First Thanksgiving.  Everyone else starts a pool to bet on when the dryer will blow up.  

Aunt Edna always says she's not coming, but she does anyway.  We reassure her there are no oysters in the dressing and she eats it with great relish.  She's claimed to be allergic to oysters for the last 30 years.  For the last 30 years, she has eaten dressing with oysters and is still going strong. The person who was supposed to bring  the cranberry sauce doesn't show up until two hours after dinner. We assure her  we really didn't need the cranberry sauce and she shouldn't worry about it. She  doesn't. She never does. We always have a couple of cans of cranberry sauce on  hand.  Uncle Bob's new 20-year-old trophy wife spends the meal counting carbohydrates and eats two lettuce leaves and a green bean that she has scraped the cream of mushroom soup off. 

The 19-year-old Vegan cousin brings her own Tofurkey and cruelty-free veggies with her (did you know that vegetables actually feel pain when they are cut and should be eased "lovingly" out of the dirt?  I didn't, either.) and  spends the entire dinner muttering under her breath about the "Table of Death"  until Uncle Joe tells her to put a sock in it.  Aunt Edna gets into it with Aunt Rose about something that happened ten Thanksgiving ago, says she'll never darken our door again and goes home in a huff.  She will be back in time for the left-overs at seven.    The foreign exchange student from Khazakstan isn't sure what the hell is going on, but he figures that since all Americans are crazy, this is just normal. Grandma has been sprung from the nursing home for the day and has no idea where she is but she likes the food.  The dog has found the garbage in the kitchen and yarks twice under the table.

After dinner, everyone usually goes into a coma. The lucky ones find a bed or a couch and sleep it off. Uncle Joe is sure he's having a heart attack (he's been sure of it annually since 1973); Aunt Rose gets the Pepto-Bismol and straightens things out. She refuses to drive him to the Emergency Room this year and he pouts the rest of the evening and says he's sure we're going to be sorry when he dies. Grandma doesn't remember that she's eaten and continually asks when dinner will be ready. Eventually, someone drives her back to the nursing home, where she tells everyone she went to some stranger's house for dinner and they didn't feed her. The guys convene to the family room for football watching; it usually gets heated and someone has to be threatened with not being invited next year if he doesn't calm down. The teens usually manage to snag a bottle of wine and hide in the basement drinking until somebody starts upchucking.  The Vegan and the foreign exchange student from Khazakstan go out in the back yard and smoke pot. He's still pretty confused about the whole thing, but at least he's mellow about it. 

Well, that's a compilation of about 50 years of Thanksgiving in my family. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot. I sure hope I have.


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## Kitties

I'm working. I'll make some veg stuffing somewhere around the day and just be with the cats. I did just buy a Field Roast today (grain meat) delish.


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## Butterfly

I intend to spend a good part of the day being thankful that Thanksgiving is not at my house this year.


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## AprilT

I was getting used to the idea of having a nice quiet evening alone, but, a friend's mother found out, I was going to be spending the day alone and now, her family insist on my spending it with them.  Well there goes my fun plans for a book and movie day.  Though, I'm looking forward to the day, as long as my friend isn't one of the people cooking.    It should be a nice day, I like her parents.


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## hollydolly

It will go past un-noticed here , we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK


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## Ameriscot

Never try to edit on a tablet!


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## Ameriscot

hollydolly said:


> It will go past un-noticed here , we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK



I've had to explain what it is to many Scots and English, made more difficult by assuming they knew who the pilgrims were. Doh!

I will be on an Emirates airplane on thanksgiving!


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## Ralphy1

It isn't...


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## oldman

A bunch of people and a lot of food.


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## Steve

We had our thanksgiving a few weeks ago.. It was a very quiet one with nobody except my wife and myself.. Did nothing special.. Actually I made homemade chicken burgers on the BBQ....


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## Justme

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this thanksgiving festival about?


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## Ameriscot

Justme said:


> Pardon my ignorance, but what is this thanksgiving festival about?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

In spite of what some people claim, it is a not religious holiday.


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## Justme

Ameriscot said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)
> 
> In spite of what some people claim, it is a not religious holiday.



Thanks. It must be awkward having it so near Christmas, two major festivals within a month or so. I am glad we have nothing like that in the UK.


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## rkunsaw

Great story jujube! :lol:  We don't celebrate the harvest just an excuse to have a big meal. Since it's just the two of us we will roast a small chicken instead of a turkey or ham. Holidays are not a big deal at our house.


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## Ameriscot

Justme said:


> Thanks. It must be awkward having it so near Christmas, two major festivals within a month or so. I am glad we have nothing like that in the UK.



Aye, but it always got us a 4 day weekend from school or work.  No gifts just tons of good food.  And usually different relatives than the ones we'd see at xmas.


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## Justme

I must admit I have never liked public holidays much, I hate being out of routine. Christmas Dinner is enough to last me a whole year, not that we go totally crazy over that either. I prefer chicken breasts to turkey as they are much more succulent, so we don't bother with turkey anymore, we haven't missed it.


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## debodun

By trying to get invited to SOMEONE ELSE'S house!


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## crochet lady

We go to Denny's for the senior pancake breakfast! We look forward every year to this and I absolutely  love not cleaning up the mess. We will probably go for a walk if the weather is nice.


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## Mrs. Robinson

Well let`s see. This was our night before Thanksgiving celebration two years ago.....https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4847915846194&set=vb.1545890403&type=3&theater


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## jujube

Justme said:


> Pardon my ignorance, but what is this thanksgiving festival about?



Really, you've never heard of Thanksgiving?  OK, let me see if I give you the Cliffnotes version:  

The Pilgrims were fleeing England in search of religious and personal freedom and were greeted warmly upon landing in America by the indigenous people (hereafter referred to as The Indians), who had no idea what was in store for them in the future. If the Indians had, indeed, had the ability to foresee the future, they would have immediately scalped all the Pilgrims and we wouldn't be celebrating Thanksgiving.  We'd probably be celebrating Slaughterfest or something.  

After surviving the first winter and subsequent planting and harvesting seasons, they decided to sit down with their Indian friends and have a big feast in thanksgiving for the fact that some of them were still alive.

Because there was no Yorkshire or Plum Pudding, bangers and mash or Spotted Dick, they had to make do with turkey and other fowl and maize pudding.  Oh, and they probably also had to eat nuts and berries because they had left the prunes behind in England.  

OK, did that explain everything?


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## hollydolly

ha!! great explanation jujube..very funny..  just gotta point out tho' this fable that Brits eat 'spoted dick pudding' a lot is just that..a fable... in truth hardly anyone eats it ( mainly because it's nasty ...and it would be rare to find it on a menu...


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## Bee

I have to differ with you hollydolly, I really enjoy spotted dick and to me it is not nasty at all and I think you will find it is coming back onto restaurent menus who wish to revert back to serving traditional British food.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spotteddickandcustar_87835


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## hollydolly

Bee, I think spotted dick is something older people used to eat...( with all due respect of course)...not something the masses these days enjoy...I have to say I eat out a LOT in restaurants ...and apart from the odd little seaside cafe or pub  I've rarely seen it on a menu tbh


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## Ina

Ok ladies, what is it?  Sounds like a 'private' joke to me.  :wave:


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## Bee

My children or grandchildren cannot be called 'older' people and they all enjoy spotted dick.

There are several restaurants that are reverting back to serving traditional British fare and NOT just the seaside cafe or pubs which by the way I enjoy as much as top notch restaurants.


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## Bee

Ina said:


> Ok ladies, what is it?  Sounds like a 'private' joke to me.  :wave:



Ina, spotted dick is a traditional British pudding which is very comforting to eat on a cold winters day.

I posted a link to the recipe in my post 22.

It gets its name from the currants in the pudding.


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## Ina

Thank you Bee, I read the recipe, and it sounds tasty. Although I've never had currents.  I wonder if something else can be used? :thankyou:


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## Bee

I expect you could use raisins Ina or any similar dried fruit.


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## QuickSilver

hollydolly said:


> ha!! great explanation jujube..very funny..  just gotta point out tho' this fable that Brits eat 'spoted dick pudding' a lot is just that..a fable... in truth hardly anyone eats it ( mainly because it's nasty ...and it would be rare to find it on a menu...



Spotted dick..... sounds like a disease


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## Bee

Yep we eat diseased food all the time, nothing quite like it to warm the cockles of your heart.:zz:


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## QuickSilver

Bee said:


> Yep we eat diseased food all the time, nothing quite like it to warm the cockles of your heart.:zz:




I suspected as much.... :cheers1:


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## Twixie

When I lived in France..the French had a strange idea that we  eat our meat with jams..

Mint jelly..

Red currant jelly..

Medlar compote

They imagined we would just open a jar of sweet strawberry or raspberry jam..and start spreading it all over our beef!!..


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## Butterfly

Bee said:


> Yep we eat diseased food all the time, nothing quite like it to warm the cockles of your heart.:zz:



I've always wondered -- where exactly ARE the cockles of one's heart???


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## QuickSilver

Butterfly said:


> I've always wondered -- where exactly ARE the cockles of one's heart???



Also wonder if they are affected by spotty dick. ops1:


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## Twixie

Butterfly said:


> I've always wondered -- where exactly ARE the cockles of one's heart???



There actually aren't any "cockles" of your heart, but the term may come  from the fact that the chambers of the heart resemble a mollusk's  shell, also called a cockle.


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## Mrs. Robinson

You can actually buy Spotted Dick on Amazon. There was a high end grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area where I saw it once too.


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## ClassicRockr

Would love to spend Thanksgiving with part of my wife's family, like we did in 2007, when my MIL, SIL and BIL came to NC for Thanksgiving with us. Had a very nice time, but since that time, finances just aren't there for any of us.


Wife and I will probably go somewhere for Thanksgiving Dinner, since we can't find a turkey small enough for just the two of us. After that, it will be relaxation until later that night and Friday to go shopping. That is, if we see anything ads, of anything we might want, in our newspaper on Thursday morning. If we don't see any of the things, mainly DVD's, that we want, will order them online on Monday.......Cyber Monday, that is.


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## Meanderer

Twixie said:


> There actually aren't any "cockles" of your heart, but the term may come  from the fact that the chambers of the heart resemble a mollusk's  shell, also called a cockle.


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## Twixie

Mrs. Robinson said:


> You can actually buy Spotted Dick on Amazon. There was a high end grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area where I saw it once too.


Lol MR..this is probably worse than spotted dick..

http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/grace-cock-flavour-soup-cock-soup-mix-1613-p.asp


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## Twixie

I must explain..''Cock'' is slang for men's genitals here in England..


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## QuickSilver

ClassicRockr said:


> Would love to spend Thanksgiving with part of my wife's family, like we did in 2007, when my MIL, SIL and BIL came to NC for Thanksgiving with us. Had a very nice time, but since that time, finances just aren't there for any of us.
> 
> 
> Wife and I will probably go somewhere for Thanksgiving Dinner, since we can't find a turkey small enough for just the two of us. After that, it will be relaxation until later that night and Friday to go shopping. That is, if we see anything ads, of anything we might want, in our newspaper on Thursday morning. If we don't see any of the things, mainly DVD's, that we want, will order them online on Monday.......Cyber Monday, that is.



Turkey makes a great multi-meal event..  when I have a small group, I still make a pretty big turkey.  We have it for Thanksgiving dinner.. THEN we have another dinner of all left overs..   THEN we may have some sandwiches or I will freeze the left over meat to make turkey tetrazzini..  THEN I freeze the carcass and make Turkey Soup.. which will be a meal.. and I freeze the left over soup for another meal..  so one turkey goes a long way.  Six meals if I'm counting right.


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## QuickSilver

Twixie said:


> I must explain..''Cock'' is slang for men's genitals here in England..



As Dick is here..  lol!!  That's why I said spotted dick sounded like a disease..


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## Meanderer

Justme said:


> Pardon my ignorance, but what is this thanksgiving festival about?


It is a National Day of Thanks to God, for our many blessings.  Much more than one of your festivals.  Of course we do have local festivals like "Apple Festivals" and such.  I guess we have a hard time understanding each other's culture, but would you really believe that an American would seriously think that King Phillip's Wife, Elizabeth is Queen?  I don't think so.


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## Twixie

Meanderer said:


> It is a National Day of Thanks to God, for our many blessings.  Much more than one of your festivals.  Of course we do have local festivals like "Apple Festivals" and such.  I guess we have a hard time understanding each other's culture, but would you really believe that an American would seriously think that King Phillip's Wife, Elizabeth is Queen?  I don't think so.



And I wouldn't expect you to..Philip is not our king..he is Prince Philip..

Elizabeth is our Queen..


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## Meanderer

Twixie said:


> And I wouldn't expect you to..Philip is not our king..he is Prince Philip..
> 
> Elizabeth is our Queen..


Exactly!  And Thanksgiving is not a festival. But I was trying to address Justme.  Sorry for the mix up.


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## Twixie

QuickSilver said:


> As Dick is here..  lol!!  That's why I said spotted dick sounded like a disease..



I'm sure you have seen many of them in your life as a nurse..

Not with custard either!!


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## QuickSilver

Twixie said:


> I'm sure you have seen many of them in your life as a nurse..
> 
> Not with custard either!!



More than I can count.. and none of them particularly special..  

ps... some of them had custard..   Bleh...


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## Mrs. Robinson

Twixie said:


> I must explain..''Cock'' is slang for men's genitals here in England..



Here too,Twixie....


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## Twixie

My friend is a nurse..she has told me some tales..man with cucumber up bottom..said he was making a coffee and slipped over the vegetable rack..I don't know how she kept her face straight...


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## Mrs. Robinson

QuickSilver said:


> Turkey makes a great multi-meal event..  when I have a small group, I still make a pretty big turkey.  We have it for Thanksgiving dinner.. THEN we have another dinner of all left overs..   THEN we may have some sandwiches or I will freeze the left over meat to make turkey tetrazzini..  THEN I freeze the carcass and make Turkey Soup.. which will be a meal.. and I freeze the left over soup for another meal..  so one turkey goes a long way.  Six meals if I'm counting right.



You are so right,QS! In fact,since we are going to our daughter`s,we won`t have much in the way of leftovers. But since I know she won`t make turkey soup,I am going to snag the turkey carcasses (we will be cooking two turkeys) from her and make soup myself.


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## QuickSilver

Mrs. Robinson said:


> You are so right,QS! In fact,since we are going to our daughter`s,we won`t have much in the way of leftovers. But since I know she won`t make turkey soup,I am going to snag the turkey carcasses (we will be cooking two turkeys) from her and make soup myself.



I have been known to go home from family dinners with the turkey carcass as well as a big ham bone..  makes great split pea soup!!


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## QuickSilver

Twixie said:


> My friend is a nurse..she has told me some tales..man with cucumber up bottom..said he was making a coffee and slipped over the vegetable rack..I don't know how she kept her face straight...



oh yeah.... it's amazing the different kinds of things that can be "fallen on"!


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## Mrs. Robinson

QuickSilver said:


> I have been known to go home from family dinners with the turkey carcass as well as a big ham bone..  makes great split pea soup!!



Yep! And the best part is that you can just get them home and toss them in the freezer until you`re ready to make the soup! I`m going to make Turkey Barley this year-our favorite!


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## avrp

jujube said:


> Really, you've never heard of Thanksgiving?  OK, let me see if I give you the Cliffnotes version:
> 
> The Pilgrims were fleeing England in search of religious and personal freedom and were greeted warmly upon landing in America by the indigenous people (hereafter referred to as The Indians), who had no idea what was in store for them in the future. If the Indians had, indeed, had the ability to foresee the future, they would have immediately scalped all the Pilgrims and we wouldn't be celebrating Thanksgiving.  We'd probably be celebrating Slaughterfest or something.
> 
> After surviving the first winter and subsequent planting and harvesting seasons, they decided to sit down with their Indian friends and have a big feast in thanksgiving for the fact that some of them were still alive.
> 
> Because there was no Yorkshire or Plum Pudding, bangers and mash or Spotted Dick, they had to make do with turkey and other fowl and maize pudding.  Oh, and they probably also had to eat nuts and berries because they had left the prunes behind in England.
> 
> OK, did that explain everything?



Exactly!


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## Twixie

Oh come on..you'd have to be pretty dopey not to know what ''Thanksgiving'' is...

Even in lil ole England...


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## avrp

jujube said:


> The turkey is still rock-hard frozen, so we put it in the dryer for two hours.  All new guests are told that we are playing a cd of tribal drumming in honor of the First Thanksgiving.  Everyone else starts a pool to bet on when the dryer will blow up.
> 
> Aunt Edna always says she's not coming, but she does anyway.  We reassure her there are no oysters in the dressing and she eats it with great relish.  She's claimed to be allergic to oysters for the last 30 years.  For the last 30 years, she has eaten dressing with oysters and is still going strong. The person who was supposed to bring  the cranberry sauce doesn't show up until two hours after dinner. We assure her  we really didn't need the cranberry sauce and she shouldn't worry about it. She  doesn't. She never does. We always have a couple of cans of cranberry sauce on  hand.  Uncle Bob's new 20-year-old trophy wife spends the meal counting carbohydrates and eats two lettuce leaves and a green bean that she has scraped the cream of mushroom soup off.
> 
> The 19-year-old Vegan cousin brings her own Tofurkey and cruelty-free veggies with her (did you know that vegetables actually feel pain when they are cut and should be eased "lovingly" out of the dirt?  I didn't, either.) and  spends the entire dinner muttering under her breath about the "Table of Death"  until Uncle Joe tells her to put a sock in it.  Aunt Edna gets into it with Aunt Rose about something that happened ten Thanksgiving ago, says she'll never darken our door again and goes home in a huff.  She will be back in time for the left-overs at seven.    The foreign exchange student from Khazakstan isn't sure what the hell is going on, but he figures that since all Americans are crazy, this is just normal. Grandma has been sprung from the nursing home for the day and has no idea where she is but she likes the food.  The dog has found the garbage in the kitchen and yarks twice under the table.
> 
> After dinner, everyone usually goes into a coma. The lucky ones find a bed or a couch and sleep it off. Uncle Joe is sure he's having a heart attack (he's been sure of it annually since 1973); Aunt Rose gets the Pepto-Bismol and straightens things out. She refuses to drive him to the Emergency Room this year and he pouts the rest of the evening and says he's sure we're going to be sorry when he dies. Grandma doesn't remember that she's eaten and continually asks when dinner will be ready. Eventually, someone drives her back to the nursing home, where she tells everyone she went to some stranger's house for dinner and they didn't feed her. The guys convene to the family room for football watching; it usually gets heated and someone has to be threatened with not being invited next year if he doesn't calm down. The teens usually manage to snag a bottle of wine and hide in the basement drinking until somebody starts upchucking.  The Vegan and the foreign exchange student from Khazakstan go out in the back yard and smoke pot. He's still pretty confused about the whole thing, but at least he's mellow about it.
> 
> Well, that's a compilation of about 50 years of Thanksgiving in my family. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot. I sure hope I have.



HaHa that was great. Lots of excitement at your house


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## Susie

jujube said:


> The turkey is still rock-hard frozen, so we put it in the dryer for two hours.  All new guests are told that we are playing a cd of tribal drumming in honor of the First Thanksgiving.  Everyone else starts a pool to bet on when the dryer will blow up.
> 
> Aunt Edna always says she's not coming, but she does anyway.  We reassure her there are no oysters in the dressing and she eats it with great relish.  She's claimed to be allergic to oysters for the last 30 years.  For the last 30 years, she has eaten dressing with oysters and is still going strong. The person who was supposed to bring  the cranberry sauce doesn't show up until two hours after dinner. We assure her  we really didn't need the cranberry sauce and she shouldn't worry about it. She  doesn't. She never does. We always have a couple of cans of cranberry sauce on  hand.  Uncle Bob's new 20-year-old trophy wife spends the meal counting carbohydrates and eats two lettuce leaves and a green bean that she has scraped the cream of mushroom soup off.
> 
> The 19-year-old Vegan cousin brings her own Tofurkey and cruelty-free veggies with her (did you know that vegetables actually feel pain when they are cut and should be eased "lovingly" out of the dirt?  I didn't, either.) and  spends the entire dinner muttering under her breath about the "Table of Death"  until Uncle Joe tells her to put a sock in it.  Aunt Edna gets into it with Aunt Rose about something that happened ten Thanksgiving ago, says she'll never darken our door again and goes home in a huff.  She will be back in time for the left-overs at seven.    The foreign exchange student from Khazakstan isn't sure what the hell is going on, but he figures that since all Americans are crazy, this is just normal. Grandma has been sprung from the nursing home for the day and has no idea where she is but she likes the food.  The dog has found the garbage in the kitchen and yarks twice under the table.
> 
> After dinner, everyone usually goes into a coma. The lucky ones find a bed or a couch and sleep it off. Uncle Joe is sure he's having a heart attack (he's been sure of it annually since 1973); Aunt Rose gets the Pepto-Bismol and straightens things out. She refuses to drive him to the Emergency Room this year and he pouts the rest of the evening and says he's sure we're going to be sorry when he dies. Grandma doesn't remember that she's eaten and continually asks when dinner will be ready. Eventually, someone drives her back to the nursing home, where she tells everyone she went to some stranger's house for dinner and they didn't feed her. The guys convene to the family room for football watching; it usually gets heated and someone has to be threatened with not being invited next year if he doesn't calm down. The teens usually manage to snag a bottle of wine and hide in the basement drinking until somebody starts upchucking.  The Vegan and the foreign exchange student from Khazakstan go out in the back yard and smoke pot. He's still pretty confused about the whole thing, but at least he's mellow about it.
> 
> Well, that's a compilation of about 50 years of Thanksgiving in my family. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot. I sure hope I have.


Can't stop laughing, one of the most hilarious descriptions I've ever read. Can't tell you how much you've cheered me up!
"Thanksgiving" is not celebrated in Australia.
So, when youngest daughter and grandaughter turned up for a visit I offered them a "pick-a-box" dinner (a variety of frozen dinners from the super market), added a large plate of salad, and offered chocolate ice-cream and wagon wheel cookies, also wine, milk, coffee, tea.
They seemed to enjoy this-everything disappeared.

                                                                                     :thanks:


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## Susie

Twixie said:


> And I wouldn't expect you to..Philip is not our king..he is Prince Philip..
> 
> Elizabeth is our Queen..



I think so highly of "Queen Elizabeth"-truly a "royal" to be admired!!!
Just imagine-she helped with the war effort, drove an ambulance!


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## hollydolly

Yes she did Susie, and she also trained to be an auto mechanic..also she and her sister were both active members of the Red Cross. She is an amazing woman , I've read everything about her, and it's incredible the amount of work she's been involved in personally as well as having a huge work ethic..


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