Whaddaya Think - Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

[pamperedlinda]

Ann, one year I went anti-tradition and made international foods instead: Thai noodles, samosas, chicken kabobs, etc...
I love spicing things up a bit--uh, no pun intended--and it sounds like you certainly have too! Heh heh

Oh, when are you going to do this again? I am coming to your house! I love Thai noodles and Samosas....yum yum!

 

[Gina M]

The menu sounds delicious.

But, how do YOU think your family will take to this? Since I don't know them I'm afraid I'm not much help. I know that my family and DH would hate it. Thanksgiving is DH's favorite holiday and he looks forward to the traditional meal. Since we built our house I now host the annual turkey dinner. I usually have all the regulars and then throw in one or two new dishes.

Here is my two cents - on my side of the family we always have a traditional Turkey day for which I'm grateful because every year for Christmas Day - on my husband's side of the family we do a bring some sort of snick snacky food and quite frankly by the end of the day I'm pretty grossed out by the amount of food consumed because I swear that's all they do all day is eat!! And most of the foods don't really "go" together and I actually prefer a more traditional dinner (turkey or ham) and lots of different side dishes and a couple of desserts. That may just be me - but I tend to think as a society we all overeat anyhow - and we're not doing our kids any favors by having 20 dishes to choose from and overeat. I have nieces/nephews who have some serious weight issues who literally spend the entire day eating vs. just having fun with their family. (I know I probably sound like Scrooge - but we have 9 cousin birthday parties a year and it's the same at all of them!)

I wish you good luck in whatever you decide to do - I'm sure it will be fun and tasty!

 

[chefann]

DH's family has the same overeating problem when it's a full meal... I think the trick is to present things that are tasty, but healthy - and limit the amount, so people can't graze all day. His family also doesn't visit. They come, they sit down, they eat, they leave. It's like hosting a swarm of locusts, but without the redeeming qualities. (Oh, goodness! Did I type that out loud?) I figure that if I can serve things that will require them to mingle and move from room to room, they'll actually be better off than with a traditional meal.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Consider yourself lucky that they don't hang around.Buhh-BYEEEEEE!

 

[pamperedlinda]

..........His family also doesn't visit. They come, they sit down, they eat, they leave........

Do you really want them to stay for a while and visit then? Especially the bossy SIL? Or are you planning to torture them with your good graces? Ya know, this could be fun. Maybe you should plan to play a few party games....

 

[chefheidi2003]

Do you really want them to stay for a while and visit then? Especially the bossy SIL? Or are you planning to torture them with your good graces? Ya know, this could be fun. Maybe you should plan to play a few party games....

That is too funny.

 

[chefann]

Consider yourself lucky that they don't hang around.

Buhh-BYEEEEEE!

Bossy SIL thinks all the animals in the family love her. That MUST be why Beaker poofs all her feathers and screeches when Bossy walks past the cage, right? She pokes her fingers through the cage and cackles at the birds - I'm just waiting for Beaker to take a chunk out of her finger. (I told you, I'm evil.)

Beaker started saying "Honk!" this weekend. So we call her a silly goose.

 

[jrstephens]

IF we are not in the football finals this year we are going non-traditional. We (us and my parents) are going to the mountains in TN and spend Thanksgiving there. My inlaws may not be too happy with it but who cares! :angel: Of course hopefully, we will still be in the playoffs - we were last year when we planned the same thing.

 

[chefann]

hmmm.... games would be a good idea, except I doubt anyone would listen to rules... visiting for the sake of sharing stories and having a good time is such a foreign concept to them that it's just sad.

I do have some good games from my Simply Fun party. Maybe I'll make sure they're out.

 

[chefann]

Oh, yeah- that's another thing that annoys the relatives. If I invite you over for Thanksgiving dinner, that means dinner - not football. The TV isn't allowed on, but they'll actually rummage through furniture looking for the remote to turn it on.

 

[chefheidi2003]

Bossy SIL thinks all the animals in the family love her. That MUST be why Beaker poofs all her feathers and screeches when Bossy walks past the cage, right? She pokes her fingers through the cage and cackles at the birds - I'm just waiting for Beaker to take a chunk out of her finger. (I told you, I'm evil.)

Beaker started saying "Honk!" this weekend. So we call her a silly goose.

maybe she will "Honk" and Miss Bossy when they are there...

 

[chefheidi2003]

Oh, yeah- that's another thing that annoys the relatives. If I invite you over for Thanksgiving dinner, that means dinner - not football. The TV isn't allowed on, but they'll actually rummage through furniture looking for the remote to turn it on.

LOL...we went to my brothers MIL house last year for thanksgiving and she wouldn't let us turn the TV on and they wanted to play games all day...my mom was irritated because we wanted to watch Football.

 

[chefann]

But they know that DH and I aren't sports people - we almost never have any sports on our TV anyway. And if they're there for a family dinner, then no TV. If it were a gathering for the purpose of watching football, that's a different story. Then it would be OK.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

You have to be a real fan to consider the Lions football.

 

[chefann]

They play better football than I do! Of course, I don't think I've ever played football of any kind, so that's not hard.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Well, after yesterday, I think it's safe to say, not much better.4

 

[chefann]

And I think the Thanksgiving game is the Packer home game this year...

check check check

Yep- it is. And imagine this- there's a big box on the Lions' homepage that "Regular Season Tickets Still Available." Imagine that! Empty seats in the losingest stadium in town!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

If they're not careful, those seats will all be filled with cheeseheads wearing green and gold.Vince Lombardi hated that game and pulled the Packers out of it in about '63. The Packers didn't appear in that game for several decades and frankly, I didn't miss it. One of the local columnists wrote a special Thanksgiving Day version of the old T-day song, back in the early '60s, let me see if I can remember any of it...Over the freeway
And through the town
To Grandmother's house we go!
The car seems to know
The correct way to go
Through the thick and drifted sno-ow!Grandpa is watching
The Packers play
And hoping they win the game!
He raises a cheer
As he opens a beer
And they turn the Lions tay-yame!And I'm sorry, I don't remember the rest of it.

 

[chefann]

I'm sure that game's already sold out - and half the stadium WILL be cheering for the Pack. It's just too close for fans NOT to make the trip.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Packer fans stand a better chance of getting a ticket to see their team play at a ROAD stadium than they do at Lambeau.Unless they want to pay Lambeau scalper prices.