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November 19, 2021: Forgotten Holiday

41 Comments

Someone at work asked if people were going to be around for our usual Tuesday meeting and I thought, yeah, why not? Then I remembered next week is Thanksgiving. We won't be traveling as the family is in MN and after kids we decided only the November or December holiday gets a visit; not both, and it's usually the latter.

So, uh, what are your Thanksgiving plans?

41 thoughts on “November 19, 2021: Forgotten Holiday”

  1. We will spend a couple of days with Mrs. A's family. I'd hoped to see Mom A, but her facility is locked down again, so unless something changes, that's out.

      1. I did that last year, for just me and MrsS.

        This year, I have the whole nukular family, up and down. My parents, brother and SiL, and my kids. I am hopeful that I will be able to secure a fresh turkey from the Supply Chain Roulette competition to smoke-roast (spatchcocked) on the Weber. There will be obscene amounts of food, per usual. Hopefully enough to keep my SiL quiet.

        1. I went to get a turkey and had no problem finding one. It wasn't stocked to the overflowing amount it usually is but there were plenty of options. I opted for a fresh, unfrozen turkey.

  3. Our school has student/teacher conferences and, instead of the doing them in the evening, they’re throughout the day in Mon&Tues so the kids have the whole week off … but our Mon-Thursday work schedule is no different than usual. So that’s fun.

    1. Schools need to go to the option of zoom calls for parent teachers conferences all the time, not just during pandemics.

  4. We have good friends (Runner daughter's godparents & family) that we've shared Thanksgiving with now for 31 years, since none of us has family nearby. We alternate homes each year, and this year it's at our home. There is a conflict in the afternoon, so instead we're having breakfast (in pajamas) at their home and the Thanksgiving meal proper instead on Sunday at our home. Whatever works.

    I realized a few days back that we'll be gone to Costa Rica the first 13 days of December, so I've started scrambling to get Christmas cards ready to mail, what with the slow mail being even slower.

  5. It looks like the worm has finally turned. I accepted a job offer yesterday and start on December 6th. After my counter offer, they came back with their original offer for the first three months of employment, but assuming I meet the milestones of my 90 day work plan, I'll get a raise in base pay to my counter offer. I get to help determine those metrics with the CMO during my first 30 days. So hey, I've got something to sing about again.

  6. When we lived in D.C., Thanksgiving was the holiday we didn't travel back home for. We always had a friend over and made a great turkey/potatoes/stuffing type of meal, sometimes trying new things and sometimes making the usual.

    Now that we're back in MN, my family does Thanksgiving up proper - Mom & Dad throw open the invite, and of their 13 children we probably average 9+ families coming to the meal. Plus sometimes their in-laws (especially the ones with smaller families), plus usually some other "lost souls" who don't have a Thanksgiving plan - one year that was a student from Majorca! It wouldn't be unsual to have 50 people there, give or take. It would actually be unusual to not have something approaching that.

    In fact, if anyone wants an invite, consider this your invitation. The family motto is some form of "There's always room for more" - and Thanksgivings really embody that. Seriously, if you don't have anything else and you're tempted, shoot me a message.

      1. You know that quote that says "Build a longer table, not a higher fence"? A few years ago, when a few siblings moved out for good, my parents took a different bedroom and tore down theirs, so that they could double the size of the dining room. It's almost enough for space for everyone, and setting up a few tables in the adjacent living room usually gets the job done. It really is a sight to behold.

  9. My sister-in-law will be arriving at our place tonight, to spend about a month with us. The wonders of remote work!

    Then, we'll be driving up to the mountains on Monday to go skiing for the week. So for Thanksgiving itself, it'll be the five of us (me, wife, kids, S-I-L) in an AirBnB condo. We'll do turkey and at least some of the fixings, though I may keep it a bit smaller than usual, considering the cooking will be a road game.

  10. It's going to be just the three of us for T-Day. I'm getting a meal partially prepared by Kowalski's. I will finish the job on Thursday morning. We did this last year and it was good.

    1. We are just a trio again this year as well. Since the wife and daughter have to work the day after we’ll go up to visit my mother next weekend. We got a turkey breast and most everything else we need already. I’m making an extra helping of thankful this year, though.

  11. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far. Very little moralizing, a big meal that is a production, avoidance of politics and napping before eating again. Long ago we decided that traveling to the motherland in late November and again in late December was for the birds. We’ll contribute homemade cheese puffs and a bunch of red wine this year. Our friend is smoking a whole bird, and frying a whole bird. We won’t starve.

  12. While I was meeting with someone on the Engineering floor this morning, one of my brothers was texting me scoring updates from the first round of the MN 9-man state tournament. The hometown team won 30-22 and play again next Friday. I was envious when he mentioned that he got to visit with my old football coach, who happened to be there as well.

    1. I celebrated earlier this week. It was a very pleasant celebration, which I repeated yesterday, with a first Celebration in between. All good!

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