Happy Thanksgiving!

Hooray it's Thanksgiving, the often neglected holiday that gets overlooked when Wal-Mart decides to put Christmas stuff out the middle of November. Why America would put a holiday centered around eating on the back burner is beyond me.

We're having dinner at my house. Not sure how many other people are coming. I'll probably eat a couple platefuls of stuffing and some turkey. Ooh and some deviled eggs.

Crazy Americans, Thanksgiving was last month!

Turkey > Sides > Turkey > Sides > Turkey > Sides > Turkey...


I CAN'T DECIDE

DuckReconMajor said:

Hooray it's Thanksgiving, the often neglected holiday that gets overlooked when Wal-Mart decides to put Christmas stuff out the middle of November. Why America would put a holiday centered around eating on the back burner is beyond me.

I actually have a pretty big problem with this. For one thing, I'm an angry atheist and hate Christmas, but it drives me crazy that Thanksgiving used to be a really important American holiday, and now it seems to be an afterthought. Seems the citizens of the USA don't care about USA except when "god" is involved.

Thanksgiving is greater in importance to my extended family than Christmas is, and my dinner today will likely yield nearly 40 family members. And it won't even be dysfunctional. I've never had a dysfunctional Thanksgiving. These people are all connected to my mother's side of the family.

My last name is Bradford, and for those of you who knows your American history, the Bradfords came over on the Mayflower with the Pilgrims, William Bradford ending up as the governor of Massachusetts. The irony in all this is that my father, a Bradford, does not celebrate Thanksgiving, because he has found a new form of puritainism, arguably as extreme as that the Puritans practiced. He's a Jehovah's Witness.

Regarding Christmas, I'm an agnostic, and I enjoy it. Do I think it's overcommercialized? Sure do. But on the other hand my family (again, Mother's side) has such strong and rich community traditions that go beyond spending scads of money, that I view it as a good thing. It's not about Jesus, or presents with us. Just before Christmas there's a gigantic community caroling event at the tiny, ancient, community non-denominational church next door to my Grandparent's house, with everyone who lives on the road openly invited. They do the same for May Day (woo, pure pagan holidays!) when they set up may poles for all of the community children and provide a nice environment for the adults to drink beer and barbecue.

The integrity of holidays may be failing around the country, but not within my family. We still know how to amicably get drunk and eat tons of food without causing scads of drama.

Nomad said:

I actually have a pretty big problem with this. For one thing, I'm an angry atheist and hate Christmas, but it drives me crazy that Thanksgiving used to be a really important American holiday, and now it seems to be an afterthought. Seems the citizens of the USA don't care about USA except when "god" is involved.

Thanksgiving is pretty religious too, you know
Who do you think the Pilgrims were giving thanks to

YMB said:

Thanksgiving was pretty religious too, you know

Fixed.

Times changed, and it has become all about the food and the football games. Nobody gives a shit about Thanksgiving itself anymore.

And the "angry atheist that hates Christmas" comment was tongue-in-cheek, in case anyone didn't catch that.

Scet said:

Crazy Americans, Thanksgiving was last month!

This.

And we can all thank Massachusetts too, for bringing us Thanksgiving...

The best state...

DuckReconMajor said:

when Wal-Mart decides to put Christmas stuff out the middle of November.

Really? They put Christmas stuff out in October here.

Turkey wins. Mashed potatoes and corn are very awesome sides, but the turkey is much more tasty.

I still can't decide. Will reveal my decision after thanksgiving dinner.

Christmas goes out early because it sells, unfortunately. Hell.. I love giving and receiving gifts on Christmas, but jeez.. at least save it until after November!

I am a first family of Virginia and a Son of the Revolution and here I am, spending Thanksgiving alone in Brooklyn.

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

Thanks, DuckReconMajor. Actually, I thank you all, people.

Nomad said:

Fixed.

Times changed, and it has become all about the food and the football games. Nobody gives a shit about Thanksgiving itself anymore.

The same could be said about Christmas. Possibly even more so.

I forgot about that todays american thanksgivng

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FOR THE AMERICANS!!!!!!!!!


(Canadian,celebrated it last month)

I'll take the turkey AND the sides. I'm not prejudice with my food!

God bless America

P.S. - How the hell do you embed videos?

My Thanksgiving tradition is this:
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NEVER EAT FRUITCAKE!!!

Dinner was good. I made 2 bags of stuffing. It was a bit dry but some gravy took care of that :) The turky was nice and juicy this year, but it still ain't stuffin. I think a few more people than usual came over but cleanup was surprisingly quick this year which was good.

Enjay said:

The same could be said about Christmas. Possibly even more so.

^^^

Sides

Silly Americans. Thanksgiving is at the start of October! :p

We get Christmas stuff in the stores before Halloween even happens.

Anyway, I don't give a crap wtf we eat. It's usually turkey, but it's been ham or fish and that didn't bother me. Gotta have a million tons of stuffing though. :D

All of it. Turkey,sides and Ham. Marathon eating the entire day.

To be honest, I don't like turkey. I much prefer ham. Possibly why I like Christmas dinner better than Thanksgiving.

Wow, lots of Canadians here. Or do some other countries also celebrate Thanksgiving in October?

Even though Thanksgiving was technically a month ago for me, it's not really over until all the leftovers are out of the fridge. We just remembered to throw out the cranberry sauce this week.

Turkey is an essential part of the dinner, but the sides are where it's at. The stuffing is the best, followed by my mom's green bean casserole, followed by sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping. NOM.

But I think my favorite part is the pumpkin pie.

Sadly, Thanksgiving weekend was when five wild turkeys that my father and I fed and tamed (These guys would run up to you when you called them) went missing. I could assume left from the cold but it was inevitable that someone would shoot them and store then in their freezer.

Sadly wild turkeys have all but disappeared in Northern Canada about a century ago and only recently they have been re-introducing them in the region in hopes in restoring their population. Luckily one of my turkey buddies survived and happily eats bread or corn we through out to him.

It is a fine to hunt them in the Northern regions of Ontario.

Wild Turkeys in my part of Connecticut are going strong actually. Huge population boom. Maybe even too strong since there are no real natural predators in the wild here. We have a far too high Deer population now too.

Our animal population has boomed up here in the last few years. Deer, bear, and many other furry creatures are plentiful for the amount of land available. Sadly it appears swamp life is starting to dwindle a little.