I'm thinking of something similar. The 15 pound turkey I cooked last week has been ignored by everyone but me. I'm seriously questioning the wisdom of cooking the other turkey for thanksgiving. I may just leave it in the freezer.

 

Everyone we know, including us, is pretty traditional with the similar turkey and food choices. DH's side of the family is usually the family we visit with on Thanksgiving because they use it as their Christmas get-together time too. Everyone is older and doesn't want to make long drives in bad weather and around here we usually get a first snow in December. If we exchange gifts at Thanksgiving, it's usually something small and for the house, or a canned jar of a food item we've made to share with them. This year we're taking the old-time cloth calendars that hang on kitchen wall. We figure 2012 might be a year to remember. LOL!

 

We "have" Thanksgiving on the Saturday after, with 25 to 30 friends and family. That way, everyone can have the traditional day with their own families and we don't cut into that time. Besides, my son's family spends every other holiday with DIL's parents, so this seems to work for us. We roast a whole small pig, but this year we're going to have a turkey too. Most people who come contribute something toward dinner: veggie dish, desert, etc.
Kit

 

Prime Rib -- we're not big turkey fans.

 

Always, wild turkey, mashed taters, wild rice stuffing, baked yams and cranberries. This year it will be drumsticks only though, some years just breast, we never bake a whole turkey....James

 

This year it looks like it will be duck and venison. My niece is a chef and a talented one at that. She is always "experimenting" on us, and we love it.

 

Prime Rib -- we're not big turkey fans.

I may go out for prime rib this year.

 

Not on Thanksgiving but I did break with Christmas tradition a few years ago.
Now, instead of another work-intensive turkey dinner, I make homemade lasagna the day before and on Christmas afternoon, all I have to do is slide it in the oven, heat up some Italian bread and toss a salad.
It makes Christmas a holiday for me too!

 

Not on Thanksgiving but I did break with Christmas tradition a few years ago.
Now, instead of another work-intensive turkey dinner, I make homemade lasagna the day before and on Christmas afternoon, all I have to do is slide it in the oven, heat up some Italian bread and toss a salad.
It makes Christmas a holiday for me too!

can i come too! that sounds great to me.

last thanksgiving, cuz my family isn't near and his is nuts, we were alone and i shrimp alfredo with my goat cheese. it was amazing and a huge hit with the kids.

this year my parents are coming for a thanksgiving/christmas :happy::sing: and we're doing the whole turkey thing. after all the cooking i do for the lodge i am very happy to be cooking for my family!!

 

A whole turkey is just too big, so we broke with tradition last year, and will again this year- all sea food. Crab, shrimp and lobster. The only way to go.
And at the first thanksgiving, lobster was on the menu, so we are really still traditionalists.

 

Only non-traditional thing we do is always have persimmon pudding. Everyone loves it and always look forward to the old family recipe.

 

Prime Rib -- we're not big turkey fans.

We've even have had a big fat rib eyes. With baked sweet tators. Yummy

 

Exhusband is Italian. His family had turkey and stuffing, also lasagne and some other Italian dishes.

 

Both turkey and lasagna are always on the menu for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter at our house. They are essentially the only things that all 4 of us will eat. We are picky eaters,so for the holidays, I try to satisfy everyone.

 

We usually do the traditional turkey dinner for Thankgiving, but for Christmas Eve dinner my side of the family often has pork sausage, and a small dish of blood sausage, too. Sometimes ribs, sometimes lasagna, but always that blood sausage with whatever else we're having.

 

this year may be different because grandma is sick. at moms parents but turkey, ham, chicken & dumplings, beef or deer. At dads parents chicken but who knows this year first year without my grandmother on this side.

 

I have several groups of friends who do nontraditional Thanksgiving, lol. One does lasagna, one does Chinese food and one does Mexican, with enchiladas and a taco bar. They all hate turkey, but they do a pretty traditional Christmas with a ham.

I'm very traditional, but ever since my son discovered deep fried turkey he just has to have it that way and no other. I can take it or leave it, but I find that even if I eat it I still miss the traditionally roasted turkey, especially smelling it cooking all day, the gravy, using the stock in the dressing, etc. So I usually roast a turkey, have a little bit for my own Thanksgiving dinner and then freeze the rest to reheat later with my own quick stove-top type dressing mix or to use in soups and casseroles.

On Christmas, we usually have a ham, which we can all agree on, lol, and a turkey and sometimes a big beef roast, but then we usually host 50 or more for Christmas!

Back when we had a small gathering, we usually had a standing rib roast for Christmas or New Year's.

 

We switch back and forth Puerto Rican food is always a big hit with my in-laws, they love the empanadillas, arroz y gandules, pernil (pork roast) and pasteles, but I like to change it up a lot. We have done Mexican, traditional, Roast beef ect mind you I have been married for 10 years and I have really not done that many Thanksgivings/Christmas celebrations as the host so for me that's a lot of variety. Ive never done wild turkey rabbit or goose or duck all of those options seem intriguing but also a little intimidating.
ETA: Oh yeah we have also done store bought turkey, I left that out.

 

My sister makes Christmas pasties. That way the family makes them the day before, and all she has to do is to put the food in the oven on Christmas day. Snce salads and desserts are made ahead of time, sihe can spend Christmas day NOT! in the kitchen!

A pasty is, basically, a meat turnover.

 

When dbro, dsil and her sister come up for Thanksgiving they bring yummmyyyyy polish sausage and saurkraut. I won't eat the saurkraut any other time but when they fix it. We have begun cooking the turkey, making the dressing and a couple of other things so we can just put it in the oven to heat for dinner. Easy peasy!

As for Christmas we do a brunch and then have leftovers from my Christmas eve bash, plus I will get a spiral ham, dsis brings special breads and we nosh the whole day.

 

filet mignon , brussels sprouts with panchetta ham, some kinda fancy potato, salad, and what ever floats our boats!

This is the first year we will deviate from the norm!! Since its just us, no need to put on airs!

 

We do Thanksgiving stew.lol No one here likes turkey. So we wasted them for several years of early marriage. Now it is he fact we are all together giving thanks that matters. Not what is on our plates for us.

 

We have Turkey, Cornbread dressing, mashed taters, corn, green beans, deviled eggs, slaw, and more.
Oh and don't forget the pies.
I love Thanksgiving

 

Most of the meal is pretty traditional (I think, is it normal to have baked oysters as a side dish? I skip them-- yuck), turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, etc. But the most important bowl on the table is the little dish of watermelon rind pickles. It's my great-great-grandmother's recipe, and the perfect complement to salty Virginia ham. Yum!

 

My husband does not like turkey, and I'm a vegetarian, so I guess our Thanksgiving would be considered "nontraditional". I think the whole idea of eating turkey on Thanksgiving is way overdone. Years ago when I lived in Rhode Island, I visited Plymouth Plantation. There I learned that the early pilgrims probably ate venison more than wild turkey, and lots of clams and cod. Where all this business came from of only eating turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie , I have no clue. Hubby and I eat a different menu every year. It usually includes seasonal vegetables, various desserts, and either ham or meatloaf or roast pork. There are plenty of side dishes. I personally like to make a very elegant and delicious vegetable rice pie from a recipe I got out of a cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas, The Scandinavian Baking Book. We usually have some kind of squash because I always have a lot of it from the garden, some kind of cranberry dish, a salad, and some kind of potato dish. The idea of Thanksgiving is not to glorify the turkey, but to be thankful for our blessings. It is NOT "turkey day"!! It is a day to be with friends or family and just enjoy well prepared food and fellowship..............