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T-day was... okay. We originally were going to spend it with friends, but felt bad about not spending it with... sigh... the in-laws. So, we grudgingly decided to have it our place (they "can't" do it at their house). Don't get me wrong, I love cooking big dinners, but it's everything else that goes into it that is a bit much for me right now: a couple of days to prep, shop, clean up the apartment. A whole day in the kitchen while everyone else is relaxing with a few beers, then another day or two of clean-up afterwards. To top it off, it set me back a couple of precious days on 3 papers that are due tomorrow, and finals are 10 days away. So yeah, not the greatest time to host a dinner. We got through it. Yes, it was like pulling teeth, but everyone behaved themselves. We will not be doing this again next year.
Yeah, I agree, it's a lot of work to host a big party and deal with all of the cooking and cleaning and prepping as you've said.
I was sort of picking on the food and I really for the life of me would never make a comment to make the host feel bad, I probably should have left out me saying that the food was bad... LOL, I was just being colorful... I guess I said it thinking that you have to deal with of the issues with travel and headaches, having great food would helped to take a little of the pain out of the deal.
We do T day where we alternate, one year it's a big central gathering then the next everyone is on their own. One "off" year it was just Mrs. Chow, her mom and her nephew, along with me of course and we just ordered a bunch of Chinese food a day ahead and warmed it up the next day and that was great, it was no fuss, simple, not 25 people and screaming kids... LOL, these little kids were the cutest kids, but man, they were getting fussy and whiny after awhile as kids do.
Jeez, I couldn't imagine trying to wrangle little kids, one of the couple's there had 3 yr old and a small barely walking baby, not sure the exact ages, but whew.... I couldn't handle that job full time, course they are in their 20's and have much more energy than this old man has, LOL.
IDK... the last few yrs of my life it's been about downscaling and simplifying, for me that means less headaches and hassles in whatever form it takes to get to that point.
Because I commute 1.5 hours each way every day, I find it odd that someone would choose to stay in a gross place instead of driving home - an hour away. I hear what you are saying; I would just choose differently.
Same here. I was going to my sister's house, which is an hour and a half away, and a friend said to me, "I guess you'll be staying there, then?" I thought that was odd, but I was not planning to drink more than wine with dinner so I could see where that would be an issue. I did have a beer also! But I also have an hour and a half commute.
We had hoped to spend Thanksgiving day with our daughter and her family, with them coming to visit us. However, she had to work that day and since they live about a 4 hour drive away, my husband and I made a reservation for the 2 of us at a local restaurant that was serving Thanksgiving dinner.
Reading the OP's story, it reminded me of the year my brother and SIL invited us to come to their house for Thanksgiving. They, on non-holiday times, were about a 4 - 4 1/2 hour drive away. We figured if we left Thanksgiving morning, most people would be already at their destinations so the roads wouldn't be busy---ha! It took us 8 hours to get there. Since the closest hotel to their house is a fleabag dump, my SIL arranged for us to spend the night at her mother's house (which was down the street from brother and SIL's house). Her mother, at the time, was running an illegal boarding house. Sure, the room she gave us (my husband, our daughter and me) was clean but small but not comfortable---but who were we to complain?
We would have declined the invitation but my parents flew across country for the occasion. When we sat down for dinner, my husband said to me "All this for a piece of turkey". Later, I told my Dad what my husband said and his response was: "Yes, you're right, that's what it basically amounts to." On the positive side, my SIL did put out a nice spread of food plus we didn't come empty handed as we supplied the dessert.
A Non-family holiday is worth every penny not spent!
We had a nice quiet one here...DH and I. I still whipped up some Turkey and trimmings....and we munched on it till it was gone.
I don't miss those travel/crazy/family/driving/shopping/did I mention crazy? ..holidays at all.
i thought this thread was the anniversary of the subway or something.
Last edited by stanley-88888888; 11-30-2015 at 09:11 AM..
Reason: read more posts. no longer confused
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