Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

In my day, never was longer.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / A Thanksgiving Reminder

A Thanksgiving Reminder

by | 180 Comments

This post is in: 

The cold that will never end seems to have ended, three bottles of choricidin and one run of amoxicillin later, a total of 13 days, and I am not finally feeling a little bit human. The timing of this was perfect as I have now segued into a solid seasonal depression, just in time to go slave away over a hot stove for two days.

To keep dad from overexerting, all cooking for the Cole family Thanksgiving is being done at my house. I am responsible for the turkey, the gravy, the mashed potatoes, and the stuffing, while Devon is handling some of the sides- roasted miso ginger carrots, cheesy broccoli casserole, roasted beet and goat cheese salad, and roasted brussels sprouts. Once everything is cooked we are going to haul it over to their house and eat.

All the shopping is done, fortunately, because I am not sure I can go out in public again without going viral on tiktok or youtube. It’s the Holidays, so everyone is on their WORST FUCKING BEHAVIOR. I have no idea why, but for some reason people no attention to their surroundings in grocery stores. I had some lady come screaming around an aisle corner and slam into me from behind, and she just crumpled to the floor. I felt bad, but like, lady, I was just standing here. You’re the one who ran into the damned telephone pole.

Whatever, off to bleach the kitchen before cooking.

Reader Interactions

180Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    Laughing re the shopper lady.  Good luck w the holiday and cooking.  Menu sounds delish. Glad you are feeling human again.

  2. 2.

    Uncle Jeffy

    People in stores right now are acting crazy. I watched a guy go apeshit on a grocery store employee because the local newspapers weren’t in their usual location (they were six feet away).

  3. 3.

    geg6

    I seem to have caught some kind of crud (tested 3 times negative for COVID) and have major sinus issues.  Been taking Mucinex D the last 3 days and am feeling a bit better.  I have to go to the grocery store today and am dreading it.  I will be masking there and plan to do the same at our small family gathering tomorrow.  My brother just had eye surgery and my younger sister just finished up 5 months of chemo for breast cancer, so they will be staying home.  My older niece’s kids are recovering from RSV, so they are staying home, too.  Just me, my John, my recently widowed sister, my oldest sister and her husband.  We usually have nine more people.  Plus it’s my birthday.  And as of now, I’m not big on the idea of celebrating anything. Oh well, gotta get to the store for the ingredients for a salad and my famous sea salt and honey carrots!

  4. 4.

    different-church-lady

    Everyone has indeed gone insane, not just in grocery stores, but everywhere: sidewalks, cars, electric scooters, you name it. I have a friend with a theory that during a year-plus of isolation everyone just forgot how to behave in public.

    That being said, I did my T-day shopping yesterday around 5PM, expecting a gauntlet, and the supermarket was… surprisingly normal. I mean, almost sedate, relatively speaking. Reverse psychology at work?

  5. 5.

    different-church-lady

    Also: it’s just wearying how shitty everyone is, and how constant it is. If they’re not outright crazy they’re totally self-centered. And about 15 times a day (no exaggeration) someone is trying to scam you using your own technology. My soul feels exhausted.

  7. 7.

    Dangerman

    My Thanksgiving gathering plans ran into a health conflict (not me, thankfully, I knocked out whatever crud caught me last week, all Covid tests negative). So, flying solo…

    … which means going to a sportsbar and enjoying a massive amount of football (both kinds) for the day. Not traditional, which I enjoy, but I’ll survive.

    Going nontraditional, I’m jonesing for some major prime rib action but everything open tomorrow is running Turkey specials. My search continues …

  9. 9.

    PaulB

    I’m experiencing the usual, “Oh, you’re alone on Thanksgiving? That’s just awful! Now you come right over and celebrate with us.”

    I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m alone because I choose to be, thank you very much. There is a difference between “alone” and “lonely” that I wish more people would appreciate. And, as a massive introvert, to go to another family’s house to hang out for hours with a loud group of people, most of whom I barely know, is kinda my definition of hell.

  10. 10.

    Suzanne

    @Uncle Jeffy:

    People in stores right now are acting crazy. 

    This is true. I don’t really understand why, either. People are so freaking impatient.

    I took Spawn and her friend to the mall on Sunday. I don’t really like malls, or shopping (except Costco), but there are a couple of stores there that I wanted to check out for gifts and to actually try clothes on. It was pretty busy, and I was getting annoyed at one point, but I reminded myself that everyone is overworked/underpaid and I should be chill. And that it is my fault for going to a mall on a weekend in the holiday season.

    But I see the same freakouts. I try to minimize shopping time because I have already been in a store once when gunshots were fired, and I have no desire to repeat the experience.

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    So committed to both sides that there’s nothing they won’t do to try and justify it.

    Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) tweeted at 10:12 AM on Tue, Nov 22, 2022:
    I disagree with this political viewpoint.

    I believe that Trump lying about the winner of the 2020 election is substantive much worse than the Biden White House only inviting select reporters to Naomi Biden’s wedding, and that it is irresponsible for reporters to compare the two.
    (https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1595087813376196609?t=RB51w3D6LDn9dynmnJ0wvw&s=03)

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    Call.her.out

    Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) tweeted at 9:24 PM on Tue, Nov 22, 2022:
    The @nytimes is the newspaper of record, and it is on the record that @maggieNYT refused to use the word “lie” throughout Trump’s presidency, yet readily uses it for Biden over his granddaughter’s wedding of all things. She is Trump’s Leni Riefenstahl. https://t.co/kmYI4J3xsE
    (https://twitter.com/FrankConniff/status/1595256951088287745?t=kRyjeygwv8TUEImICDmGPw&s=03)

  14. 14.

    waspuppet

    I had some lady come screaming around an aisle corner and slam into me from behind, and she just crumpled to the floor.

    Did she scream for a referee to award her a penalty shot?

  15. 15.

    Rusty

    We are having a rough fall, my mother-in-law is in hospice and my wife has been spending much of the last month out of state to be with her.  Add my job being extra crazy because half our department left for better situations and we are just both tired and burned out.  So this year is one or two favorite dishes (cranberry orange relish being one), a bunch of easy to put out appetized like items, and some pies my parents got at Costco.  No turkey, no fancy meal, just low key and easy.  We are even using paper plates, nice Thanksgiving themed paper plates, but paper plates.  All three of our older children will be somewhere else (but we are excited they will all be home for Christmas), so just us, our son and my parents.  When I told my dad the plans, his comment was “we will be together, that’s enough.”  Thank god.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    @different-church-lady:

    I have a friend with a theory that during a year-plus of isolation everyone just forgot how to behave in public. 

    I think this is part of it, but I also think that everyone is squeezed for time, hustle culture seeping in everywhere. I feel this so intensely. Like, I even try to pee quickly.

  17. 17.

    different-church-lady

    Oh look, a news article right on time:

    https://www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2022/11/23/heres-why-your-body-wash-deodorant-and-toothpaste-are-locked-up-at-the-drugstore/?p1=hp_secondary

    Loss prevention experts largely blame what’s known as organized retail crime — sophisticated crime rings that shoplift in bulk and re-sell stolen merchandise, often in online marketplaces like eBay or Facebook.

    Human beings are so good at inventing fresh ways to be shitty.

  19. 19.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: ​
      Well, I would but Twitter’s been destroyed. And besides, these supposed “journalists” and their editors just treat the public like they’re ankle biters.

  21. 21.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: ​
      In a way it’s a good sign: if they’re whining about this, it means they don’t have something more significant whine about at the moment.
    Slow news days are good news days, nowadays.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: ​
      I try not to profile people, but I really think it’s time we stop white South Africans from running anything.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    Tell it to the bleacher seats

    Jane of the North (@JaneotN) tweeted at 8:42 PM on Sun, Nov 20, 2022:
    Democrats didn’t bomb abortion clinics.

    They didn’t thank God for AIDS.

    They didn’t kill white evangelicals at church or a Kid Rock concert.

    No dem has killed people at a grocery store.

    No one from the Radiqacal Left has massacred school children.

    The problem is not the Left.
    (https://twitter.com/JaneotN/status/1594521479638573056?s=02)

  27. 27.

    PaulB

    In better news, a Thanksgiving tradition continues: https://twitter.com/Jamalhinton12/status/1595143244056514560 .

    More on their story at https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/11/23/jamal-hinton-and-wanda-denchs-heartwarming-text-that-created-thanksgiving-tradition/ :

    In November 2016, Jamal Hinton went viral on Twitter after sharing a hilarious text exchange from an unknown number, which belonged to Wanda Dench.

    Wanda thought that she was texting her grandson when she invited Jamal to a Thanksgiving dinner while she was at work.

    “You are not my grandma,” Jamal texted her back after asking for her selfie. “Can I still have a plate though?”

    Wanda agreed and said: “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do – feed everyone.”

    Since their text exchange in 2016, the two viral friends have spent every Thanksgiving together with their respective families and friends, turning their wholesome story into an annual tradition.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @different-church-lady: There used to be this super-fancy three-story Walgreens in Center City Philadelphia. Almost everything was behind these locked cases. It was such a pain to get anything. The last time I was there, they were preparing to close. I cannot imagine why.

    Also why I now get most toiletries items from Amazon Subscribe and Save. Yes, it’s Bezos and that’s bad. But again, minimizing in-store shopping to avoid crazy people.

  30. 30.

    kindness

    I love holiday cooking.  Yea it’s a lot of work and the clean up is atrocious, but I still dearly enjoy it.  With Thanksgiving it’s like a kick off to the Xmas season.

  33. 33.

    different-church-lady

    On the plus side, it’s been months since I’ve been forced to use a QR code in a restaurant. Score one for the physical world.

  34. 34.

    Heidi Mom

    @geg6: My husband is just about over the same kind of crud.  Mucinex is crucial!  Best wishes for a peaceful Thanksgiving.

  36. 36.

    dnfree

    Since we’re old and haven’t hosted in three years, and the various members of our family have a variety of seasonal requirements on the menu, I am buying a cooked turkey this year from a local grocery store. It’s relatively  expensive but I don’t care. I don’t want to mess with the defrosting and the timing and the oven being occupied. Now I’ve been having dreams where I forget to pick up the turkey at my assigned time. There are still plenty other things to prepare.

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    I wish all Jackals a happy Thanksgiving. May your feast be festive, and free from the stress of arguing with relatives over politics.

  43. 43.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    We as a country/world have just come (barely!) through a pandemic, one where so many assholes who can not understand relatively simple science, and had over a million deaths and are still seeing about 100,000/year dying, with lives and families completely thrown into crazy town politics on one side of the very wide aisle that separates us all because our country/the world is falling for the concept that a billionaire actually knows jack or shit, when most of them are as dumb as rocks and are just in the right place at the right time or sell out their entire lives to hopefully become billionaires, because having a lot of money is of course the most important thing in actually living – or possibly not.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    I lucked out this year because all I have to do is show up to an aunt’s house with orange-zest fresh cranberry sauce, which is dead simple to make. But there will be lots of MAGA dopes to deal with, and I’m not feeling particularly magnanimous.

  47. 47.

    RandomMonster

    @rikyrah: I just deactivated my Twitter account yesterday. I decided enough was enough after Musk allowed Trump, Project Veritas, and Babylon Bee back on.

  52. 52.

    Anotherlurker

    @PaulB: I am with you on “choose to be alone” on Thanksgiving.  I am dog sitting for my friend and his wife. Their 26 week old Cocker Spaniel and their son’s 2 year old Mini Aussie will be plenty of company for me, thank you.

    On top of being a holiday introvert, I am in mourning for my sweet Golden Retriever, Addie.  The pups in my charge for the next 2 days adored her. She was the mother figure for them, growing up.

  54. 54.

    Suzanne

    @Dangerman:

    Hustle culture running into conflict with the fact that just about everyone is running short staffed, leading to inevitable delays. Rinse and repeat.

     

    Yes.
    I feel it myself. Like, I always feel like I have to be present and on. So the time that I spend shopping is eating into my already-scarce personal time. I have to consciously remind myself to extend grace, because I already have to pack so much into my life. No time to linger or be lazy.

  55. 55.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Rusty: Also flying solo because all the people at our planned Friendsgiving have gotten sick.

    If you’re willing to brave the supermarket today, I grabbed some cooked turkey breast chunks and other sides from the deli at Whole Paycheck. Rounded it out with some stuff from the soup and items from the salad/hot bar.

  56. 56.

    Redshift

    On the subject of people acting weird and erratic in these plague times, Chris Hayes had a good podcast a while back with a journalist who focuses on that subject, doing research and talking to experts.

    The main takeaways for why, as I recall, were:

    1. Everyone has a level of stress and such where they’ll explode or lash out, and we’re all at a higher level of stress and cognitive load (having to think about things) all the time now, so the odds something will push someone over the line are higher.

    2. Alcohol consumption rose sharply during the pandemic (don’t know if that’s reversed at all), so a lot of this, especially the road/air rage and bad driving, are just because people are drunk.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    @different-church-lady: They have some of those at the WalMart we shop at. When you get something from them, the clerk takes it to a register for you to purchase it when you leave. I wondered how they did that, because just handing it to someone wouldn’t stop theft! Also, since they put a bunch of self-checkouts in you have to show an employee at the door a receipt for anything in your cart that’s not in a bag. They put in self-checkouts to save money, but since that makes it easier to steal they now have to have an employee to check receipts.  Doesn’t make that much sense to me.

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    They are irrelevant. First there are way, way too many of them so they have to compete for a place at the bar. Second their employers are only looking for drama and money. News? What the hell is that? They want to sell something of limited value for a lot of money. Do you care what someone else’s granddaughter wore at her wedding? I mean really, does/should anyone actually care, other than the family? How many 24 hr a day news providers do we have and how much of what they pontificate about is actually in any way news? We are still hearing, 2 yrs later how shitty SFB actually is, but our world is so full of people complaining about not being invited to destroy someone’s wedding that we really have a society wide problem of actual problem avoidance in the name of stupidity. And money.

  60. 60.

    narya

    Downstairs neighbor is hosting four other people, but I am just not up for it. Not wanting to sit indoors w/ others, not wanting to talk to folks. And I like the people! Just have no mental energy.

    Plus, my agency is preparing to lay off a ton of people–offering voluntary stuff first–and . . . folks are freaking out, understandably. They haven’t made offers to my level yet–that comes later today–and I am here to tell you that I am likely the only person in the whole organization that feels like, “Yes! Please and thank you for that offer!” No idea if I will get an offer, though; I can only hope–AND hope that if I took it someone else’s job would be saved.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @geg6:

    my famous sea salt and honey carrots!

    I love carrots in any form. You’ll share the recipe, yes please??

    (Hope you feel better soon. Ugh.)

    ETA: And happy birthday!

  66. 66.

    Kelly

    Our family Thanksgiving dinner will be at my brother’s house on Sunday. Way back in the 1970’s when my oldest sister married Mom established the weekend after Thanksgiving and Christmas for our family holiday gatherings to simplify the “whose home do we go to on the holiday” question. My brother hosted last year in the new home they built after their old one burned down in the Beachie Fire. Last year was also a housewarming gathering. They’ve decided that at 86 Mom doesn’t need to host these gatherings and they enjoy it. We all live nearby.

  67. 67.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @RandomMonster: FYI, if you deactivate your account, in a month someone can grab it and impersonate you. Better to go back and re-activate it, and leave it dormant. I believe doing so also wipes out your following/followers lists, and you can always wipe all your posts.

  69. 69.

    Citizen Alan

    @RandomMonster: Somewhat hilariously, Twitter apparently will not let me deactivate my account because I am permanently suspended and am “not allowed to take that action.”

  71. 71.

    Suzanne

    @Soprano2:

    They put in self-checkouts to save money, but since that makes it easier to steal they now have to have an employee to check receipts. 

    And it’s illegal to make you show your receipt, BTW, except at a membership place like a Costco or a Sam’s Club.

  74. 74.

    brendancalling

    I’m at day 2 of “report-card-conferences-where-no-one-shows-up” and I really could go for a nap.

  75. 75.

    JoyceH

    Another member of the Solitary Thanksgiving club. (We don’t hold meetings, I promise.) I got a turkey breast, boxed stuffing, cans of green beans and cranberry sauce and a jar of gravy. I also unearthed my beloved Chiaogoo circular needles and the sock weight yarn, and am getting back to sock knitting. I have shows to stream, books to read – bliss!  (Oh, and I got a pie. It’s all mine.)

  76. 76.

    Dangerman

    @Suzanne: I’m not sure about illegal (maybe that’s a local or regional thing?) but I do know the Walmart policy on receipts is kinda crazy. They can ask for a receipt; if you say no or ignore them, they can’t do anything per store policy. Personally, I don’t mind showing the person at the door since he or she is just doing what they are told.

  79. 79.

    CaseyL

    My Thanksgiving plans are either pared down drastically or cancelled: our hostess had a medical emergency, from which she is still recovering, and will be in no shape to host a gathering tomorrow. (Her condition is a chronic one, so this latest outbreak didn’t come as a huge shock: we’re just focused for now on her recovering enough to go back to her normal life.)

    We may or may not have a store-bought meal at their Seattle house; we may or may not have a delayed dinner at their beach house.  We can’t even bring a Thanksgiving dinner to her in the hospital, as she is on a liquid diet right now.

  80. 80.

    Kent

    @Suzanne:And it’s illegal to make you show your receipt, BTW, except at a membership place like a Costco or a Sam’s Club.

    Illegal?  What makes it illegal if you are on store property?

  82. 82.

    Ruckus

    @Dangerman:

    And also world wide manufacturing and transportation was almost completely stopped. And millions died. Restarting the world is not like hitting the reset button on your computer. The last time we reset the world was 1945. And there was a lot fewer of us, we didn’t do anywhere near the level of world wide manufacturing, trading, and shipping.

  85. 85.

    Leslie

    We are having Thanksgiving on Friday this year. My cousin and her wife are hosting, and it’s also my cousin’s birthday, for a lovely dual celebration. I’m responsible for bringing the roasted root veggies and the broccoli. Nice and simple.

  86. 86.

    Kent

    @Soprano2: They can always revert back to the old way of doing things that you still see at hardware store, pharmacies, and general stores in Latin America.

    Step 1:  You tell the clerk what you want and he/she finds it, writes you a little ticket and takes your item to “empaque”

    Step 2:  You take your little ticket to the “caja” which is usually a little man with a cash register behind bulletproof glass.  You pay your bill, he stamps your ticket and…

    Step 3:  You take your stamped ticket back to “empaque” where the clerk has wrapped it in a tight brown paper wrapping and put it in a bag for you to carry out.

    Sometimes there is a bored looking 18 year old security guard at the entrance with a machine gun.

  90. 90.

    jeffreyw

    We will opt out of fancy feasting and go with chicken dumplings for the Thursday dinner. I will make a batch of stovetop dressing and use the dumpling broth for gravy.

  92. 92.

    NoraLenderbee

    @Kelly: My family did this, too! It started with Passover one year, when the Seders fell mid-week and nobody could get time off. My mother said “God forgive me” and made our Seder on the weekend. Then my aunt started doing Thanksgiving on Saturday instead of Thursday. It made traveling so much easier. And after my brother got divorced, the grandkids could go to their mom’s for first Seder and then to my mom’s for the “fake” one.  Eventually, we moved TG to October because the weather was better–my cousins were hosting it by then, in Vermont.

    We haven’t had a full family dinner since Covid began. I don’t really know when we will again.

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    @Kent:

    What makes it illegal if you are on store property? 

    So if you are a member of a store, you consented somewhere in that giant agreement to have your receipt and merchandise checked.

    But in a typical store, once the transaction has occurred, that shit is legally yours and you don’t have to open your bag or show your receipt if you don’t want to. There is obviously a high social cost to this. I have no doubt we are about to see this all get hashed out in courts.

  94. 94.

    Ohio Mom

    Our guests all decided to stay home: MIL is afraid I’ll give her Covid even though I tested negative last week, no longer have a fever or other symptoms except this nagging cough.

    She’s never liked me and is glad to have a way to act that out. It should be noted that Ohio Dad and Son were sick along with me but somehow she doesn’t worry that they will infect her.

    SIL was in car accident and is too banged up for the drive here from St. Louis and back, so she and BIL are staying home.

    I was starting to look forward to not celebrating but Ohio Son was quite distraught at breaking the rule that Thanksgiving Will Be Observed and Celebrated.

    Then Ohio Dad’s Dayton friends invited us to their house so Thanksgiving is saved! Whew!

    Reading this thread, I see we are not alone in the apparent fragility of Thanksgiving plans.

  97. 97.

    eclare

    @Anotherlurker:   I’m glad you have some doggos to cuddle for Thanksgiving.

    I am solo for Thanksgiving because my relatives eat late, and I refuse to drive home for an hour in the dark when a lot of other drivers have had a big dinner and maybe some drinks.  Going to visit some relatives Fri morning instead.

  99. 99.

    zhena gogolia

    NYT (Mags)

    Justice Dept. Seeking to Question Pence in Jan. 6 Investigation

    Prosecutors want to speak with the former vice president as a witness to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power, and he is said to be considering how to respond.

  102. 102.

    Anotherlurker

    @eclare: I never liked traveling during the holidays.  Too many drinkers behind the wheeI.  I would choose to work instead. Double time is good time!

    I am looking forward to being tortured by 2 zooming pups for the next 2 days.

    Have a great holiday!

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    @Redshift: Also: legal pot. Which doesn’t make people rage, but does make them very weird and careless.

    Stress — I have a pop-psychology theory: for many decades our relentless commercial culture has been constantly barraging us with FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).

    In normal times we could fend that manipulation off: no we really weren’t in mortal danger if we used the wrong toilet bowl cleaner. It was all just nibbling around the edges, playing on tiny movements in social status and a vague background awareness of mortality. And mostly the FUD had to be manufactured.

    And then the pandemic comes along, and suddenly we have all these legitimate, non-manufactured reasons for FUD. We really could die from touching something wrong. The economy really was collapsing, we really didn’t know what was about to happen. All that FUD shit we spent all those years dismissing was now very real.

    It made us all freaked out and jumpy as hell. And we’re still not over it.

  105. 105.

    AnthroBabe

    Happy Pre-Turkey Day to all Jackals! I am looking forward to a relatively chill holiday, as I ordered the Whole Foods package (pick up in a few hours!). I am, however, making cloverleaf rolls, my mother’s red cabbage, and an apple pear crisp – I usually love cooking but am just a bit tired. Appetizers: pigs in blankets and deviled eggs (why, yes, I am older Gen X, why do you ask?). No big family thing this time around: family is coming for New Year’s. John, sounds like a great time!

  107. 107.

    Mimi haha

    I’m extremely happy I opted out of flying down to see my 90 year old Mom for the holiday, as O’Hare is apparently both jammed *and* Covid Central.

    I have been invited to an International Students Union Thanksgiving. I’ve been before, it’s great fun.

    I did go buy myself a full bone-in, skin-on chicken breast which will be enough “leftover” bird for the weekend. I have a box of stuffing and there’s frozen vegs here. I am going to make a pumpkin custard because I never eat piecrust so why have one?

  110. 110.

    Emma from Miami

    We are Thanksgiving on Saturday people this year too. It’s the second day after the COVID quarantine ends. We will be eating on our front porch that gets really nice ocean breezes. It’s just my dad, my sister and brother-in-law, and me. Food will be imported from our favorite Cuban roast pork and sides by the pound place — unless my sister decides to hit Soriano Brothers and get everyone’s favorite food, which means that we’ll have a “taste-this” meal.

    For tomorrow I am making codfish filets and assorted vegetables. Don’t yet know how. Applesauce for desert.

  115. 115.

    Martin

    Forgot to buy bread during my shopping run and rather than take the bike out again yesterday I pushed through my anxiety and made bread. Been years since I did that and it turned out really well. Might even make a habit of it.

    Gravy made (bought a turkey neck/back for $0.75) and finishing up pies today. Tomorrow should be easy-peasy. Supposed to be high 70s but windy, so I can camp out on the patio all day and monitor the rotisserie. Taking the turkey from occupying the oven is the best pro strat I ever stumbled into.

  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    @different-church-lady: I think it predates the pandemic, though that amplified it.

    I commented to Mr. Suzanne some months back that I feel like I am afraid, low-level, all the time. Like in that book White Noise, the anxiety is always on a low simmer until it becomes an Airborne Toxic Event. Climate change. Most Americans being two paychecks away from homelessness. Everyone’s fucking armed, white men are assured of their loss of status and that underlies the white terrorism we’re seeing.

    Most people, to be healthy, need to feel secure. It’s pretty low on Maslow’s pyramid. We can’t perform at our best all the time.

  117. 117.

    geg6

    @tybee:

    Easiest thing on earth, which is why I laugh when my family requests it like it’s something secret.  Trim and peel your carrots (you can cut them in half if you like) and set them out on a large sheet of aluminum foil (I like the non-stick kind).  Rub them with a little olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt and a little pepper.  Drizzle generously with honey and then a few pats of butter. Wrap it all up tight in a foil packet.  Roast in oven at 350F at least and hour (or more if a large packet).

  118. 118.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Sorry for those whose plans went sideways, a bit jealous of those who have a well-planned solo/small affair with no travel.

    Hopefully, our short drive to the in-laws house in the mountains outside of Boulder won’t be too snowy after days of nice weather. Bringing artichoke spread, mashed potatoes and quiche for Friday breakfast. Nothing made yet except the quiche which I got from a fine French bakery nearby. Now if I could get jazzed about going because TBH, I’m really not.

  119. 119.

    Fair Economist

    Visiting my mother and we are going to a golf and social club my mother is a member of rather than struggling to make a traditional dinner in my disabled mother’s place.

    When I’m home with my husband we order takeout from Honeybaked.

    I made a traditional Thanskgiving dinner – once – and I’d much rather order or eat out.

  122. 122.

    delphinium

    @eclare: ​
    Yeah, I pretty much feel the same way about driving in the dark during the holidays. This year my relatives are gathering a bit earlier so will be heading there tomorrow; also since there hasn’t been a large gathering in a couple years due to COVID figured I should go.

  123. 123.

    glc

    I am not finally feeling a little bit human

    I’m going to take that as a misprint, on contextual grounds.

    Less troublesome than the Beethoven biography: “Even though he had been dead for several years, he continued to produce great music.”

  125. 125.

    eclare

    @delphinium:   Usually I spend the night at my aunt’s house, but another relative is staying with her this year.  I doubt he will come for Christmas, so hopefully I can stay with her and see everyone then.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Fair Economist:

    I made a traditional Thanskgiving dinner – once – and I’d much rather order or eat out.

    My cousin’s wife loves to cook, and she’s good at it, and loves to entertain. They did a small carry-out for TG the first year of the pandemic for the immediate family. She says she’ll never go back. I’ve helped with a couple of small gatherings, where we all agreed to a limited menu, which made it easier. I love roast turkey, but I hate the carving and clean-up. That bird makes a mess

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Have we agreed to suspend politics and current events for the holiday? If not, Ol Do-Nothing Garland is doing nothing again.

    Justice Dept. Seeking to Question Pence in Jan. 6 Investigation
    Prosecutors want to speak with the former vice president as a witness to former President Donald
    Trump’s efforts to remain in power, and he is said to be considering how to respond.
    Thomas Windom, one of the lead investigators examining the efforts to overturn the election, reached out to Mr. Pence’s team in the weeks before Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed a special counsel on Friday

  131. 131.

    PaulB

    @Anotherlurker: On top of being a holiday introvert, I am in mourning for my sweet Golden Retriever, Addie.

    I’m sorry to hear about your loss. It’s never easy to let a companion go who played such an important role in your life. Enjoy your solitude tomorrow and may your thoughts be only on the good times you shared with Addie.

  132. 132.

    Steve in the ATL

     

    @eclare: aren’t you close to Overton Park?  Have dinner with my mom and daughter who’s visiting her. There will be plenty of wine and scotch!  Also, you can help my daughter load up mom’s Wassily chairs that I’ve asked her to steal for me.  (If you’re not familiar with those, Suzanne can weigh in—I’ve never known an architect who didn’t have those and an Eames chair).

  133. 133.

    eclare

    @Steve in the ATL:   Hahaha…yes, I am one mile west of Overton Park in Evergreen.  I will have to Google those chairs!

    Those chairs have an interesting…aesthetic?  Bonus, they look very liftable.

  135. 135.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @zhena gogolia:

    Pence…is said to be considering how to respond.

    Alternate between “I don’t remember” and “I can’t recall.” These depositions are a piece of cake!

  137. 137.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @Steve in the ATL: They were all on one pallet in overhead, but we had to bring them down while the store was open, so we had to close off two aisles(get banners since the gates are non-existent on half of the aisles) and then drop the pallet.  So it took about 20 minutes to drop,  But since it was a BOPIS(Buy Online and Pick Up In Store) we have to pull it within 2 hours.  After hours it would have taken about 5 minutes.

    ETA: Landlords around here use BOPIS all the time, we have to pull shit in 2 hours and then it sits for days in our delivery area, usually until it is cancelled.

  138. 138.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Lady WereBear: I’m gonna try to make it a me day. If people have recovered enough, we may do a Zoom get together

    Alternatively, I might go out to one of the gay bars in SF. Thanksgiving is usually one their busiest days of the year, thanks to all the LGBTQ+ people who were disowned by their family and want to be around other people that day.

  140. 140.

    Scout211

    I’ve been busy baking and preparing  dishes ahead of Thanksgiving breakfast and dinner for 7 and then on Friday, a luncheon for 10. It’s been great to prepare so much of it ahead of time but I ran out of refrigerator space and now I’m using a cooler.

    It’s been tiring but I am so happy to have my family here for Thanksgiving and the day after.

    Three pies this year.  Cherry, chocolate pecan and the traditional pumpkin. I don’t like pumpkin pie, no matter how it’s fixed and I’ve tried them all. But my grandkids grew pumpkins in their garden and brought me one to bake them a pie. So Grandma is baking a pumpkin pie.

  143. 143.

    geg6

    @Scout211:

    OMG, I love, love, love pumpkin pie!  My whole life my birthday has been just before, just after or on Thanksgiving, so we always celebrated it on Thanksgiving regardless.  It works for me because I love pumpkin pie and don’t really like cake.  I’ll be 64 tomorrow and I have no idea how that happened.

  149. 149.

    Scout211

    @Steeplejack: There was quite a bit of chatter in the comments about it. But yeah, I don’t remember a front page story.

    And Sam said he didn’t do it. So we should believe him and just let it go, right? ///

  152. 152.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Sister Golden Bear: sounds like the NYC nightclub scene on Christmas Eve.  The assumption was that all the patrons of Christian ancestry would be home with their families, so anybody out looking for a good time must be Jewish. The clubs leaned into it by having explicitly Jewish themed events.

  153. 153.

    CaseyL

    One of my favorite Thanksgivings: Mom, my brother, and I were all in town (rare), but none of the extended family, and Mom didn’t feel like cooking.

    I can’t remember the name of the place we went to, only that it had a seafood buffet and football on TV.  So we stuffed ourselves with seafood, yelled at the televised games, and didn’t have to clean up afterwards or package leftovers.

    Perfect!

  155. 155.

    eclare

    @CaseyL:   I spent one Thanksgiving in Hawaii with a good friend.  Wonderful restaurant buffet, then we hit some clubs!  Perfect for a 25 yo.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    Waiting for my youngest to get here. He had a flat tire and when he went to change it he remembered it’s his 2nd flat and the spare is also flat. Took him a full day to get that sorted out. My middle son volunteered to go rescue him but I think youngest did fine.

  167. 167.

    Bill Arnold

    Tumblr, on Elon Musk. At least read the last three paragraphs.
    I’ve said here(BJ) that Elon Musk is easy to manipulate (from another … context). This person also says it, very amusingly. No idea if it is entirely true (though it should be true), but this reddit thread is long with essentially everyone agreeing, from personal corporate experience.
    https://www.tumblr.com/numberonecatwinner/701567544684855296/elon-wyd

    Avatar numberonecatwinner
    I was an intern at SpaceX years ago, back it when it was a much smaller company — after Elon got hair plugs, but before his cult of personality was in full swing. I have some insight to offer here.
    Back when I was at SpaceX, Elon was basically a child king. He was an important figurehead who provided the company with the money, power, and PR, but he didn’t have the knowledge or (frankly) maturity to handle day-to-day decision making and everyone knew that. He was surrounded by people whose job was, essentially, to manipulate him into making good decisions.
    Managing Elon was a huge part of the company culture. Even I, as a lowly intern, would hear people talking about it openly in meetings. People knew how to present ideas in a way that would resonate with him, they knew how to creatively reinterpret (or ignore) his many insane demands, and they even knew how to “stage manage” parts of the physical office space so that it would appeal to Elon.
    The funniest example of “stage management” I can remember is this dude on the IT security team. He had a script running in a terminal on one of his monitors that would output random garbage, Matrix-style, so that it always looked like he was doing Important Computer Things to anyone who walked by his desk. Second funniest was all the people I saw playing WoW at their desks after ~5pm, who did it in the office just to give the appearance that they were working late.
    People were willing to do that at SpaceX because Elon was giving them the money (and hype) to get into outer space, a mission people cared deeply about. The company also grew with and around Elon. There were layers of management between individual employees and Elon, and those managers were experienced managers of Elon. Again, I cannot stress enough how much of the company culture was oriented around managing this one guy.
    Twitter has neither of those things going for it. There is no company culture or internal structure around the problem of managing Elon Musk, and I think for the first time we’re seeing what happens when people actually take that man seriously and at face value. Worse, they’re doing this little experiment after this man has had decades of success at companies that dedicate significant resources to protecting themselves from him, and he’s too narcissistic to realize it.
    This post is long so I’ll leave you with my favorite Elon story. One day at work, I got an all hands email telling me that it was Elon’s birthday and there was going to be a mandatory surprise party for him in the cafeteria. Presumably Elon also got this email, but whatever. We all marched down into the cafeteria, dimmed the lights, and waited. Elon was led out by his secretary (who he hadn’t fired yet) and made a big show of being fake surprised and touched that we were there. Then they wheeled out the cake.
    OK, so, I want you to imagine the biggest penis cake you’ve ever seen. Like the king of novelty sex cakes. Only it’s frosted white, and the balls have been frosted to look like fire and smoke. This was Elon’s birthday “rocket” cake.
    For as long as I live, I will never forget the look on everyone’s face — in that dark room of mostly-male engineers — when he made a wish and cut into the tip.
    #elon musk#twitter

  168. 168.

    eachother

    Eight eggs are more traditional in holiday Mac & Cheese. I understand the freak out.
    Much to be thankful for.

  169. 169.

    lowtechcyclist

    @geg6: ​
     

    OMG, I love, love, love pumpkin pie! My whole life my birthday has been just before, just after or on Thanksgiving, so we always celebrated it on Thanksgiving regardless. It works for me because I love pumpkin pie and don’t really like cake.

    I’m the one in the family who bakes the pumpkin pies because I love them so much! And also because I find most store-bought pumpkin pies to be incredibly boring – I can understand why a lot of people don’t think they like pumpkin pie. My wife doesn’t like pumpkin pie either, except when I bake it!

    My recipe is pretty simple: I start with the recipe on the Libby’s can (the classic version), use a Keebler 10″ graham cracker crust, and double Libby’s amount of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
    Also I think it helps the texture if only ~10 oz. (rather than 12 oz. per Libby’s) of evaporated milk is used, but that’s less important.

  172. 172.

    James E Powell

    @Steeplejack:

    Can we really call it a bombshell when the political press ignores it and instead screams about not getting invited to a wedding?

    I think the press is acting like this because they are angry that there was no red wave.

  173. 173.

    opiejeanne

    @lowtechcyclist: I wish I’d seen this post before I started fighting with my pumpkin pie today. The pumpkin is homegrown, and I compensated for the amount of liquid in it by adding a tsp of corn starch. That has always worked in the past, but today I had to add almost 20 minutes to the standard baking time just to get it to finish cooking.

    I use gingersnap cookies for the crumb crust and everyone loves it. This year it’s Tate’s gluten-free* ginger zinger cookies, with little chunks of candied ginger in them. No one can tell they’re gluten free, and they’re really good. I’ve made it with regular gingersnaps from IKEA and aside from missing the chunks of ginger, the crust tastes the same and really elevated the pie.

    *One daughter reacts badly to gluten even though she’s not a celiac, just an annoying allergic reaction. One year she agreed to make dinner rolls even though she wasn’t going to eat them, and there was so much flour in the air and on her hands and face that her face was bright red and breaking out.

  174. 174.

    opiejeanne

    @James E Powell: Also because the Bidens are really decent people and decent people are usually boring because they aren’t out there driving drunk and running over little kids, or screaming hateful things into a microphone.

    Good government is boring, to those needing a story to write and deciding that the public has an attention span of a fruit fly. It’s not really boring, but it’s not entertaining which is how i like my government to operate.

  178. 178.

    Rebelsdad (fka texasboyshaun)

    @PaulB: Come sit by me (well maybe in the same room, I’m an introvert too and also a bit misanthropic)

    This will be my first holiday away from family in nearly 20 years. I love them but I’m glad to be 1600 miles away from the drama. I’m going to dinner with a friend and his family tomorrow at a fancy-schmancy French place (his choice of venue). Afterwards he wants to go to the gay bar for drinks which sounds like its own special hell but he’s buying the beer so I can’t complain too much. Besides, maybe some of these queens will be entertaining drunks!

    Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your fur/scale/feather babies :)

  179. 179.

    Rebelsdad (fka texasboyshaun)

    @Bill Arnold: I guess an entire cottage industry solely dedicated to managing some narcissistic asshole billionaire is one definition for “job creation”!

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