The Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon tradition must look deeply bizarre and perverse to people in other countries, future observers.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 26, 2013
@EnBuenora @chrislhayes We'd also need an official pontifex maximus to peer into entrails, foretell future of the republic.
— billmon (@billmon1) November 26, 2013
@billmon1 @chrislhayes I thought that was Sarah Palin's current job. Or does she do that as a volunteer?
— El Cid (@EnBuenora) November 26, 2013
.
Insert your current holiday-prep-related bitching here…
beltane
The Sarah Palin turkey slaughter interview should be a regular Thanksgiving feature just like Alice’s Restaurant is on certain radio stations.
David in NY
http://www.theonion.com/articles/nations-uncles-enter-last-stage-of-prep-for-thursd,30463/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post%3Aheadline%3Adefault
A favorite of mine.
LanceThruster
Apologies to the turkey, but definitely a first world problem.
c u n d gulag
If it wasn’t for the cruelty to the poor birds in the background, I could watch “The Whore of Babblin’-on’s” visit to a turkey killing facility every day, just for shit’s and giggles!
FSM, what a clueless “moran” she is.
Thanks, Senator McAmerica’sShittiestFigherJetPilot!!!
SiubhanDuinne
@beltane:
…OR…
Comrade Mary
@beltane: Or like this episode of WKRP. “As God is my witness, I thought a Vice Presidential candidate could actually speak coherently.”
Comrade Mary
@SiubhanDuinne: Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey … stuffing.
different-church-lady
I’ve never seen Christopher Hayes. And after that “deep thought” I no longer want to.
shelly
Yeah, it’s stupid. But when they were showing clips of the pardoned turkeys, Damn, those are some pretty looking birds.
Fuzzy
Having to break bread with nasties. We spend the day with people we enjoy and say thank-you for being our friends and some are even relatives. The grouchy and bitchy are not invited much to their dismay. When they call and wonder why, they are told the truth and next year invited. As the patriarch I will not tolerate childish behavior except from children so come and enjoy just don’t ruin anyone else’s get together. Think of it as recess with lots of great food.
realbtl
No complaints here. I’ll be BBQ-ing in 20 degree temps but it’s not snowing.
Botsplainer
We have a time honored tradition of bringing our marriage to the brink. I want to clean the countertops, vacuum and mop; she wants to reorganize the pantry, line the shelves, line the drawers, redo the bathroom, replace the walk, polish the flatware, break out the wedding china…
As you can guess, there’s only enough time to do basic cleaning while our daughters sprawl on couches and demand to be fed and entertained. So it turns into soul searing conflict.
We were gone until Sunday, leaving 20 year old in charge. When we left, the house was clean, the dog 98% housebroken. What we came back to was a disaster – a dog toilet we can’t hose out, laundry scattered everywhere, dishes piled in the sink. We can’t even enjoy baking pies tonight because of the cleaning of the living room carpet and the gathering of laundry.
Cacti
If Chris Hayes tried really hard, could he be a bigger wuss?
ruemara
@Botsplainer: In my day, daughters were seen as born first for household help. I know I’m island born, but damn – that’s a little too irresponsible and unhelpful for my tastes. Sorry things keep going that way.
Xecky Gilchrist
I thought that was Sarah Palin’s current job. Or does she do that as a volunteer?
She’s sort of a Cassandra, except that instead of being right all the time with no one believing her, she’s wrong all the time and no one can understand her.
Litlebritdiftrnt
Thanksgiving is this year as it always is just me and my DH. I would not have it any other way. My boss is going to his Daughter’s house for TG, considering that she doesn’t cook, ever, it should be interesting.
Oh and as I said earlier our menu is Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Cauliflower Cheese, Steamed Asparagus Tips with garlic and herb butter, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, home made bread and a pumpkin pie.
I saw an ad today about “the meal that you cook that people anticipate for 364 days of the year”
Meh. People in the UK cook a full Sunday Roast every Sunday. Sunday Roast dinner is one of the things that I remember. Put the Roast in the Oven, go to the Pub, eat Sunday roast after the pub closes at 2. Roast dinners are an English tradition that will never go out of style.
raven
We’re at the beach. The weather is shitty but we just ate the fresh caught pompano and bluefish I landed. The pompano was so big I baked it, some of it wasn’t done so we took off what was, popped it back in and then finished it off.
Gex
A couple vids of my pets. My new phone shoots in slo-mo and it cracks me up to watch them in slo-mo.
Firsts suck. First rounds of holidays without Kate which will slingshot me right to the one year anniversary of her death. Ugh.
NotMax
Learned to lay in two items needed for certain recipes well in advance of either Turkey Day or Xmas, as the markets are always, always stripped bare of them at holiday time.
Unflavored gelatin and (oddly enough as it is Hawaii) pineapple.
Come New Year’s there are annual scare stories of an impending shortage of ahi for sashimi, yet there always seems to be sufficient (although retailers jack up the price considerably as it is a traditional must-have).
MattR
Thursday is exciting since it is Thanksgivbirthdaykah. But my sister has to work on Thursday so she is not driving to Mom’s until Friday (which will also be the first overnight trip for my six month old niece). Depending on weather I may head to Mom’s on Wed night/Thursday or I may just have a quiet celebration with my dog and drive up to Mom’s on Friday.
geg6
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
Both my Dad’s parents were Brit immigrants. There was a roast in our house every Sunday when I was growing up. And tea, when my grandparents were alive.
NotMax
@raven
Prepared en papillote?
/mouth-watering
Hal
As the world’s oldest college student, I found out today my University is changing it’s enrollment policy to allow repeats of impacted classes a week before the semester starts for folks like me who enrolled in a class and had to drop after the start of the semester (work layoffs, schedule change bs etc).That should let me graduate at least 6 months, and maybe a year earlier! Which also means I should save at least 10 grand in tuition expenses too.
Never has the thought of taking Chemistry made me so excited.
Davebo
Skipping the holidays all together this year. Fishing on turkey day and in Holland for Xmas.
Nicole
Traveling to the ‘rents in a rental car with a preschooler and a dog in the backseat. It’s our first car trip with the dog- I bought one of those seat harnesses; any tips for traveling with a pooch? How often should we stop, etc.?
hildebrand
We will be helping out at our church – making Thanksgiving Dinner for the food pantry clients (and any members of the church who want to join us) looks like we will be serving over 400 this year, last year it was just shy of 200. Folks can eat-in or carry-out.
I just finished our little batch of the cooking – cooked four turkeys this year.
Fuzzy
@Litlebritdiftrnt: I’m glad that tradition lives on. I lived there in the 60s and was grateful it was the same as with the little taverns in upstate New York. Church to corner tavern then home for “Sunday dinner” and then that great nap.
Mnemosyne
@Gex:
Yeah, we’re not looking forward to the holidays, either. I managed to pressure my mom into leaving town for Thanksgiving (normally she and my dad would have it by themselves) and then we’re going to make her come out here for Christmas and (hopefully) stay through New Year’s (my dad died on 1/3/13).
My mother-in-law said that what was hardest for them was not the actual anniversary, but the month or two leading up to it as they remembered all the struggles of that time when they still hoped my father-in-law would get better. So you (and I) should probably expect to start getting all freaked out with grief again sooner rather than later.
MattR
@Gex: I love the slo mo feature on my camera. And loved watching your pets play. Wish I had room to get a second dog as a friend for Ellie or I wasn’t allergic to cats.
Best of luck dealing with the upcoming firsts. Hopefully you will be able to remember the happy moments more than the loss.
@Mnemosyne: As the saying goes, “it gets better”. I lost my dad in late October 2007. Every year I think about him as the holidays approach, but every year I am able to smile a bit more at the happy memories and cry less knowing that he is gone forever.
Mnemosyne
Thankgiving-wise, I may have dodged a bullet with regards to my sister-in-law’s cooking. My ex-SIL (niece/nephew’s mom) decided she wanted to keep them for Thanksgivukkah (they’re Jewish, we’re not), so I’m arguing that we should go out to dinner rather than make my (current) SIL cook dinner for 4 people. We’ll see how it goes.
raven
@NotMax: If I’d had parchment I would have, Bare bones lemon and olive oil.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
With my parents for the first time in ten years. Got sick two days after arriving. Meh.
Gex
@Mnemosyne: That does seem to be true. I’ve been in a tailspin for at least a month. Lots of anniversaries of news received, appointments made, and procedures had.
TheMightyTrowel
Two thanksgivings this year! One on Thurs (I’m bringing port cran sauce and corn muffins) and one on Sat (bringing creamed onions, roast sweet potatoes and more corn muffins). Really looking forward to it – I met Mr. Trowel at an expats’ thanksgiving (that was flooded with Brits) so it’s kind of a special holiday in our household.
Knight of Nothing
Hey Mr Hayes – it seems deeply bizarre and perverse in this country. I suspect people in other countries could care less.
schrodinger's cat
Its going to rain all day tomorrow. Do not want.
different-church-lady
@Knight of Nothing: They could?
aimai
I’m getting ready: small thanksgiving for just twelve people, four of whom are vegetarians, one of whom can’t eat garlic. turkey breast porchetta style, chestnut stuffing, brussles sprouts in maple vinaigrette (bacon on the side), latkes with cranberry sauce and smoked trout, couple three pies. I’m tired already.
Knight of Nothing
@different-church-lady: ha! Good catch. Sleepy, tin eared mistake. Or perhaps just a sub-literate malapropism.
Thoughtful David
@Xecky Gilchrist:
“She’s sort of Cassandra…”
I am so going to steal that.
Gex
@MattR: Thank you, Matt.
scuffletuffle
@Nicole: How long a trip? A stop every 2-3 hours should do it unless your dog is like my Roxy, whose nickname is “silent urp.” Does not ride well in the car and vomits silently at the 2 hour mark. Rory on the other hand could do a nine hour trip with no stops and no problems. Depends on the dog.
tybee
@raven:
so how big was that pompano?
Betty Cracker
Lots of wind, rain and lightning tonight. Tomorrow, we’re driving about 150 miles north to spend TG w/ my mom, grandma and other family members. We’re in charge of roasting the turkey, which I’ll brine tomorrow.
Due to the influx of visitors, hubby and I will be sleeping in an RV out in the woods by the Suwannee River (grandchildren get beds in permanent structures). I hope to hell the heat is adequate; it’s going to drop into the 30s at night. Our dogs will probably pile into bed with us.
fuckwit
I find the whole thanskgiving thing noxious. It’s Native American Genocide Day as far as I am concerned. The whole story of thanksgiving seems like bullshit propaganda, like George Washington and the cherry tree. We killed all those people and took their land and I just can’t see the holiday in any way other than that.
Also, too, Columbus day, and I’m a proud Italian American. I’m NOT any more proud of Columbus, than I am of, say, Mussolini, or John Gotti. He was a fucking bloodthirsty douchebag thug. We can do better than that, and have.
That’s my rant on thanksgiving, anyway.
PurpleGirl
@Gex: Please accept a virtual hug (or two….). If you need to vent on Thursday, I’m sure the site will be here, maybe even some people. Be gentle on yourself, be safe.
Nicole
@scuffletuffle: Thanks- it’s a 3 hour drive and I was concerned we’d need to stop every hour.
El Cid
Holy crap! I made the front page! That’s it, now I can have a Happy Thanks For Giving Us Your Continent Day!
El Cid
@Xecky Gilchrist: LOL!
Assandra? Sarandra?
El Cid
@Litlebritdiftrnt: That’s been one of the wonderful things I’ve learned from all the UK cooking shows I love. Partly you start to pick it up by the fact that there’s a name for it–you don’t have people casually throwing around a phrase like “Sunday Roast” unexplained unless it’s a clear signifier they get. It’s so much more specific than “Sunday Dinner”. (My favorite example led to the Campaign for Real Gravy.)
El Cid
@Xecky Gilchrist: I suggest this quote be given permanent status at the Balloon Juice Nations General Assembly:
Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Bizarro World Cassandra.
El Cid
@fuckwit: Just because it’s officially promoted & related to that particular history, there’s no reason you and others can’t personally choose to dissociate the occasion from that theme and simply take it at face value: an occasion — like appears throughout human history across nearly all cultures — to gather loved ones together (and close relations, hopefully with a large Venn diagram crossover of the two categories) and acknowledge that you’re grateful for the opportunity to gather and share time and a wonderful meal.
One can do this at any time, but there are fewer and fewer days on which people get some or all the day off to do that. The War on Holidays / Festive Days isn’t being waged by mean secularists, but by the forces of relentless greed, which must satiate themselves by devouring more and more of working peoples’ time, energy, and emotional reserves.
Knight of Nothing
@El Cid: yes, I had started a similar reply, but you said it very well. On a related note, I am an atheist, but I love Christmas. This quote is a good summary: “our contemporary, semi-secular Christmas is… a collection of everything yearned for: warmth, plenty, peace, family, conviviality… the holiday [may be] a fantasy, but there are times when a fantasy is exactly what you need.” The same could be said for Thanksgiving as well.