Alone for Thanksgiving

When I saw your thread title, I thought "Okay, I better read this carefully and see if she's sad about this before I respond." BECAUSE I TOTALLY AGREE!!! It sounds awesome. And Thanksgiving isn't my jam either, I find it to be the most uninspiring of holidays. Turkey is not my ideal holiday meal.

Do you have any ideas of things you might do over the weekend, other than veg and totally enjoy the silence??

I agree too, but if I were you, I would stop telling people that you'll be alone. You're going to find people on your doorstep with food in hand, feeling "sorry" for you, while you dance around your house naked.

I spent Thanksgiving alone for the first time years ago when I was in college. I thought it was weird that I loved it so much. Fast forward to last year and I was alone again and it was the BEST. It looks like i'll be home alone again this year and that suits me just fine. I actually like Thanksgiving but until I can be surrounded by people who bring joy to my life I'm good.

Enjoy your day!

I also started reading expecting you to be very down about being alone. I completely agree that a 4 day weekend entirely to yourself is heaven! I asked Mother what we were doing for Thanksgiving this year and she suggested eating out - she definitely won't cook and she knows I don't like to cook the prescribed Thanksgiving meal. I don't really like eating out either because there aren't many choices and the lines are always long.

So I told her that if anyone asked her to eat with them this year as she was recently widowed to take them up on it if it is somewhere she wanted to go. She loved the idea even figuring out hints she might drop to get an invitation. Does that make us a terrible Mother/Daughter pair? No, it just means we want different things for that one day when we see each other almost all of the other 364 days per year!

Enjoy your free weekend! I'll know who to be jealous of if I get stuck in a line at a restaurant somewhere on Thanksgiving.

I completely agree!  My first year of law school I went home for Thanksgiving and all I did was study!  It was a 10 hr. round trip and that meant 10 less hours to study.  My grandmother had a new house and everyone was in the hot tub and I was studying at the kitchen table.  I should have stayed at school, it would have been less stressful and more time to study!

I understand ... but I spend a lot of time alone. My DS has his own house and life, no other relatives in town, my friends are growing distant due to kids grown, changing interests and family involvements, I work alone and out of my house ... I've gone since Thursday without talking to another human being. And Thursday was work contacts - not personal contacts. And that is not unusual. I'm, mostly, okay with it -- some of my "alone" is because of choices I've made.

So, while I get "being alone"... I prefer holidays to have other people in them.

We have a very small extended family and never really spent Thanksgiving with any of them except one brother-in-law when he lived in the area. I hate turkey. I have always cooked the whole "traditional" meal for dh and the kids. I hate turkey. All that cooking, hours worth, for a meal for just the four of us, when I cooked for the four of us all the time. Have I mentioned that I hate turkey? 

Well... !!! Last year dd went home with a friend who lived closer to their university. Ds stayed at school also because it's much too far for him to come for just four days where two of them would have had to be for travel. And my dh went to his sister's because that was her first holiday season since both her husband and mother died. She must have asked me sixteen times "do you mind if P. comes up here for Thanksgiving?" and "Are you sure? I hate for you to be alone." etc. 

hahahahahahahaha

I had SUCH a lovely Thanksgiving. Every year when I cook the whole dinner I always say "pizza would be so much easier". haha So I had pizza and beer for my Thanksgiving dinner! I sat in a comfy chair, watched a movie, and had SUCH a nice time. I have one friend who is a total Myers-Briggs extrovert and she was upset that I was alone, despite the fact that I said over and over "I'm going to LOVE IT!" She just couldn't believe me. Finally she invited me to her place for dessert and wine, after her dinner was over. Since she lives one block up the street I said yet since I knew it would make her happy. lol. I enjoyed my pie and wine, but I enjoyed my pizza even more!

I wouldn’t be sad to have four days alone but I do enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. My sister hosts and she absolutely loves Thanksgiving. This year there are going to be a couple extra people so I offered to cook a turkey to bring so there will be plenty of leftovers for everyone. 

Any day ... and night where I get the bed to myself ... is a celebration for me ... enjoy your one person Thanksgiving   

Bring it on!

Not a fan of Thanksgiving. We haven't celebrated it on Thanksgiving in umpteen years. We always travel somewhere and end up eating all manner of whatever we can find open.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I do prepare a fauxgiving meal for my in-laws that are 3 hours away. We haul all the food up to their house and I fix a big meal and leave all the leftovers with them. We just did it this past Friday. We started with a cheese plate and for dinner we had roasted leg o lamb, roasted potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, garlicky green beans, shaved Brussels sprouts with fried capers and prosciutto, corn bread stuffing, and mushroom gravy and for dessert we had pumpkin pie trifle, mincemeat mini pies and mixed berry mini pies.

I'm done!

anxiousmom I have to say, I wish I was you this holiday season, being alone sounds devine! Please, please tell us what you are planning so I can live vicariously through you.

A 4-day weekend to myself sounds divine, but I'll admit... I would probably be a bit bummed Thanksgiving evening itself. I love a turkey dinner!

A few years ago my immediate family all decided to travel to my sister's 2 states away for Thanksgiving, so we were alone. DH, me, DS 6 and DS 18 months. DH had to work on Black Friday. I asked my aunt if we could be with her family (only relation left in town!) and she said no! There was no room for us. I was just gobsmacked. I mean, she absolutely has the right to include or not include anyone she wants. But for heavens sake! We have such a small family, and I had two little kids! (BTW it wasn't the kid issue,, either- my cousin with her kids close to mine was going to be there.)

So that holiday was kind of a bummer, and I decided NEVER AGAIN. Now we go into the city and stay in a hotel from Wednesday - Saturday. We get reserved bleacher seats for the Thanksgiving Day parade- if its cold or sucks we just walk back to the hotel! We make reservations to go out for a nice Thanksgiving meal. (Usually the Walnut Room at Marshall Fields State Street- gorgeous! This year we decided to mix it up and are eating on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. Never been- can't wait!) We swim in the hotel pool. We go see the lights at Lincoln Park Zoo. DH still goes to work on Friday, but its now a short walk instead of a long train ride. I take the kids to the Children's Museum while he's at work. It's heavenly!!! Expensive, but heavenly!

We have so much fun that my relatives have started to make noises like, "Hey, that looks great! Maybe we can all come down and stay in the same hotel and join you for dinner....." I'm like, WHATEVER, DUDE. Do what you want. We're making our plans! What you do is none of my business.

Ahhhh, yes, The holidays!

I totally get it!!! Dh and I like the family get togethers, even though we don't have kids, but once in a while we go into hiding. We've only done it for the holidays once. Sounds like a good idea at times. My family tends to include lots of drama, mixed personalities. A big ordeal. I really like your idea! Have fun You'll have to report back though so the peas know you okay! LOL!