We are going to have a great Thanksgiving.

[redstatebluegirl]

We made the decision not to go to either side of the family this year. We are staying home and I am cooking. We have invited some friends who also choose peace over family.

We will not have to deal with my crazy nephew who wants to be Donald Trump or my brotherinlaw the banker who says DT has brought the economy back from the brink and saved us from the illegal aliens.

At my age I have decided my peace is more important than any family drama. Both of our families had plenty of drama before 45, he just makes it worse.

Christmas will be the same for us.

[RobertDevereaux]

1. Sounds like a VERY wise choice, though alas necessary.

[Jewls2]

2. Interesting. Good for you.

[albacore]

3. What do we do after trump is gone...?

How do we ever sit across a holiday table and look at those people...knowing what they support?

Do we talk to them about where they went wrong? Do we listen to them tell us how trump was screwed by the "libruls"?

Where do we go from here?

[MarcA]

13. If their beliefs and actions are unchanged,

what does it matter if drumph is gone?

[mdbl]

18. I will use every opportunity to continually remind my Rump voter relatives

their role in the dismantling of our democracy. If they don't like it they can leave. I couldn't care less at this point.

[wryter2000]

4. As it should be

Enjoy your holiday. Maybe a few of them will wonder why you're not there.

[Lars39]

5. Envious...

We're going into the hornet's nest. Only consolation will be the spread.

[redstatebluegirl]

6. It is more than just 45, both sides are crazy in other ways.

We have really begun to limit our contact with both sides since both sets of parents are gone. Both sides live a fair distance away, a plane ride or a two day drive.

[EveHammond13]

7. We have been doing this for years. Best decision we ever made.

[redstatebluegirl]

8. We have done it a few times over the years.

This is the first time we just said we wanted to stay home. It did not go over well, some of our family and coworkers think we are being selfish. I think we are being mentally healthy.

[deurbano]

9. i know what you mean about how there was drama before... and he just made it that much worse.

I spent so many years putting up with WAY too much for the sake of "family," since the family members who've embraced that abomination were already assholes who I had to constantly accommodate. I always had to be the mediator (even between them!) and smooth things over and try to keep the "family" together no matter what, and now I just don't give a crap. Screw them and the racist, xenophobic, misogynist, entitled (etc., etc.) horses they rode in on. Most of the right wing nutcase family members we HAD to see (married to people we love) at TG are now gone, and we certainly aren't making any effort (as we used to!) to try to persuade any of the remaining hate mongers to attend... so we have become a red-free zone by attrition and lack of outreach!

I'm assuming the posters who write about putting aside politics for the sake of family haven't had the same negative/hurtful/draining history with their family members, where this is like the last (albeit, massive) straw.

[redstatebluegirl]

10. I agree, alcohol makes it even worse.

We both have a couple of family members who abuse it and then get unmanageable.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Good for you.

People make Thanksgiving more complicated than it needs to be. If you like getting together with family, great! Get together. But absolutely do not feel obligated to travel long distances this time of year. Especially given that the weather is often crappy in at least part of the country in late November.

Recently a friend chided me because I was not insisting that my son travel from the east coast to New Mexico to be with me for Thanksgiving. First off, he's incredibly busy right now, and really can't take any time off. Second, I was for ten years a ticket agent at National Airport in Washington DC, and I know what a nightmare the holiday can be for flying. No, I don't get to see him as much as I'd like, but he's got a cousin to spend the holiday with where he lives, so he'll be just fine.

A couple of friends and I are going to go to a casino on Thursday.

[jcgoldie]

12. My wife and I started taking a vacation to Mexico at x-mas about 10 years ago

We miss every single event in both families and the holidays have never been so great! This year our flight doesn't leave out until 12/27 because we wanted to stop in LA on the way to Vallarta for a couple nights to see the Dead shows. We decided not to even let anyone know we'd still be in town 'till after x-mas. Sneaky!

[Submariner]

14. Good move. Save your energy until next year when hopefully a woman is president-elect

then go to this family get together and give your brotherinlaw some tissues to sop up his tears.

[MarcA]

15. Principled Values should be thicker than blood.n/t

[bluestarone]

16. Hats off to you!

YOUR Thanksgiving will be GREAT! (HAPPY THANKSGIVING)

[lunatica]

17. That's a very healthy decision

It has probably prolonged your life by a year or two every time you do it.

Seriously.

[Doreen]

19. Good fo you. Sounds like a nice Thanksgiving.

I am very lucky that all of my family and friends are Democrats. They all despise trump and his administration.

I really do feel compassion for those who have family that tears the rest of the family apart because of trump.

[LittleGirl]

20. We went overboard avoiding holidays

We moved abroad! Lol

[llmart]

21. This is why I've never really been that fond of holidays.

There are other reasons too, but the holidays are burdened with so much expectation of what they are supposed to look like and when it doesn't turn out that way, the disappointment lives with you. There is just too much drama associated with holidays for my liking.

[DFW]

22. So are we (I think!)

We will be 16 adults and our 18 month old granddaughter. There will be 30 somethings to 70 somethings and lots of in-between. For once, I will NOT be the only 100% American there (my daughter is half German, as is her daughter). The daughter of an old friend, one of the original Watergate investigators, will be passing through, and rather than celebrating Thanksgiving in some hotel room in Paris or Berlin, we offered her a room and a LOT of food if she wanted to come to Düsseldorf, and she will arrive Thursday night. She and my daughter are old friends, so she won't be entirely among strangers, although unless she speaks German or Dutch, she won't understand much of what is going on.

Not a Trumpanzee in sight, not that they were exactly numerous to begin with in these parts.

[Upthevibe]

23. You are awesome, redstatebluegirl!

You guys made a conscious decision to have peace and joy during the upcoming holiday season over family obligations that, as most of us know, can be an absolute nightmare..

GOOD. FOR. YOU!

[redstatebluegirl]

24. Thank you!