It's Not Thanksgiving Without...

[qwlauren35]

For me, it's macaroni and cheese.

For my husband, it's football and any food will do.

[bamagal62]

1. Dressing

[Clash City Rocker]

9. We always called it stuffing, but yes

And it has to be bread stuffing, not rice or anything else.

[ailsagirl]

15. There is a distinction

IMHO, stuffing is something that’s stuffed into the bird, hence the name. Dressing could also mean salad dressing.

Just sayin’
🦃

[bamagal62]

16. My Mom always said...

Stuffing is made with bread and stuffed into the bird.
Dressing is made with cornbread in a separate pan.
My MIL makes stuffing (with bread cubes) but does not stuff the bird.
I like them both. But, prefer dressing. (mine is delicious!)

[ET Awful]

2. Alice's Restaurant

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. Which was a family tradition at my grandmother's house.

Once we had sat down and said grace, someone would drop the needle. (Dating myself here, we changed as time went on. When I was the 'Keeper of the Tune', it was on a cassette.)

My grandmother's fave line was "Mother rapers.... Father stabbers.... FATHER RAPERS!" She would almost choke every time. My mother's was "You wanna end war and stuff, you gotta sing LOUD."

[Hekate]

45. I want to have been there ❤️

[samnsara]

19. thats for dessert

[yellowdogintexas]

3. My inlaws rushing through dinner to watch the Cowboys

I do not know why they don't just have dinner in the evening? After the game? I don't mind the game watching; I can get in the corner and read a book. It is the rushing through the dinner that we have all worked to prepare to watch the game. We will be at one of two homes, and we will have this ritual yet again.

One year I out foxed them. We had just moved into this house and had room to entertain a crowd. I figured out how I could seat them all at one table and offered to host dinner at 7:30 pm. They all came, we had a wonderful time with lots of good food and no football.

Mr YD and I have never been football fans even before we ever knew each other. Many times in those rush through dinner years we would take our daughter to the movies; the newest Disney holiday film would usually have opened the previous weekend. Her birthday is close to Thanksgiving, so we would go back to her grandparents' and have birthday cake and turkey sandwiches.

[Jrose]

4. Too many drinks before dinner...

... and after dinner..

[2naSalit]

5. Waldorf salad.

Also known as apple salad.

[Bayard]

6. Sweet potatoes

Raw ones, sliced in a pan, topped with unsalted butter and nutmeg, drizzled with honey, and pecans sprinkled on top. One hour at 350 degrees.

SO much better than that marshmallow conglomeration.

[rogerballard]

8. Green Bean Casserole

and Mom's homemade dressing and her perfect mashed potatoes.

[debm55]

10. jelled cranberry sauce

[jpak]

14. My Mom used to make a killer cranberry orange dessert

One year we used fresh picked wild cranberries.

2 dye 4

Yup

[cachukis]

11. Giblet gravy. Enough for a couple of days of leftovers.

[tazkcmo]

12. Someone crying.

Holiday dinners were brutal in our family. The teasing, wise cracks and put downs always went too far and someone would end up crying.

SNL did a great skit on the subject. A family holiday dinner argument CD.

[ms liberty]

32. I know what you mean. Been thru it myself. The drama. Ever seen The Ref?

A wonderful comedy that skewers the whole holiday family drama issue. I re watch it every holiday.

[tazkcmo]

42. No, I haven't but I will!

Thanx for the movie rec.

[JoseBalow]

13. someone shooting their family

USA!

[Scrivener7]

17. Plum pudding set on fire at the table.

[samnsara]

18. it can only be Thanksgiving dinner WITHOUT effing green bean cassarole

that dish needs to be outlawed

[justaprogressive]

20. Actually it's not the beans' fault...

It's the GD Campbell's mushroom soup that's to blame !!!

[Pharlo]

21. I was expecting a link to the WKRP episode...

"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

[meow2u3]

22. Turkey, stuffing, and corn

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without football and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade either.

[electric_blue68]

23. The sagey bread stuffing Yum!

[malthaussen]

24. Santa Claus. n/t

[qwlauren35]

25. Phooey!

Very true, but still.

Can't people wait until the day after Thanksgiving?

Oh yeah, that Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

It's hopeless.

[marble falls]

26. Someone getting their fellings hurt while have dinner conversation ...

... I enlisted in the Navy in '72 so my father couldn't tell me to shut up about the Viet Nam war at the Thanksgiving table.

[Redleg]

35. I save these hurtful conversations for Christmas dinner

because that's the kind of guy I am.

[marble falls]

36. I just have them casually throughout the year, just to keep hard feelings of others at a viable level everyday ...

... what I've lost in compassion I've more than made up for in toxic passive aggression.

[Redleg]

40. I literally laughed out loud! Thanks for that.

It helps to keep a sense of humor during these trying times.

[MOMFUDSKI]

27. Wild rice, water chestnuts, and

mushroom side dish. We had it growing up and I love it.

[marble falls]

37. We used to have until that. I used to have more syblings and a grandmother, too.

[sanatanadharma]

28. Home-made Pad Thai

Vegetarian and all, I needed new traditions.

BTW, I used to love my mom's turkey stuffing, based on ground beef, until I tasted it as an independent adult, yuck.

[Ziggysmom]

41. Love Pad Thai, with tofu.

[PJMcK]

29. The Macy's Parade

My wife has been a character actor on a prominent float for 25 years. It's become a tradition..

On Wednesday evening, the other ladies come to our apartment where we make dinner but retire early as they have to be ready at 6:00 am. In the morning, they get dressed in their costumes and a van picks them up to go to the staging area on Manhattan's West Side.

They're usually done by noon so we have the rest of the day to relax.

[Harker]

30. Being thankful to (or for) those who make others' lives better. n/t

[ret5hd]

31. Xanax...a Thanksgiving without Xanax...

is a Thanksgiving I stay home and watch old movies/listen to old records…by myself, at home, without all those aggravating “relatives” to deal with!!!

[Redleg]

33. Having a metric ton of dirty dishes to clean afterwards

My wife goes all out for the holidays when it comes to cooking. Great food but lots of cleaning up to do after the turkey sleep comes over me.

[rogerballard]

34. A family fun game of...

Poker, every year at all holidays we played poker after dinner. Brings back great memories for me.

[marble falls]

39. Penny poke with adults and kids on New Years. No one lost more than $.50.

[Redleg]

38. Jello with marshmallows was the Utah thing for Thanksgiving

Also yams with marshmallows. Our entire family, from my grandma to her 6 kids and all of their kids would have Thanksgiving in one of the Mormon churches in Layton. Each Thanksgiving it seemed like at least half of the families would bring either Jello with marshmallows or yams with marshmallows. I learned to hate both dishes before I became an adult.

[Sogo]

43. Mashed potatoes and gravy......

and homemade cranberry sauce....

[Chainfire]

44. Alka-Seltzer and a nap on the couch.

[AnnaLee]

46. Desert selection

Pineapple upside down cake at Grandmother 1's house followed by Orange Coconut cake at Grandmother 2's house. (Plus all the other traditional food, of course.)