Second Thanksgiving on Saturday
Dec. 1st, 2024 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerThanksgiving '24 Travelog #13
Outside Harrisburg, PA - Sat, 30 Nov 2024, 11pm
Thanksgiving is a four-day holiday weekend for a lot of us in the US, but Thanksgiving itself it only one day. What do you do with the other days? One emerging tradition seems to be friendsgiving. It's meant to be a friends-oriented alternative to Thanksgiving That doesn't entirely make sense IMO because Thanksgiving isn't Thanks-but-only-for-nuclear-family-giving. I mean, Thanksgiving can be about giving thanks with whomever you like.
My inlaws take a different approach to filling Thanksgiving weekends with activities. They celebrate Thanksgiving twice. MIL and one of her best friends both love to cook and host for holidays, so they've agreed to take turns with Thanksgiving. But the way they "take turns" is to celebrate it twice in one weekend! Auntie Lynn hosts and cooks on Thursday, then MIL cooks and hosts on Friday or Saturday. This year again it was Saturday. It was kind of nice to have a day off in between big meal focused holidays.
Second Thanksgiving this evening was more relaxed than Thanksgiving a few nights ago. For one, there were fewer people; 10 adults, 1 child, and 1 dog. The dog was well behaved and didn't tip anything over or kick people as a joke. Dinner was early, about 4:30, which made the evening feel late when it wasn't. When the plates were cleared and some people were already talking about having to go home early it was only 6:30pm.
It was just as well all the guests left early. It gave the last four of us (Hawk, her parents, and me) time to wind down together. Unfortunately conversation devolved to the usual three topics, of which only one— politics, actually— I bother to engage in. (The other two are Car Maintenance and Health Problems That Have Worsened Since Last Time You Were Here.) I even tried to change the conversation away from politics when someone who dislikes it entered the room. I picked what should have been a safe and fun topic.... "Hey, I remember you were taking a lot of cruises a few years ago... what are your next vacation plans?" That question was given a brief answer before the person who hates talking politics switched the topic back to politics. 🤦
Outside Harrisburg, PA - Sat, 30 Nov 2024, 11pm
Thanksgiving is a four-day holiday weekend for a lot of us in the US, but Thanksgiving itself it only one day. What do you do with the other days? One emerging tradition seems to be friendsgiving. It's meant to be a friends-oriented alternative to Thanksgiving That doesn't entirely make sense IMO because Thanksgiving isn't Thanks-but-only-for-nuclear-family-giving. I mean, Thanksgiving can be about giving thanks with whomever you like.
My inlaws take a different approach to filling Thanksgiving weekends with activities. They celebrate Thanksgiving twice. MIL and one of her best friends both love to cook and host for holidays, so they've agreed to take turns with Thanksgiving. But the way they "take turns" is to celebrate it twice in one weekend! Auntie Lynn hosts and cooks on Thursday, then MIL cooks and hosts on Friday or Saturday. This year again it was Saturday. It was kind of nice to have a day off in between big meal focused holidays.
Second Thanksgiving this evening was more relaxed than Thanksgiving a few nights ago. For one, there were fewer people; 10 adults, 1 child, and 1 dog. The dog was well behaved and didn't tip anything over or kick people as a joke. Dinner was early, about 4:30, which made the evening feel late when it wasn't. When the plates were cleared and some people were already talking about having to go home early it was only 6:30pm.
It was just as well all the guests left early. It gave the last four of us (Hawk, her parents, and me) time to wind down together. Unfortunately conversation devolved to the usual three topics, of which only one— politics, actually— I bother to engage in. (The other two are Car Maintenance and Health Problems That Have Worsened Since Last Time You Were Here.) I even tried to change the conversation away from politics when someone who dislikes it entered the room. I picked what should have been a safe and fun topic.... "Hey, I remember you were taking a lot of cruises a few years ago... what are your next vacation plans?" That question was given a brief answer before the person who hates talking politics switched the topic back to politics. 🤦
