Unconventional Holidays

kristijoy

kristijoy

New member
For the past 3 years we've had Thanksgiving celebrations at our house with friends (we don't visit family for this holiday, but for Christmas). The folks we invite are off visiting their families in other states!

So I'm thinking that instead of trying to recreate that experience, that the 3 of us should go do something completely different instead. If there was snow in the mountains, I would love to have a 'skiing weekend'. I doubt there will be enough snow by Thanksgiving, so I'm brainstorming other ideas....like a long hike with a picnic in a beautiful spot.

Any one else do something 'unconventional' for the holidays?
 
We used to drive down to the beach and spend Christmas Day riding the ferry and enjoying the quiet, non-crowded beach.
 
We went to Wisconsin Dells last year over Thanksgiving and had fun at the waterparks!!!! It was the best time!! We tried getting a suite this year and they were booked. :(
 
Oh, I would love to, but my family is mostly old farts who have to do everything exactly the same way it's been done for the last bajillion years. ;)

I have spent the last 3 years trying to convince my MIL that she does not need to make a full-fledged Thanksgiving meal (that ALWAYS stresses her out) for her, FIL, DH, me, and the kids. She still won't let go of the idea that you HAVE to eat turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving Day or YOU WILL DIE. :blink:

Eventually, it will just be my sister + me and our kids, so while she is that OCD, I am not and will be able to do cool unconventional things like that.
 
On Christmas day I gave up doing a big turkey dinner. I started when the kids were little doing a Christmas Brunch in our jammies after we open our presents. Whoever wants to come can, usually my mom and my sister and her husband and little girl have joined us but they are expecting a baby at Christmas this year so they won't be going far from home, the girls dad and grammie have come in the past. It is all done and over with by 11am and we stay home doing little to nothing for the rest of the day. Then we usually all go to the movies on Christmas night! It is so much less stress!
 
If I'm hosting Christmas we never do traditional dinner because once at Thanksgiving is plenty for me. We usually do a bunch of apps and then a nice dinner but not turkey or ham ( seafood etc ).
 
We dont celebrate thanksgiving in the netherlands.
and christmas no idea, my boys are 1 day with me and 1 day with their father, last christmas i was home alone.
my sister live on the other side of the country
 
Every other Thanksgiving is unconventional for us. Every other year we meet my SIL and her family somewhere between here (Kansas) and where they live (Pennsylvania). We've met in St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville and Atlanta. I'm not sure where we'll meet next year. We usually have Thanksgiving dinner at a Cracker Barrel since they are one place we can always find open. Whatever else we do just depends on what is open in the area. Last year we went to the aquarium in Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day. Two years before that we were killing time at a Bass Pro Shop store in Nashville! I love our unconventional holidays. It is so nice to get together with family and spend time exploring a place none of us have ever been. :)
 
Sherri Tierney said:
Every other Thanksgiving is unconventional for us. Every other year we meet my SIL and her family somewhere between here (Kansas) and where they live (Pennsylvania). We've met in St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville and Atlanta. I'm not sure where we'll meet next year. We usually have Thanksgiving dinner at a Cracker Barrel since they are one place we can always find open. Whatever else we do just depends on what is open in the area. Last year we went to the aquarium in Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day. Two years before that we were killing time at a Bass Pro Shop store in Nashville! I love our unconventional holidays. It is so nice to get together with family and spend time exploring a place none of us have ever been. :)
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This is a fabulous idea! I love it! Someday...I really want to go to Europe for Christmas!
 
Because our kids are off the whole week of Thanksgiving we often use this as family vacation time. I have to say this approach has mixed reviews with the kids.

We've done a cruise with my brother, his family and my parents one year. We were in Key West on Thanksgiving. We had turkey dinner on the ship but it sure didn't feel like Thanksgiving.

We've gone camping the first part of the week and then come home for Thanksgiving Wed night and have our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. The kids like this!

We've gone to Gatlinburg and spent the day at Cade's Cove (which was so beautiful). We had a turkey sandwich lunch in a huge field. I didn't book a place to eat dinner ahead of time and we ended up at Golden Corral which was terrible. The girls still remind me that we're never doing that again. However we did go shopping that night and everyone had fun doing that.

This year we are going to Washington DC for the week and some friends of ours from college live near there and they invited us to join them for Thanksgiving dinner.

So my lesson learned is - plan a traditional dinner (even if it's at a restaurant) and then enjoy the rest of the day doing whatever pleases you. I never thought we'd miss the dinner part, but we really have (even when we have Thanksgiving early with family). Really it's just a day, but there is something about the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes that make the day for me and my family.
 
mariewilcox said:
LOL me too - we're "doing" Thanksgiving the Sunday before with my sister and her kids.
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This is so awesome when people are flexible!!! :thumbup:

Thanks Juli about the heads up about the dinner! I'm personally not too worried about this part, since the 3 of us are vegetarians and Thanksgiving has never been about the food for us. We always seem to 'make-do' at the meal by adding a nutloaf or something. Truthfully this is actually more of a pain than fun because we are trying to make a veggie foodie thing out of a holiday that is really about turkey! And my son just always eats noodles anyway!!! :p:p:p:p
 
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