I don't know if this is a tip for us to save or for the others to save. For several years, my family has had Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday after the holiday. I figured the married kids would go to the in-laws for dinner on Thursday. This year we are doing it different. First we are having it on Thursday, as it should be. It is a potluck dinner, each one brings a part of the dinner.
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Linda, that is a nice idea. It is especially nice when a group of people who are alone get together.
However, don't be offended when some who are alone do not want to join a family Thanksgiving. I'm speaking from years of experience. It is nice to be invited, but when you are a single person joining someone elses family for Thanksgiving or any other holiday, it is very uncomfortable...unless it is a family that you have been with many times aside from a holiday.
I've often thought of the foster or orphaned children who are invited to spend Christmas with a "real family". They really don't have any choice. I can't imagine what a lost and lonesome feeling that must be for them!!! As nice as it is to be invited, you are still an outsider, you really don't belong and you just want it to be over.
So, if the person you are inviting would rather just stay home, accept that graciously. Perhaps later take that person a plate of "leftovers" or a piece of pie. That would be very nice and certainly appreciated.
Growing up in CA , my parents often invited so many people that it was always fun. Many single people, older folks with family far away neighbors always told us they thought it was nice and did look forward to it. Mousie of course has own opinion but
if some did not want to come they don't. Keep an
open heart and open space at the table.
Very nice gesture. I don't think my family ever thought of celebrating the traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, after the fact, but this would give everyone the chance to celebrate together, that might not be able to on the Traditional celebratory day.
Since this was from 2009, it would be nice to have an update to see what the LW wound up doing.
One of my late cousins would have her dinner on the Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving so that her son and later his children could spend the actual day doing whatever they wanted. She'd also include people who might be visiting or who didn't have anywhere to go.
We both grew up with a family who insisted on everybody coming on Thanksgiving Day. And they didn't like it if we invited somebody who wasn't family.
When we got married, feelings were hurt when we had to spend the day with our husbands' families. The old-maid aunts would gripe all day when one of us dared to miss the family gathering. There were times when I felt like getting a picture of the missing person and putting it on a chair so that she could be represented, and then saying we needed to talk about something else.
So, I thought my cousin's solution was great. My poor mother was never "allowed" to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with her family. I think I was about 8 before I realized I had two grandmothers. By the time my paternal grandparents were gone, my mother felt like being around her family was like being with a bunch of strangers.
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