New Hampshire Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Describe your Thanksgiving.
I host every year. My parents, brother and sister come up. My ILs (including BIL, who flies up from NC) also come over. Every few years, I get my Nana (she's in high demand).
I break out my china and set the table, we have a big floral centerpiece. I mull hot cider and break out my big crystal punchbowl and let it go self-serve. I do the turkey and sides, MIL brings a ham from Boston Market, my mom does all the baking (breads, pies, etc). We eat early afternoon. My dad usually parks on the couch for football. Everyone heads home after dessert and coffee.
How about you?
Re: Describe your Thanksgiving.
Since being married (well and the year before that) we've gone to my IL's house. We show up with some Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip. Dinner is just about done when we get there. We finnish watching a game, eat dinner, watch the later game and then watch a movie of some sorts. THen we drive home, haha!
I've got it made. My IL's wont let me help with anything... Christmas on the other hand is at my house.... Should be interesting this year..
We go to my mom's, since she has to be at her in-law's for Christmas, Thanksgiving is her holiday.
We usually all hang around all day, last year my mom and I had 3 grape martinis and took a nap while my step dad cooked! They go all out with some not so traditional food, and the basics. My step dad spends all day making seafood newburg (sp). It's lots of fun.. we watch movies, lots of snacks and appetizers! Scott and I always bring a couple side dishes, I always make sweet potatoes, and then usually another side and a dessert. But now that my uncle works for the cheesecake factory, he usually brings dessert ;-)
These days it's different every year! This year we're staying put and going to DH's cousin's for T-giving, she also lives here in Baltimore. Her parents will be there (DH's Aunt and Uncle), along with her sister, sister's husband and their daughter. Another cousin who lives in VA is driving up with her hubby and 2 kids so we'll have a decent crowd.
My ILs host every year and everyone on both sides is invited. My DH has 26 first cousins, most are married and a lot have 2-3 kids of their own. Plus he has 3 siblings and 7 neices and nephews. Every other year is usually an "off" year where cousins and siblings go to their in laws but on the years most people come we end up with over 50 people. It's quite an experience!!! We have not been up there for it in a few years so probably will make the trip next year.
I love Thanksgiving!
Well this will be my first married Thanksgiving so I'm not sure what's going for this year. Before I got married my family would switch off each year going to my aunts house with my mom's side of the family and then going to my Grandmothers with my dad's side. Now my grandmother lives with my parents so we've had Thanksgiving in at my house every other year. Last year we went to my aunts so I'm guessing people will expect us to go to my parents but we're still not sure.
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I am so jealous of all of you! Our Thanksgivings are underwhelming. "My" years (we alternate) we go to my cousin's. She is a HORRIBLE cook but no one wants to make her feel bad. The only saving grace is that my dad makes Italian Wedding Soup and we pig out on that before her bone-dry bland turkey, cold lumpy potatoes with yucky gravy and plain veggies. I had warned DH about it and he thought I was being a jerk. On the way home last year he said, "You didn't prepare me for how bad that was going to be." LOL!
And DH's family does Thanksgiving as an Open House - so there's a turkey, and it's warm and there at 1pm. All the sides are out too. People stop in, make a plate, eat and leave. No warm family moments, etc. Good food - if you get there early enough (one year that we were dating, there was no turkey left), but not your Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving.
This year, we're not sure what we're doing because of the low-sodium diet restriction - and our options stink anyway - so we might just use it as an excuse to do our own thing. I will live vicariously through all of your wonderful Thanksgivings!!!
Our Thanksgivings are so busy. They have transformed over the last couple of years. Most recently we had "dinner" at my mother's house around 1ish and then just hung out for a bit before heading to the IL's for another dinner around 5ish. We spent time before and after there with whoever comes then head back to my mothers to visit and play board games with my step-sister and step-brother who can usually only make it up in the later evening. That was last year. This year will probably be completely different with the baby added into the mix. I doubt we'll be doing a very late night with him. We'll see! Thankfully, we all live (us, my mother, and my IL's) within a 12 minute drive of each other, so its not TOO crazy.
This was a fun post! I loved reading about your holidays!
At our house, we have hosted for the past two years. We decided that it's going to be our holiday to stay put and that anyone and everyone is welcome to come to our house. It's always my parents, usually DH's parents, sometimes a brother or two of his (this year neither), DH's aunt/uncle/3 cousins (Anna's Godmother), and sometimes a few others. We start the day early, must have the Macy's parade on and must watch Santa (very excited to do that with Anna!). People arrive around 12-1, eat around 2-3. All of the traditional foods- my mom's stuffing recipe, mil's butternut squash, fruit & sherbet, my mom's pumpkin pie. The games are on tv, but everyone talks through them. Then at 7pm, we turn on our Christmas lights! That was a tradition from growing up in Kansas (the KC Plaza turns on the lights that night- big to-do there) that I absolutely love. And then when everyone has left, DH goes to the attic and brings down Christmas boxes so we can start decorating (tradition from my childhood). I love it