How About NOT Turkey Day?
@cmoneyspinner (9219)
Austin, Texas
November 9, 2021 12:46pm CST
It's November and people in the USA will be celebrating Thanksgiving which we sometimes call Turkey Day.
I've been doing this for years. Every time the holiday approaches I start thinking:
Suppose I don't do turkey this time.
I try to float the idea to family and they always BARK AT ME! There is no way we are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner with NO TURKEY!
And yet I mentioned to one of my daughters that she should invite me to her house for Thanksgiving and she said “Umm … mom. We don't eat the traditional Thanksgiving meal. If you come over you might find fajitas.”
I thought to myself: 'How come she gets to make a non-traditional Turkey Day meal, But I always have to roast a turkey?'
So let me ask my fellow Americans:
~ Do you sometimes NOT have a turkey for Thanksgiving?
If you are from another country where they celebrate a holiday and there is a traditional dish, have you ever broken with tradition and prepared something else?
If so, what was your family's reaction? Were they ready to BANISH you from future holiday gatherings? 
11 people like this
15 responses
@ShyBear88 (59347)
• Sterling, Virginia
9 Nov 21
At my husband parents house they are divorced there is always both a Turkey and a ham I don’t know why. In the 11.5 years of being together I’ve never asked. He says it has to do with one of his sisters that doesn’t want ear Turkey and of course she eats the hame cold.
Ar my parents house it’s always Turkey. I honestly don’t care what people eat or don’t eat on a holiday so what ever the heck you want.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (44537)
• Staten Island, New York
10 Nov 21
I never made my own turkey. I always go somewhere for Thanksgiving and turkey is always there. It's not always homemade though. If I go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving there is usually Russian food in addition to the turkey.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9219)
• Austin, Texas
10 Nov 21
If you have time, please write a post and discuss Russian food for holiday gathering. I don't know much about that at all.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (44537)
• Staten Island, New York
11 Nov 21
@cmoneyspinner I am from Belarus but food we eat is also eaten in Russia, Ukraine, etc. "Russians" (what I refer to people who speak Russian but are not necessarily originally from Russia itself; countries like Ukraine, Belarus, maybe Moldova) always have certain dishes here at the table when there is a gathering. I should probably write up about those dishes.
@LindaOHio (178701)
• United States
10 Nov 21
We always have turkey on Thanksgiving. We love turkey; and it gives us an opportunity to have a lot! We don't really have any family to worry about.
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
10 Nov 21
we have tried a couple times over the years, it doesn't god well!
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (69739)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
9 Nov 21
My husband and I don't do the tradational family gathering. He doesn't like to drive on a full stomach, and he typically winds up working Black Friday. So we tend to have our bef tips for dinner, instead.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32697)
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Nov 21
I don't celebrate thanks giving because I am an immigrant that follows a different tradition but I do like Turkey. I onced cooked Turkducken!
Its turkey stuffed with boneless chicken and boneless duck. Its like food meerts taxidermy.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89882)
• Arvada, Colorado
9 Nov 21
I am not having Thanksgiving and have not now for this year and last year.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (50256)
• United States
9 Nov 21
We don’t always have Turkey. This year we’re having Cornish Phens.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137259)
• United States
9 Nov 21
Pretty and I LOVE smoked turkey on Thanksgiving... I always ask if she'd like something else for Thanksgiving and Christmas but she looks at me like I've lost what few marbles I had left. *shrug*
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (13020)
• Ireland
9 Nov 21
@cmoneyspinner I'm with you. I eat what I like rather than be dictated to by 'tradition'. For us turkey is mandatory for Christmas but I don't like it and I find having to have a certain type of meal on a set date to be bizarre and inconvenient. We quite often have lamd roasted in a garlic, rosemary and anchovy paste or we might have chicken in apricot curry. People think we're odd. I'm fine with that.
1 person likes this
@divalounger (6120)
• United States
10 Nov 21
I am a longtime vegetarian, so for me, it is sidesgiving!
