A few weeks back I covered our celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving. In our family, we also celebrate Early Thanksgiving. It started several years ago when we were trying to determine how to get our two daughters, their husbands and kids all together to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was always the big family celebration for us. Birthdays were quiet affairs, Christmas is mostly a religious holiday with some small gifts exchanged on the Eve, but Thanksgiving was “all hands on deck.” Everybody was expected to attend. Everybody got to select one side dish and one dessert; this resulted in a surfeit of food, but great leftovers. Turkey was of course the main event. Judy took care of all the cooking, I did all the cleaning. Everybody ate once together around 3:00 in the afternoon, then watched football and noshed the rest of the day.
But traveling over the Thanksgiving weekend is such a hassle, and the weather can be treacherous. Stores or theaters and the like are crowded, and somebody has to host. Thanksgiving was more pressure-packed than festive. Then one year by circumstance we knew we could not gather that weekend, so we decided to get together the weekend of Veteran’s Day. It was a simple change with profound effects.
Need a rental place to gather? Plenty available that weekend. Airfares are reasonable, and there are no crazy crowds. Two weeks earlier in the season generally means better weather. Those who work can get time off because no one else is asking for it. We’ve done it thrice now with great results. Yes, there are some challenges. This year we couldn’t find a fresh turkey, since they weren’t being stocked two weeks early. The football offerings on Thursday and Friday were more limited. Otherwise, it was great time. And our movable feast frees up the kids to visit their in-laws for the regular one.
We got a small taste of fall during our visit to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. By Friday the forecasted rain had turned to a light frost as the temps hovered in the thirties and a steady wind blew in. We still managed to do some hiking. Gramps (yo) got in several rounds of pillow fights, ping pong, and jumping monster with the grandkids. The latter is a peculiar game which involves Gramps covering himself with blankets, making monster noises, and engaging in world-wrestling style combat with the grandkids armed with pillows. It mostly devolves into my being beaten senseless while laughing hysterically.
A great time was had by all. If you go through the usual harangue of family holiday gatherings, consider moving the celebration. The most important aspect of such an event is to get together, and that’s the part that is the easiest, when you’re not part of the crowd.
We have made that change a few times to accommodate family schedule conflicts. It worked very well for us too—it is the time with family (and the food fest) that matter. Stress can ruin any event, so we try to avoid it.