Betsy

Calamari! If you decide to go to Carmel for the holiday, you could come to the Yountville GTG on the Friday after Thanksgiving! Think about it!

Kal

Calamari-
Ditto to Ms Betsy!
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The more the merrier!

phieaglefan

Calamari,
I hope you have a great time wherever you end up. That said, we started a new family tradition over Thanksgiving a few years ago. We now pack up the kids and another couple and their kids and head to a condo in Breckenridge. Not everyone skis, but it sure is fun to be in the mountains, watching the snow fall while you try to calculate the cooking time for a turkey at 9000 feet. We bring most of the fixins and buy the rest when we get there. It's a blast, and if it doesn't turn out as a gourmet meal, we laugh because we didn't have a potato masher in the condo we rented. Have fun!

J_Correa

phieaglefan - Breckenridge sounds terrific for Thanksgiving. I have always wanted to rent a condo at Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving and have a bunch of the family come up. One of these years we will do it. That takes some advance planning though.

With us, it's usually mid-November by the time we say "Holy mashed potatoes Batman, it's almost Thanksgiving! Who is going to have it at their house this year?"

My grandmother recently decided she is done having holidays at her house, so we are all kind of in limbo trying to figure out what our "new tradition" is going to be.

gracieb

I vote for something completely different from whatever you've done in the past. Last year I needed a big change and traveled from the SE to the SW. I can't describe enough how much I enjoyed walking around Santa Fe in November, sleeping on a mattress on a floor in a crowded bedroom because my friend's family's house was overflowing with guests and throughly enjoying the event that is tamale making. Who knew? I had no idea!

Another transitional year I spent it in New York City. What an absolute blast!

I think change is very good is transitional years. Next on my list would be Vegas or the Grand Canyon.

Calamari

I've been submerged in fundraising hell for many days and have not had time to visit, but I just wanted to say that you are such a great group of people! I LOVE all of your suggestions and invitations. I started to feel very nostalgic the other day and before I could stop myself, I invited dad & the new (well not exactly new but that is another story) girlfriend whom I have never met for Thanksgiving! DUMB DUMB DUMB! He did not jump at the invite so now I am on the hook waiting for him to make up his mind. I am going to give him a time frame. He may just want some private time with his "friend" and an opportunity to cozy up to her parents...eventhough they are his age or YOUNGER! I would love to get away to Carmel and crash the Yonteville GTG! I love Yonteville! Hell, I might just do it anyway! Thanks to all of you for the kind invitations. I am very greatful for this board!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

travdog

Calamari, I can understand exactly why you invited your dad. I'd imagine you really want to be with him, but the circumstances are so stressful. While my parents are both alive, they went through a bitter divorce when I was ten. My dad deemed Thanksgivig "his" and I had to endure his new wife (married less than 10 days after the divorce, and she was 19!) who HATED me. I spent every holiday in tears, with a migraine. I'll be 33 soon, and I'm still jumpy around the holidays. A few years back, I just couldn't go on trying to please everyone but myself and that's when my hubby and I started going to Carmel. Now, my mom and her husband and the dogs go with us and it is the one trip I look forward to more than anything during the year. I guess what I'm trying to say is to hang in there. Things will never be the same again, but you will be able to make some new traditons in your family that will bring happy memories, even as you are struggling through this.

SDUEH

I second Plymouth, MA. The website shows it to be one of the best places to travel for a traditional Thanksgiving celebration.

Kal

I wanted to celebrate T'giving in Plymouth, MA but Mrs Kal asked me if had rocks in my head?

We used to go to Monterey each year for our T'giving/Wedding anniv but the trip got to be too crowded on I-5 and the cut over.
Now it's Napa Valley right after Mrs. Kal's run in Sacto's "Run to Feed the Hungry", beating most of the traffic.

jersey

This also will be my first Thanksgiving without my Mom. I have been "doing" Thanksgiving for 20 years and just wasn't up to it this year. So with my apologies to my extended family, my immediate family and I are going on a cruise. As Thanksgiving was always the BIG holiday in our house, this is a big change for us. But so is losing a loved one. So, I vote for doing whatever will make you happy.