I hate to be negative, but I’m not really fond of the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s mostly because almost everybody in my family is religious and conservative and they always bring up politics (one year my aunt also decided to go on a thirty minute tangent about how she saw two guys holding hands on a cruise). My parents also invited over 30 guests to come! I’m assuming other people don’t like this holiday as well. What’s wrong with it for you?
I have kind of the opposite problem. Almost all of my relatives are dead. No one's coming to dinner except my Mom's boyfriend. We're not even making turkey this year, just meat loaf and fish. I like the parades they show on Thanksgiving but other than that it's just kind of a reflection of how lonely my family has gotten. Most of them are gone and there's really only five or six of us left and most of them don't speak to my Mom or Dad.
I can't stand it. I hate my extended family. It'd take too long for me to rant about them, so I'm not going to. Then I hate having small Thanksgiving dinners at my house, because there's always a crap ton of dishes I'm left doing. Not to mention the fact that turkey dinners aren't exactly the most delicious meal you can have. I mean, I'm sure it was great in colonial times when you ate nothing but pickles during the winter, but now the only dish I really like on Thanksgiving is stuffing, and it didn't come out too good this year. Plus my metabolism is gone now, so it just completely ruins my diet. A few pounds in a day, thanks.
I used to love it. We would have 10-15 people come to my house for dinner and my grandmother always got so excited to see family. However, this year, I broke up with my ex back in August and my aunt decided to skip our thanksgiving to be with her. My mother and my other aunt hung around the kitchen to talk about what was going on. I haven't told my family about any of the abuse that happened during the relationship or the fact that she cheated on me for two months so everything is still awkward and I wish I could skip over the holidays this year. On the bright side, my current girlfriend has said that when she gets back from her family's thanksgiving tomorrow we're going to warm up leftovers and have a miniature thanksgiving for us. I'm really looking forward to that and it's just a nice thing to look forward to.
I don't like Thanksgiving because it feels like I'm hiding. No one in my intermediate or extended family knows I'm gay. I think they'd all be mostly okay with it, it's just.....hard to say to people you've known your whole life. You know that feeling when you aren't exactly lying but you aren't saying something? I hate feeling like that. And that's how it feels every day.
I struggle with pretty much every holiday. It's hard to enjoy time that is supposed to be about being part of a community and coming together when acceptance is conditional on conformity. Over many holidays spent alone, I stopped thinking about it because it's painful. Usually I will focus on a project to keep my mind occupied. I try not to think about what day it is, and it hurts less. This year I am working on a drawing that requires a lot of linear algebra to composite all the details, so I got lost in crunching numbers.
I don't mind it but prefer to avoid going to large family gatherings of any kind. Mainly because I don't have anything in common with anyone in my family as far as interests or political views. That and the person who always cooks the turkey, cooks it to it's second death and I think there is more moisture in the dryist of deserts then her turkey. I also hate craft beer and football.