NO cooking or clean-up!! For the last 15 years, I have went out for Thanksgiving dinner or made maybe one dish for a church Thanksgiving dinner. I refuse to cook all day anymore. It's nice going out to a really nice Thanksgiving buffet. I'll be spending Thanksgiving with my family this year out of State and we will be going OUT for dinner. We might pick up some special desserts for later, but nobody is going to cook. It ceases to be fun for the women who cook all day while the men sit and watch football and belly up to the table. Thanksgiving should be a holiday for all, not just the men.
My last Thanksgiving I cooked, 2 families got together. However, the men plopped themselves down in front of the TV and did nothing but holler for more snacks and drinks, filled up on Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, and then promptly fell asleep on the couch and their easy chairs, while the women who had cooked the day before and that morning did all the dishes and cleaned up. Later on when they woke up and watched another Football game, they advised the women that they wanted leftover Turkey sandwiches and desserts.
I realized right then and there, that was the LAST Thanksgiving dinner I was ever going to cook. I gotta tell you that I've never been happier. Some big hotels put on some beautiful Thanksgiving buffets. If I want leftovers, I can buy them and take them home for later. I actually love Thanksgiving now! Sometimes we will go down to the shelter and serve Thanksgiving dinner and eat there. Now that is giving back on Thanksgiving. What it's all about.