Anyone else hate Thanksgiving?

[crosstimbers]

Before anybody gets excited, hear my reasons and see if any of you identify with them.

To begin with, I'm a deer hunter, and the holiday falls at the very peak of deer season. Back when most of my family were all on a deer lease together, it wasn't unusual to have the gathering there at the lease, so no hunting time was missed. But now I'm pretty much the last member of my family that hunts, so it involves having to drive over and hour each way and the bulk of the day is shot.

But it's just one day, people say. Yes, that's true....but for a variety of personal reasons it has become a gathering I do not enjoy, in fact dread, and would much rather not attend. I only do so (last year I made up an excuse and didn't) to avoid causing hurt feelings. But I don't care for it at all, don't even like Turkey.

So now it looms again, and it has me in the dumps. I also have my wife's family gathering to attend, but they are close by and usually I can still get out in the woods that afternoon.

Anybody identify with any of this?

[sberres]

  Boy can I ever!  Sounds like our gun deer season, 9 days with Thanksgiving in the middle. It’s hard enough to spend adequate time hunting without the holiday (unless you’ve got the whole week off) much less taking another day out of it.
  It wasn’t so bad when I was young and we just hunted our farmland and were staying home for dinner anyways, but after that was not an option a holiday gathering was just not preferable with all of the noise, the drama, a heavy meal of stuff that was far from favorite fare, to time in the field.
  Nowadays I don’t bother hunting and it’s still a PITA. Only now, where hunting activities were the enemy of the family gathering, pre-Black Friday shopping is the “thing” for some of the most ardent supporters of ‘family being more important than hunting’ line.  Prep takes all day, a giant meals is demolished in an hour and nearly everyone disappears before the kickoff of the 2nd game. 
  Yeah, I’d just as soon skip it altogether.
 

[crosstimbers]

Yes, almost forgot about the football. I don't watch football, or any other sports really.... and every gathering it is of course on the TV. Some of the announcers/commentators really get on my nerves, and of course there is the pre-game show and the post game show after the game, enough to drive me nuts. Just another reason why I'd rather be in the stand eating summer sausage than putting in the obligatory appearance.

By the way, none of my family has ever been one of the "family is more important than hunting" types, in fact they all used to hunt. So its another reason why I am tempted to just skip it, as one would think they would understand.

[GRU7_Mike]

I look at things completely differently......now!  Having seen my wife go thru the process of chemo and radiation for months and months and surviving cancer, I now accept and cherish things that make her happy.  She is a woman that rarely asks for anything.  Holidays she blesses the fact she is able to still be around the family....see the joy of the family eating and telling stories of the past holidays.  Having a day where the children, grand children and the great grand children all mesh and become ....well become the family!!!  She enjoys cooking, and watching people enjoy eating the wonderful food she makes.  Yes, it is not always convenient and certainly not cheap, but Thanksgiving is without a doubt, a true day of thanks in our household!!

[MadDuner]

I used to dread the holidays and gatherings.  It ate into my time with buddies and delayed my long weekend excursions out skiing or hunting or riding in the sand dunes.

Now that I’m an old part - I kind of enjoy the opportunity to sit back to listen to and tell old stories.  Every time I look around the table full of family and hope we are ALL here again next time.

The part I dislike is the mandatory full day of digging out and putting up Christmas decorations.  I like them when done, but would enjoy my time spent on other things.

[crosstimbers]

I look at things completely differently......now!  Having seen my wife go thru the process of chemo and radiation for months and months and surviving cancer, I now accept and cherish things that make her happy.  She is a woman that rarely asks for anything.  Holidays she blesses the fact she is able to still be around the family....see the joy of the family eating and telling stories of the past holidays.  Having a day where the children, grand children and the great grand children all mesh and become ....well become the family!!!  She enjoys cooking, and watching people enjoy eating the wonderful food she makes.  Yes, it is not always convenient and certainly not cheap, but Thanksgiving is without a doubt, a true day of thanks in our household!!

I appreciate what Thanksgiving is supposed to be. But for reasons that I don't care to get into, it isn't that anymore in my family. I have lost loved ones recently and I know that none of us will be around forever, that we have to cherish loved ones, etc.

If anyone close to me truly enjoyed these affairs, I might share your sentiments. However in this case these gatherings have went from family affairs in years past, to the family being a small minority among those in attendance....and I don't really think anyone enjoys the event, much less comes together to become "family" as you suggest.

In fact the only reason I attend is because of my mother. I'm not even sure she would care if I skipped the event, if she thought I was doing something I enjoyed. I would have to get into more detail than I want in order to explain it fully, but suffice it to say that what I will go through come Thanksgiving day will not be the experience that you've described. I just wondered how many others felt like me.

I view Christmas differently, though the holiday is affected by many of the same problems.

[Tok36]

I pretty much only attend holiday events to keep my mom happy.

When I was young my dad taught me rule number one. Keep your mother happy and we will all be happy.

[Earl Keese]

I can see skipping out if you travel to hunt that week. If you only have off because its Thanksgiving, that's a little harder to justify. My Dad and sister skip T. dinner every year, buts it's a 5hr trip back from our family property. He never took me deer hunting when I was a kid, so I never gained an appreciation for it. I doubt they'd like me coming along and calling for coyotes while they hunt deer.   

[crosstimbers]

I can see skipping out if you travel to hunt that week. If you only have off because its Thanksgiving, that's a little harder to justify. My Dad and sister skip T. dinner every year, buts it's a 5hr trip back from our family property. He never took me deer hunting when I was a kid, so I never gained an appreciation for it. I doubt they'd like me coming along and calling for coyotes while they hunt deer.   

Actually I have to travel to the dinner, I don't live where it takes place. But that's not a complaint as it gives us the ability to end the visit when we want by saying we have to make the drive home.

Its a long story, but for me dislike of Thanksgiving goes back a long way. As an adult who enjoys hunting, it galls me because it has to come at the very peak of deer season. The fact that the gathering has become less than enjoyable over the years makes it even worse.

In any case, I dropped a nice buck yesterday afternoon, so at least the darned holiday wont be responsible for a lack of success. I'll still hate it though. As for my mother and keeping her happy, its more a matter of not wanting to have to explain to her why Im not there. She wouldn't mind, as I have said, but at her age and her faculties being what they are, I would have no guarantee that she would remember, or know better than to repeat what I might tell her.

[Luvdog]

When I was younger I hated it too. Too much stress and no one really there for the right reason. Now that I too am an old man, I appreciate the gathering of friends and family. It’s nice to be together and not have the commercialism like Christmas.

Christmas on the other hand has become a season and holiday that I feel forced in to.


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[Earl Keese]

I can see skipping out if you travel to hunt that week. If you only have off because its Thanksgiving, that's a little harder to justify. My Dad and sister skip T. dinner every year, buts it's a 5hr trip back from our family property. He never took me deer hunting when I was a kid, so I never gained an appreciation for it. I doubt they'd like me coming along and calling for coyotes while they hunt deer.   

Actually I have to travel to the dinner, I don't live where it takes place. But that's not a complaint as it gives us the ability to end the visit when we want by saying we have to make the drive home.

Its a long story, but for me dislike of Thanksgiving goes back a long way. As an adult who enjoys hunting, it galls me because it has to come at the very peak of deer season. The fact that the gathering has become less than enjoyable over the years makes it even worse.

In any case, I dropped a nice buck yesterday afternoon, so at least the darned holiday wont be responsible for a lack of success. I'll still hate it though. As for my mother and keeping her happy, its more a matter of not wanting to have to explain to her why Im not there. She wouldn't mind, as I have said, but at her age and her faculties being what they are, I would have no guarantee that she would remember, or know better than to repeat what I might tell her.

Congrats on dropping a nice one! That sure makes the rest of the season better!

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[DWARREN]

I don't hate it but it is not the holiday it once was!
Neither is Christmas.

[Ron M.]

I've always looked forward to Thanksgiving. It's the one time the whole family is at the ranch and can get some time together, along with getting a little deer and small game hunting in.

[George16]

I always liked the holidays and looked forward to them. I was raised in a family wherein we always look out for each other. It’s always been family first and holidays are just the icing in the cake so to speak.

However, holidays had been commercialized and diluted. There’s no more distinct separation between thanksgiving and Christmas for example since stores already are decorated with Christmas sales offerings when thanksgiving isn’t even over yet.

Even though that’s the case, I still try to instill in my kids the importance of family and how to make the holidays  worthwhile.

[crosstimbers]

When I was younger I hated it too. Too much stress and no one really there for the right reason. Now that I too am an old man, I appreciate the gathering of friends and family. It’s nice to be together and not have the commercialism like Christmas.

Christmas on the other hand has become a season and holiday that I feel forced in to.


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Well, ironically I feel just the opposite. I know that Christmas has been commercialized but I still love it, not necessarily the gatherings but the holiday itself.

The comments about family and the importance of family have given me some thought. I suppose that I would stress that in my family, the Thanksgiving gathering is NOT a family gathering. As I have explained the actual family present will be a minority of people there. Our Thanksgiving get-togethers stopped being a family event when grandparents and parents stopped hosting the gathering, and a sibling started doing so. Now all the grandparents are gone and only one elderly parent remains. So, without getting into detail beyond that, I don't think my attitude on this subject is in any way anti-family. It is anti-crappy event I would rather not attend.

As for age, well I will be able to draw my social security here in about three years. So I am sure that Im not as old as some, but not so young that the lessons of life and family haven't been learned.