What to do as a single mother for Thanksgiving?

Question

I'm 8 months pregnant and can't travel to visit my family on Thanksgiving. It's just my daughter and I alone for the first time this Thanksgiving. I would love to cook all of the traditional stuff, but the reality is that I really don't want to slave in the kitchen all day over a hot stove to cook for two. The reality is that we probably wouldn't eat all of those leftovers either. We don't really know anyone where we live because we just moved here so going to a friend's house is out of the question. What is a good way to still have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner without cooking it, going to a buffet (eew), or spending a lot at a restaurant?

Answer 1

To make it simple, you could get two Cornish game hens! Use some prepared stuffing, and get any other dishes at a deli that you could warm up. Throwing the birds into the oven isn't hard, and you could still have a real dinner. Besides, kids like having a miniature "turkey" of their own! And you would get to smell that good aroma for awhile!

Most supermarkets have such a variety of prepared foods these days. And many have a salad bar type thing that you can buy just what you want.

It is hard to be away from family on holidays, but call them and have a visit that way. Just make it a special day for you and your daughter. I'm sure being that pregnant, you would feel more comfortable being home than to eat out anyway. Rent a couple of movies. Watch the parade on TV.

Good luck with the new baby!

Answer 2

Try your very bestest to get someone over to your house to eat. What are you going to do if you are early and have the baby Thanksgiving day? It's really good to have in-house back-up.

OK, next think about the menu. What really means Thanksgiving to you? You don't have to make everything -- just the top two or three. Try baking a whole chicken instead of a turkey. Try steamed sweet potatoes with caramel sauce instead of the whole she-bang. Make a salad, buy a few pie pieces. Add the extra trimmings that you can buy whole: a small jar of olives, a great loaf of bread, a small jar of pickles, a bag of baby carrots (or maybe splurge on a crudite tray from the deli).

Then, replace the food stuff with fun stuff. Take the time to watch the parades on TV. Take a walk in your neew neighborhood and watch the autumn leaves. Take in a movie (with your new friend!) or watch a DVD that makes you happy and thankful. Instead of being bloated on Thanksgiving, be pleasantly full and satisfied.

And Call Your Family, or arrange for them to call you. That will help. You could even exchange videos or something before the big day.

It sounds like circumstances have not been the best for you this year, but I'm sure you will find things you can still be thankful for! Good luck!

Answer 3

You and your daughter can both pick a few of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes and then make small portions of them. You can make a small chicken instead of a turkey. You can still make a traditional dinner without being in the kitchen all day and without a lot of leftovers, just make everything smaller. Maybe if she's old enough you can let your little girl help you make some of the dinner. Take lots of pictures of the two of you shopping for the food, preparing it, cooking it, and then finally eating it together. Then when you get the pictures developed you can both put together a scrapbook of the Thanksgiving the two of you shared together. I hope this helps you a little. Good luck and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I wish you a blessed delivery of your new little one!

Answer 4

Thanksgiving isn't about the traditional meal. Sure, everyone loves the turkey and pumkin pie, but the memories come from merely spending time with your family and enjoying the things God gave you. I remember that when I was 8, my dad made a huge turkey with all the trimmings. My entire family was over, and when we were about to serve the turkey, my dad tropped it, and it went all over the floor along with the dressing! It was disappointing for a moment, but my mom quickly called the pizza place, and we had pepperoni pizza for Thanksgiving that year! So just remember that Thanksgiving's about spending time with your loved ones and being thankful. Even though we had a very unconventional thanksgiving that one year, as a child, i remember thinking how much fun it was to just be with my family. Ever since then, my family retells the inccident of the "pizza Thanksgiving," which has been my favorite Thanksgiving yet.

Answer 5

How about make a little something Thanksgiving like and you and her have your own dinner together. Let her help you out and i'm pretty sure you two will have a time you will never forget. Be thankful for what you got pig out and set back and relaxes at least you know there wont be a big mess to clean up Happy Thankgiving and wish for you two the best

Answer 6

Just get a small turkey and cook small portions of the stuff you really want like. If you do have left over turkey you can make yummy turkey sandwiches for a few days. Hope you have a nice thanksgiving.

Answer 7

well u really don't have to cook a lot of food!! you could get a little hen! make a little dressing go to the store and pick up some side dishes. u don't even have to cut onions and peppers u can buy this at the store already cut! now go for it, good luck!!!

Answer 8

While scrolling through questions I saw yours and it tugged at my heart strings because I too, was a single mother (3 kids, now all grown)and I know the emotions that go with that situation at any holiday time. We want to make sure that our kids do not miss out on traditional holiday joy and traditions because they do not have two parents in the household. Also, like you, many mothers are not close, emotionally or geographically, to the rest of their families and the "Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's house we go!" mentality just doesn't work in their situation. My children and I were blessed to spend many holidays near and with my parents, who, like us, loved any holiday. We also made family out of many of our friends, neighbors and coworkers through the years. I tried several times to invite friends - especially people that I knew would be alone for some reason - to our home to fill it with the sounds of others enjoying themselves and anything to make the day seem different and special to my own children.

It was not Thanksgiving, but Christmas when my daughter (now 25) was 11. We had just moved from Texas to North Carolina where I was waiting to accept a new job. We arrived, with a moving van and found that we had to wait 11 days to move into the house where we were going to live, so this meant all our belongings on a van for 11 days and the two of us in a motel. I searched around Raleigh for a lovely place to stay that was reasonable and homey. This place had been a resort many years ago and was still very attractive, but it was the "off season" for them and they were not the "downtown high rise" type of hotel that was popular then. All of her christmas presents were on the truck - packed up in boxes up front in the back compartment of the truck where I would have had to unload a 3 bedroom home's worth of furniture to find the boxes. We decided since it was just us, and since we knew that eventually we would get the Christmas presents that were already purchased and wrapped, that we would do something special that year. We each bought the other ONE present. We set a small limit because the move had been expensive and also because we had expensive gifts already boxed and wrapped that we would be discovering in January. My daughter got me a necklace from Walmart. It was very pretty, costume jewelry, but very pretty. I still have it and wear it occasionally, thinking of that special Christmas. I got her
a beautiful crystal with a silver bail on the top so it could hang on a chain. She hung it in the window and called it a "sun catcher" Then a few years later, she made a ceiling fan pull out of it and uses it to this day (she's 25). Our Christmas tree was a 36" tree that was flat on the back and hung on the wall. We decorated it with tiny white lights and little ornaments we got at a discount store. The tiny lights blinking in our room at night were beautiful when we lay in the two beds side by side in our room at night, talking about family we missed and had not been away from on a holiday before and about the new job and how much we looked forward to getting into our new life. On Christmas Eve we went to a choral service at the church and then came back "home" to our hotel dining room where we had a simple but elegantly served meal in front of a roaring fireplace in the dining room of our hotel. We were seated in a small separate area near the fire (the dining room was almost empty since there were few people there that night). The dining room staff were sparse, since they mostly went home for Christmas and we appreciated the older couple who served us such a lovely meal. The next morning late we had a Christmas brunch in the buffet restaurant near there, with lovely table, great food, and music playing in the background. It too was very good and we had wonderful conversation there at that time. There was a woman playing Christmas standards on the piano all throughout our brunch meal and we enjoyed the music with our "breakfast/lunch". Then we watched Christmas shows on t.v. all afternoon and napped and had a very contented day. We called all our family who kept saying how terrible, Christmas in a motel room. They didn't really understand what a bonding and special experience it was for us and how much we valued the time we had together that year. Treasure this Thanksgiving alone with your daughter, looks like next year will be somewhat different for youl It doesn't matter whether you have traditional dinner or hotdogs, just enjoy each other for the special relationship that you share.

Enjoy your child (soon to be children!). Give thanks that you don't have to spend all day in the kitchen. Decide to go out and make some unusual memories with you daughter. Happy Thanksgiving (and Christmas/New Years!).

Answer 9

initiate via no longer feeling so sorry for your self. you ought to be on the soup kitchen becuase you're down and out, no longer a volunteer. surely all human beings suffers in this existence. maximum of what motives it somewhat is our view element and the selections we make (i.e., it somewhat is stable, it somewhat is bvad, i like, i do unlike, etc.) somewhat of only understanding that each little thing only "is". removing or letting flow of our desires and attatchments, our ideas that we would desire to havae issues our way in any different case, etc., is a stable place to initiate. it is going to lead you to questioning wisely and not judging. it is going to lead you to appearing consciously, in mndful understanding. it is going to help you unfastened your sense of being break away all others and all different issues somewhat of being an part of each little thing. try occurring a stable Zen retreat. you could learn lots.

Answer 10

Why wont family come visit you since you cant visit them? They can use your kitchen to cook so that you dont have to.