Retailers engaged in War On ThanksgivingFollow

Our dish towel died. It wasn't even really a dish towel; I think it was an old bathroom towel. But it's been used and washed and used so much the fibers remain stiff no matter how much TLC we give it, and I've decided to retire it to the cats.

I decided this was the perfect excuse to participate in that great American silliness, overdecorating for specific holidays. Thanksgiving is the next one up, so you'd think I could find a dish towel that matches it.

The following conversation is almost verbatim at Marshall's, the closest big box store to my office.

Me to clerk: Hi, I was looking for some Thanksgiving dish towels. I only see Christmas ones out.

Clerk: Have you checked the clearance section?

Me: Clearance...? But Thanksgiving is still three weeks away.

Clerk: Well, we roll it into the "harvest" seasonal stuff. Once we take out the Harvest things, they go to clearance.

So I checked the clearance section. There was no Thanksgiving themed stuff. There wasn't really much of anything "harvest" at all, although I did find some awesome red maple leaf place mats that looked like they would be more at home in a Canada Day display.

I find this war on Thanksgiving, intentional or not, to be part of the overreaction retailers have to getting a jump on Christmas displays. They go straight from Halloween to Christmas, entirely omitting the major holiday of November. The only people who seem to really care are the grocery stores.

Well thats mostly because Thanksgiving isn't about buying more ****. Its about being thankful for what you already have. Christmas is for buying more ****.

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. When I was a kid, and still got spoiled silly at Christmas, that was my favorite. Now that I'm all grown up and **** I enjoy Thanksgiving more. It's so nice to have a few days with the family, a large meal, left overs, games, laughs, maybe going to see a movie (not so much since my brother had kids).

My last year in Tennessee, we had family come down from Michigan for Thanskgiving, and it was great. Then for the next 2 years I spent Thanksgiving depressed and alone in our apartment. Now that we're back on the mainland, I plan to go to Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year, and some family is coming down from Michigan again. A great time will be had. :) I can't wait.

We have this store - Reny's for you New Englanders, that sells all sorts of towels, placemats etc for dirt cheap. This is hard for me to admit but have three sets of placemats for my table. A spring/summer set, a fall set and a winter (x-mas colory) set. I also have various table clothes to fill in and change up the table.

Maybe table coverings are my feminine indulgence??

Those are cool but they're also in Dutch.

.... I might get them just to see the reaction on my mother-in-law's face.

As for "more than one towel" - the bath towels are entirely distinct from the kitchen "dry your hands" towel. The old one was a nice cherry red and matched the red and black decor.

Edited, Nov 6th 2013 1:49pm by Catwho

Does that have anything to do with your propensity for relocating your homestead across thousands of miles of open water every couple years?



Edited, Nov 6th 2013 8:13pm by Elinda

Given your hobo lifestyle, I assume you keep your meager possessions in a bindle made from your one towel and a handy stick.

I always thought it was about not feeling guilty for adding four sticks of butter and a cup of heavy cream to eight pounds of potatoes.

no no no I paid someone else to clean the car, get your teasing straight

You don't find that the towel stinks of must by the end of the week?

I like Thanksgiving. It's what it says right on the box: Eat a bunch of grub, hang out with family. Flea's family never did anything for it so she feels no compunction to cook a big meal but I take up the reins and get a turkey and the fixin's. I cheat on the stuffing but cook my own bird, make my own mashed potatoes, find some other side and last year gave making my own gravy a whirl. The woman's daughter at the lunch counter I go to a few times a week makes pies so I'll get one of those from her.

Then the weekend after, it's time to strip all the meat off the bird and throw the carcass into a big pot to simmer for the next 14-20 hours into broth. By the time I'm done, every ounce of flavor has been transferred from the bird to the broth and it makes for some kick-*** soups over the winter.

Edited, Nov 6th 2013 6:39pm by Jophiel

I cheat on the stuffing as well. I've tried a few recipes for stuffing, even making my own bread bits, seasoning mixtures, etc. For some reason it just never comes out as tasty as that sweet sweet pre-processed stuff that comes in the bag and you just add your own broth/celery/onions to. It's like there's some magical spices they have that I don't. Can't figure it out.

Gravy is one of those things that people sweat over, but if you do it right is the easiest darn thing in the world. Key bit (which far far too many people get wrong) is to add the broth to the roux, thinning as you go. The mistake people make is putting the broth/butter(or fat) together first and then adding flour to that to thicken it into gravy. Backwards. Totally backwards. You get clumps. It's slow. It's a pain in the butt. Do it the other way around and it's so easy even a cave man can do it.



This (although 14-20 hours might be a bit much. I'm thinking you've got about all the flavor you're going to get after about 4-5 hours). But anyway... Turkey soup for days/weeks/months! Great trick is to toss any left over stuffing into the soup as well for a cheap/easy dumpling type of effect. Yummy!

You people need to learn to make corn bread. There is no substitute for homemade corn bread stuffing.