to ask how american celebrate thanksgiving

[AuntiePickleBottom]

i work with a few people who are americian.

they have book from wednesday off, but i am wondering how do you celebrate thanksgiving

You eat. A lot...turkey and yams and green bean casserole and pumpkin pie etc. And watch american football.

thats about it!

That's not all. My entire family gets together and has a meal. We spend the day together, cooking, talking, eating, clearing away. The day (for us) is just about spending time together. It's my favourite holiday as there is nothing commercial about it. No stress over giving crap gifts for the sake of it. Just a nice family day. We do watch football and usually some movies. Wish I could be there this year

If you're American is Thanksgiving a bigger deal than Christmas?

Most Americans have the Thursday and Friday off work. It probably is a bigger deal than Christmas, or at least equal.

You get together with your family and eat and watch the parade (maybe) and watch football. And, er, say what you are thankful for. And have a fight with your family (optional but common).

Thanksgiving is the biggest travel holiday of the year in America. The airports are at their busiest this week as whoever is travelling is condensed into the same few days.

Wednesday - people tend to leave work early and do a last supermarket shop for perishables

Thursday - Most people get up, and watch the parade (Macy's department store in NYC does a huge parade that begins on the Upper West Side of NYC and progressed down to Times Square (where Macy's is located).

Food is prepared and people eat a big meal mid/late afternoon with friends and family. Watch football on telly.

Friday - the 'official' start of the Christmas shopping season. All the stores have huge sales to 'kick off' the shopping season, and it is one of the busiest days of the year for purchases.

Friday and Saturday - after Thanksgiving are big days for important college football games - it is getting close to the end of the season, and many big long-standing rivalry games are played on those days.

People also start to put up outdoor Christmas lights on their houses/on trees in the yard over this weekend. Wreathes go up on front doors, and mailboxes at end of drives start to be decorated - though not everyone decorates the outside of their home.

So in summary - friends and families get together to eat a big meal, lots of football is watched, Christmas shopping/decorations begin.

Agree with poster who said it is a lovely holiday because there isn't the stress of shopping/gift giving, etc.

I have always wondered, if Americans have turkey for Thanksgiving, what do you have for Christmas Dinner? Is there a different traditional dish or do you have turkey again? Or just something else nice?

Some have turkey again - as most don't really have it any other time of the year, it is not as if people tire of it.

Some families traditionally have ham - there is a big chain of stores called 'honey roast ham', and many people place advance orders to 'reserve' a ham that is then picked up a day or two before the holiday in question.

Other families have different traditions - pork or roast beef tenderloin, steaks, etc.

There's not really a single traditional dish for Christmas, you can have pizza if you like, though most people would try to make it a bit more special than that -- roast at the least. Turkey for Xmas would be... a little strange. Christmas is about gifts and loved ones, but beyond too much candy it's not really about food. Turkey-Day is about Thanks and certain foods and appreciating your family, typically.

Americans get 2 days off for Thanksgiving but only one off for Christmas, hence why Turkey-Day has turned into the See-Your-Family-Once-A-Year occasion and Christmas is often about seeing the special people you choose to have in your life.

My dad almost always goes to his mom's house for both holidays (with as many of his siblings who can make it, and their kids and now my cousin's kids and more family friends than you can imagine) -- one recent year my grandmother wasn't even there for Xmas, though, she was off doing voluntary work or house-sitting or somesuch.

Oh, plus TG always comes on a Thursday so if you have the Friday off that's a guaranteed long weekend, Xmas could happen any day of the week, though, just when the weather might be at its worst, so you don't usually plan to take a big trip then.

Did you know the Song Jingle Bells was written to celebrate Thanksgiving and not Xmas? Or so I've heard.

How many weeks holiday does a typical American worker get - I worked there years ago and people only seemed to get two weeks - but not sure if that's changed.

I only get one week of vacation. DH gets three. It really depends where you work.

For our family Christmas is a bigger holiday, although nationally thanksgiving is probably bigger.

We are doing this for thanksgiving this year:

Spending Wednesday night at BIL/SIL's house two hours away. SIL and I will do the cooking.

Menu:
Turkey
Ham
Stuffing
Green bean casserole (blech)
Broccoli cheese rice (blech. Not even real cheese. Must be CheezWhiz)
Firecracker corn
Mashed potatoes
Cranberry sauce
Gallons of gravy
Fresh bread
Pumpkin pie
Chocolate pie
Lemon mirengue pie
A whole lot of alcohol for me, necessary to put up with idiot BIL.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on tv. Then football. Last year though, we played Rock Band instead of watching football

SIL and I are also planning to decorate gingerbread houses with the kids.

I only have Thursday off, so will come home Thursday night so I can go to work ^in the morning.

One week's holiday! that's shocking - you can't even plan a trip away on that....

I get six and I whinge about that

And six weeks is considered generous for maternity leave. My boss at the time offered me two weeks maternity leave and was confused when I quit.

It's impossible to do Thanksgiving here in the UK, unless you celebrate it with other Americans. One year I tried. Really tried. But since people couldn't get the whole day off, it ended up being like a dinner party and didn't have the atmosphere. There wasn't football on TV, obviously, and was a bit wrong.

Some holidays travel, but Thanksgiving doesn't really.

I've never heard of only one week of holiday in America. Do you work part-time, or are you new to the position?

Afaik - all full time positions begin with 2 weeks holiday (after a year of employment) plus (of course), bank holidays.

Extra holiday (one week) is added after 5 years of employment, with another week being added at each 5 year anniversary. So, if you've worked for a company for 10 years, you'd have a month of holiday.

Oh - also should say that often executives begin a new job with more than 2 weeks holiday. All depends on the contract they negotiate, and perks on offer.

Many jobs you can only one week at a time of the 2 weeks annual leave, maybe that's what MA meant, too. Is there actually a statuatory requirement for any vacation time (like the 4 weeks you have to have for most jobs in the UK)?

I work full time, and have for three years. They don't have to offer any vacation at all. It depends on the employer. My employer is awful, but at the moment the hours and location make it possible for me to work during school hours so I put up with the rest. For now.

Eg: California time does not require an employer to give you any vacation time. I can remember now when my old employer brought in vacation time (1 week, this was 1989-1990 or so). I must have been working there 3 years or so before that.

Well, that is a new one on me. I haven't been employed in America since 1995 - things have obviously changed!

While we're on the topic, the concept of redundancy pay (especially redundancy pay related to length of service) or claiming unfair dismissal ... I'm not sure if anything similar exists in most US states. They were certainly alien concepts to me when I first came to work in the UK.

I don't think things have changed, tbh. I think you had a great employer when you were here because there are as many great ones as there are duds.

What sort of job(s) did you do, Earlybird? I was working in a family-run health food store, fast food outlets, for temp agencies and at Sea World. I suspect that you were taking more skilled employment?

My dad got 4 weeks of holiday time/year, but his wife (same qualifications, same employer, also many years of service) only got 2-3 weeks because of her less prestigious role.

We flew in to US on thanksgiving last year - was great - quickest ever through immigration and driving to the hotel was like driving on xmas day here - hardly any cars as everyone was with family at home.

Loved the blck friday sales.

I'm British but lived in California a few years back. DH was employed by UK company so got typical UK holiday allowance. I had 8 days paid vacation, so not a full two weeks. Which sucked!