I would be fine without turkey at Thanksgiving. In fact, I would prefer it. Never much of a fan of turkey to begin with (turkey lunchmeat is a different story). There are a lot better and definitely a lot easier foods to cook.
Ham, chicken, pork roast, beef roast all GOOD!...............
Not a big fan of turkey either. To me...they’re kind of a garbage bird.
The only turkey I really enjoy is...sliced breast meat on white bread, slathered with Duke’s Mayo, salted and peppered. Throw some chips and pickles on the plate...yum. This usually happens the day AFTER Thanksgiving.
Our extended family broke away from the turkey tradition about 20 years ago. My brother and his wife took over hosting Thanksgiving back then and surprised everyone by having made a big, beautiful pork crown roast. No one complained that I ever heard about, and it’s been the Thanksgiving standard ever since.