The only time we went out to dinner for Thanksgiving was when I was very pregnant with our third child, just days away from delivering our baby. It wasn’t Golden Corral, but it was nice not to cook that time. The other two kids (2-1/2 and 4-1/2) behaved so well that they were complimented by other patrons and the wait staff. We had no family around, though Mom and Dad came to help after the youngest was delivered. Those were the days!
On Thanksgiving Day about 30 years ago, I had to drive from my home in Tucson back to my job in southern Sonora, about an eight-hour trip. I got a turkey sandwich at the gas station before I left, and somewhere south of Hermosillo I put Alice’s Restaurant in the cassette deck, unwrapped the sandwich, and had Thanksgiving dinner on the road. That covered the minimum requirements for Thanksgiving, without having to socialize.