To me the most important sides in order of priority are:

I’m just trying to get my non-committal family to decide who is cooking what for Thanksgiving. We have Thanksgiving at my dad’s every year, and my dad doesn’t cook. Mom used to do the cooking, but she passed away several years ago. One of my sisters used to go over to my dad’s in the morning and cook a lot of the…

I make my own microwave popcorn and flavor it with butter and salt. It tastes pretty damn good, and to me is close to what you get at the theater. I prefer making my own, as it doesn’t seem to have what I personally detect as a filminess with store-bought microwave popcorn. 

We used to buy the Quaker Oats variety pack, and found that the low sugar version tastes better than the standard which is too sweet. Now we just buy regular Old Fashion Oats. 

When my son was born 8 years ago I spent about 6 days in the hospital with him and my wife. I ate via “guest trays” in my wife’s hospital room, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food. Their breakfast menu offered omelets with a variety of filling options, and I ate one of those every morning. They…

Regarding sausage being included, I’m from Michigan with no Southern ancestry, and my family has always put sausage in the stuffing.

I would like an article on how to politely end holiday gift exchanges that you don’t want. I have a pretty tight-knit family, and I truly do enjoy spending time with most of them. That said, beyond my wife, kids, dad, and grandparents, I’d like to stop exchanging gifts. I’m almost 40 years old and still exchange gifts…

You gotta go local! I did it myself the first time, I think it cost around $80 to rent the auger at Home Depot. That was also 10-12 years ago. The next time I needed to do it I learned it only cost $20 more to pay someone, and I figured it was well worth $20 to not be covered in literal shit.

I make mashed potatoes often, and have recently switched from using a potato masher to a hand mixer. I used to think I preferred having a few potato chunks leftover from using a masher, but I’ve really grown to love the silky smooth texture that using the mixer creates. 

Where in god’s name do you live that having your sewer snaked costs $1,000? I’ve needed to have it done a few times over the years, it cost around $100. 

You do you. Stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner, so Stovetop just won’t do. 

I’ve never broken from the very simple cranberries, orange juice, and granulated sugar recipe that I started with. 

I have no idea what my family recipe is, but it’s cloyingly sweet. I’m also not a big sweets person, so that could be part of it. I personally wouldn’t say “only” 1/2 cup of sugar for 3 pounds of sweet potatoes, that sounds like a shitload to me. 

This is also very true. I grew up on the canned stuff, so my family never ate real cranberry sauce until I started making it. Those who liked cranberry sauce before are all big fans of mine, and since they never made it, I think they believe it requires a lot more effort than it actually does. 

I’m a fan of it, but I can also understand those who are opposed. For me the majority of the appeal lies in the crunchy onion topping. 

Yeah, but people can generally still “self-service”, so not quite the same. I have a feeling most who participate in this don’t have a partner to address any of those needs with. 

Although I’d probably like it we don’t do spicy in my family. Most of them adhere to a very strict Midwestern diet.

I’m 90% confident that you are correct. That’s all the more reason not to follow this silliness. 

I don’t hate Stovetop Stuffing, but it doesn’t belong at Thanksgiving. My family always uses ground pork sausage in our stuffing. I have no idea how common that is, but it’s something I’d miss if it wasn’t there. 

“On Nov. 19, 2021, you can check out a nearly full eclipse of the “beaver moon.” For free. Just up there in the sky.”