9 Reasons Other People Aren’t Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner This Year and 1 Reason I’m Not Either

Forget Thanksgiving, I’m Going to Portugal

Mary DeVries
3 min readNov 21, 2023

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He’s happy I’m going to Portugal. Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-headed-bird-in-close-up-photo-53460/

After over three decades of cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner, I’m skipping it this year. Come the early hours of the fourth Thursday in November I’m stuffing a suitcase instead of a turkey and flying to Portugal.

Google “reasons not to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year” or “reasons not to celebrate Thanksgiving” and you’ll have articles to read nonstop until New Year’s. But none of them are my reasons.

Here — in the spirit of providing a holiday-themed story despite the clear saturation of the internet already— is my list of all the reasons other people skip the feast that isn’t my reason.

I hate Thanksgiving

I adore Thanksgiving. A day spent with loved ones eating and drinking? Bring it on.

I hate turkey

Okay, people have a point here. Turkey ranges from tasty to meh but it’s pretty hard to move it into the “oh my God, this is fantastic” territory. I understand the appeal of trashing the traditional bird and finding something fancy.

Not me though. Turkey is a necessary step to the real stars of Thanksgiving dinner…

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Mary DeVries

The older I get, the less I know. That won’t stop me from writing about everything and anything under the sun. Join me in delighting and despairing about life.