With Thanksgiving round the corner, are you yet to plan for a family reunion? Share with us your ideas to spend Thanksgiving this year.

It is tradition to spend the holiday at my grandmothers house. Considering that we are ALL on a strict budget this is how years before has been spent and probably years to come.

1. My uncle always recieve a turkey at his employment for thanksgiving so, so its donated.

2. My aunt insists that we have ham also and donates that.

3. my grandmother loves to bake and with this years crop at the niebors we recieved our cherries and apples for free for our pies.

4. my aunt always makes a secret recipe stuffing balls wich is her donation.

5. every year my grandfather goes to the local amish were we can get a 501lb sack of potatoes for 15.00

without going any further, anything extra that is not on this list is discussed and donated by someone. so that at most it may cost only around $5.00 for each of us if anything at all. This huge meal will feed all of us wich is around 30 adults and 10 or so kids and any other friends or stragglers that anyone invites along. considering no matter how hard or tough times are we never turn anyone away at the holidays. and there is always left overs.

Cost is never a factor at our holidays, and niether is time. At the end of the day us women chip in to help my grandmother with clean up and dishes so that everyone can enjoy the holiday with friends and family. Its a group effort financially, time, and effort.

Yes it's November! You know what that means, Thanksgiving is close and Christmas follows soon after! There are many people out there that are analyzing their bank accounts to figure out how they are going to prepare a great Thanksgiving feast and then a month later give presents to family and friends that will prompt responses of "oooh" and "ahhh." All this in a time where the economy is struggling to get back on track and taking a toll on everyone's pockets.

Personally, Thanksgiving is not going to make a dent in my pocket. You see I have a mentality that is focused more on a sense of togetherness rather than a fiscal sense. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a loving family, I have a paycheck, I have my faith, and I have my health. I am going to get together with my family and celebrate this thanks. What more do I need? A lavish dinner?

Well it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without one would it? However, that's where the sense of TOGETHERNESS from the family comes into play. Instead of having one family forking over all the dollars into a huge dinner, we are going to split the expenses. We are getting a big turkey, we are going to prepare homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. together (my stomach is starting to make noises). We are going to split the expenses. When we put our finances together our bank accounts will not be in the red, and we will have an amazing dinner.

One thing I can honestly say is that these times have made me appreciate life, so I'm doing everything possible to show this appreciation. I work in the hospitality industry. I have worked out a deal with my work where my family and I are staying in 5-star accommodations for $184 for the week in Orlando??? a two bedroom suite which sleeps 8 people. I'm inviting my extended family, nieces, and nephews to go with me for the week of Thanksgiving. This is because I am thankful to have them in my life. Under normal circumstances, their parents would not normally be able to afford these accommodations. But in my line of work, there are perks. Instead of selfishly using the perks on myself, I am sharing that with my family.

I know everyone can't do this for his family ??? the point I'm trying to make is that we all can do something above and beyond to show appreciation for our families that they may not be able to experience due to economic circumstances. I wake up everyday thankful that I'm alive ??? and I'm going to celebrate that thankfulness with my family by doing something beyond their means but within mine so that they will have a memorable time. Not everyone has this perk, but everyone can think of something to show a sense of appreciation to the ones they love on Thanksgiving.

So I urge people to come together with family and friends this season and remember that Thanksgiving is a time to show that you are grateful to the most important people in your life. Come together and prepare a lavish Thanksgiving together. In this time of uncertainty the one common denominator we have is familial cohesiveness!

Remember that you are celebrating Thanksgiving with the people who will be with you no matter what! Even if the economy slaps you across the face, throws you against the pavement, and robs you blind...you will always have your family. Plan the day together, spend the day together, and don't worry about the money...when you're together with family everything ALWAYS falls into place!

Thanksgiving in my family use to be, during a childhood, a time when we all dressed up and drove 100+miles to see our relatives at my aunt and uncles home. Then, once out of high school, it became a day to go see mom and pop and the siblings; no dressing up required. Now, it is just me and if I am lucky, my sons might spend an hour with me. This year though, I am planning a nice day for us. I went to Winco and found a package of cleaned and halved Cornish game hens for a whooping $2.98. At that price I could afford some mashed taters and a can of gravy and some apples to make a pie with. After dinner, we will begin to decorate the house with Christmas lights and decorations and make room for a real tree this year -actually, we are cutting down on in the yard as the landlord said it needs to be removed due to code and too close to the house. ( I have not been able to have one in some 5 years now). Also, the boys are helping me clean my cupboard of all the canned goods I just do not eat but are still very good and donating them to the food pantry. All in all, it plans to be a very nice holiday for us all and I hope it is for everyone !

Our plan for our Thanksgiving this year is to stay home and enjoy our family :) . We have 4 young boys ages 5,7,10 and 13 and we go from one sport to the next, it has been hard to get to sit down as a family and enjoy each other.
This year we are planning on having a nice real thanksgiving dinner with all of the fixings, sitting down as a family at the table and having our long lost conversations.
We have plans to make it a full family weekend full of games and of course there will be some hunting going on for my hubby and my oldest son as well.
We are not going all out with special dishes, just good old homemade everything. This saves alot rather than buying pre cooked or packaged meals. We also will be cooking the meal as a family, this is a great way to spend time together and have fun.

Our way of celebrating Thanksgiving this year will be different from the past as we are in a state that is far away from friends and family. Having been laid off my job last year, coupled with the high cost of holiday travel, will leave us far away in miles from those we love but not apart in heartfelt emotion. My father in law survived two heart attacks at 80 and will be home and in better health then before!
Thanks we will give!
My nephew returned from Iraq to his wife and young son, whom he hardly knew, as a decorated Captain with all his limbs and faculties! He then survived having a cancerous kidney removed while his wife was successfully treated for thyroid cancer. They are both in their twenties.
Thanks we will give!
Despite my wife and I both being separated from conventional employment, through faith and grace we have kept our lives reasonably intact and found other ways to make money. God showed us, ever so slowly to build our patience, opportunities and abilities that we otherwise would never have discovered.
Thanks we will give!
I found an old 6 x18 inch dark wooden box that my wife bought at a flea market or somewhere much to my objection. It will house a bottle of wine nestled in some dried flowers and berries, that I have already located at the edge of a weed patch along with some pinecones and make a lovely piece for the table.
For my wife???s always winning an argument I will give thanks!

A small turkey at around 70 cents per pound, add the potatoes, stuffing, and whatever else you choose and Thanksgiving for two is about twenty dollars. Add a large bottle of Barefoot Pinot Grigio for ten dollars or a small bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau for the same cost and that is all we need besides possibly a little help from Mrs. Smith if Wifey is not in a baking mood. That should leave enough for a second turkey for someone less fortunate.
For the cost of a turkey being affordable and smelling so darn good when it cooks, we will give thanks!

In years past we would put on the Macy???s Parade in the morning and football in the afternoon. Even if we did not watch the parade until Santa showed up or cared which team won the game, it was a soundtrack for our lives on that one special day of the year. It was free then and still is! We will be thankful for the fact that we participate in all these American traditions for one reason that does not come free or even cheap. Freedom!
To all those who gave their lives for this privilege, thanks we will give.

This writing could go on forever if I were to convey all that we have to be thankful for even in times that seem difficult and rightfully so! A thankful spirit will open your heart and your mind and make you aware of what is really the truth. The times seem difficult but in reality, in contrast to most of the world, they are simply as troubled as what is realized.

So how are we going to spend Thanksgiving Day? Simple, it is all in the name!
Oh and by the way, thanks for reading this and thanks for being you!

Thanksgiving 2009 will be much different for many Americans. Many families who sat down in the dining room at the Thanksgiving table will do so again this year but with a different perspective to say the least.

They may find themselves in a different dining room with a different window view, in a different community. These are families that have relocated due to foreclosure or a need to move into a dwelling of lower cost.

Families fortunate to have kept there home will do so with what i suspect will be a greater appreciation for their surroundings, luxuries, and home stability.

Thanksgiving this year will hear louder and perhaps more genuine whispers and prayers giving thanks for what we have been given or if you prefer for what we have obtained. This improvement of our collective perspective comes with a sense of irony. I say this is ironic because this thanks giving we as Americans have less. At least in terms of belongings and notions of stability.

Happy Thanksgiving From HopeNHousing.Org

This year I will have Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Since our parents passes away in the pass years, we have lost 2 brothers in the pass year and have somehow drifted away from each other. This year we will come together in my small house and I will invite all my 12 brothers and sisters to once again get together and enjoy the holiday. This is the only family I have and when my 2 oldest brothers died, it was like they just went back to their house and we will see them, when we see them. But we will never see them again! I want my family to know that I love them all and we need to see each other more before it's too late. So this will be the begining (hopefully) of many more gatherings to come for us and May God Bless all the families this Thanksgiving Holiday.

Well.......this Thanksgiving will be the FIRST Thanksgiving my son won't be here. My son moved out of state, with his dad. I AM spending it with a very good friend of mine. However, my son will be on my mind, as well. Ya see, ..my EX has been planning to move back home (Ky) and my son was thinking about moving with him. My son and I had talked about this, in 'great length'. Even though I want my son here for the Holidays, I need to let him 'grow up'. I miss him very much..however,..he is excited about his new 'venture'.

This year the grocery store in our town is offering a special when you shop there. For every dollar you spend you earn money towards a turkey. So far I have enough saved up to get my turkey for free. Also when the farmers markets were still going on I bought lots of fresh veggies and put them in the freezer and have about 100# of potatos in my basement. So right now I have almost everything I need for the dinner. We are going up to the cabin with our kids and are going to cook our turkey over the campfire. Hubby makes homemade dinner rolls, so we won't have to buy those. The only thing I have to buy for the dinner is stuff for pies. Everything else we already have :) So this year it will cost us almost nothing for our Thanksgiving dinner. Planning early when farmers markets were up and running is what saved me money.

My sister lives in PA. My family and I live in NJ. Due to both of us being given furlough days throughout the year and helping to keep our adult children afloat, we are combining forces. I will travel to PA and will pick up our mother at the nursing home and take her to dinner at my sister's. My daughter will transport her children, her sister and brother-in-law to my sister's. We will all bring a main dish, already cooked, to be reheated. The grandchildren will provide desserts.

This plan will relieve my sister of the stress of cooking a complete meal, leaving her time to spend with our Mother. Doubling up in vehicles will save gas and bridge fare.

The reverse will be done for Christmas - dinner at my house.

Since it is so close to Thanksgiving, you may have to try this next year. I started this a few years ago when things were really tight financially.

What I do is, starting around October or the first of the month, I start buying for Thanksgiving. I buy my cans of green beans and other canned goods or non perishable items. I make a list of all that I will need and start buying a little at a time every pay day.

I fix enough for 3 families every year doing this, with leftovers to send home.

You can buy everything you need,except the last minute stuff like celery,etc. and have it all done before Thanksgiving, without your finances taking a hard hit all at once. By Thanksgiving I have bought 3- 20 pound turkeys,stuffing fixings,green beans, sweet potato casserole,rolls,pies and toppings with a few extras!-Maybe this will help someone for Christmas dinner or next year.

We are going to shop at NPS a discount store for most of our Thanksgiving dinner. NPS has the lowest prices, but you need to watch the expiration dates on some of the items. Coupons is another avenue I plan to take on, but again NPS honors all coupons also. I think another way to save money is not to get too lavish on anything. There is a beauty of keeping a holiday meal simple and your family's favorite items. Another way we are going to save money is to make many meals from Thanksgiving dinner. The options are unlimited...you just need to be creative. Also, since my sister is great at making Pumpkin pies, and I am not....we make a little extra, and share between families.

To make my home look festive and beautiful, and take full advantage of items I have purchased (like candles, decorations) in the off season or at yard sales. My home looks like Martha Stewart, but cost next to nothing.