<p>If you are staying near school, rather than going home: Be sure you eat lightly & properly because your classmates will bring to you tremendous amounts of Food & Goodies, that Mom wants to get rid of and thinks that the poor stayover students are too unfortunate to enjoy fine homecooking.</p>
<p>mollie</p>
<p>Think of the turkey sandwich as "carefree". The first time I spent hours and hours making a Thanksgiving dinner that was eaten in 20 minutes after which I spent hours dealing with leftovers, I thought, "Huh??" It's fun to do for a large group of people, but for a twosome, a turkey sandwich and no dishes could be a different kind of joy.</p>
<p>EK,
Have you checked the ride board at your school? At my son's school there are a dozen listings for kids wanting rides or riders one way or another. I asked my son to post one asking for riders. We live 6 hours away and while I don't mind him doing all the driving, I would prefer that he have a companion for company. </p>
<p>I agree that having an extra person at the table for Thanksgiving would not be a burden but a blessing. If you are invited somewhere please know that it makes the person on the giving end of the equation feel just as good as the person on the receiving end. As to dietary restrictions, as long as the cook knows in advance, that's usually not a problem either. Shoot, my BIL only eats turkey, stuffing and pie. My daughter is a vegetarian. I'm not real big on turkey....</p>
<p>im not in college but i always had the blessing of having my sisters home for turkey day when they were in college one went to college in westchester(i live on long island about a little over a hours drive away) and my other went to aib in boston and b4 that a yr at purchase weve always loved r thanksgivings and we usually have a ton of people over and it was cheap for oldest to get home from boston b/c she usually took the dreaded china town bus 4 10 dollars and then took the subway to penn station and penn station to r railroad station(all in all transportation cost around 30 dollars.. from boston to ny) and my middle sister had a car...even my ms was able to come home from abroad b/c of an emergency(it was my 8th grade thanksgiving right after my brain surgery she wanted to come home and surprise me she was there for r delayed turkey day i was still in the hospital on turkey day)</p>
<p>S is coming home for Thanksgiving...and Christmas break starts December 7 for him. I know that it seems crazy to fly him home twice in such a short period of time, but I know that there will soon be a day when he is spending Thanksgiving with in-laws, traveling, lives in another city and is busy with his job, etc. ....so, I figured it was a small price to pay. And, he is a F and hasn't been home yet.</p>
<p>I did not come home for Thanksgiving in college. I was over 2,000 miles from home. I didn't know anyone who did go home for the holiday unless they lived close by. We always got together and had a good time.</p>
<p>I would have been very sad if my D hadn't come home for Thanksgiving during her freshman year. I hope your mom doesn't feel the same way, Wolfpiper. This year she won't be home since she's wandering around South America. I'll just have to remember what a pain in the rear she was this summer at home to keep myself from getting teary.</p>
<p>oh, goodness, too late to edit but I meant to address my comment to Wolpiper, not EK. Where did that come from??</p>
<p>Agree with kriket. I would be unhappy if my kids didn't come home for Thanksgiving. Our house will be full of family and they would be missed.</p>
<p>Don't assume that I don't miss my S like crazy when he doesn't come home for Thanksgiving: last year we set an empty place for him and took a group photo around the empty place at the table, which we emailed him right after dinner. Of course I miss him, he's an integral part of the fabric of our family, and I was sad that he wasn't part of our meal. But he was thousands of miles away, with only four days off, and it was nonsensical to expect him to spend two of those four days with half of the rest of the country in airports, flying coast to coast and back again. No, we've learned to send him our love (and a copy of the "Alice's Restaurant" CD, which is part of our Thanksgiving tradition), tell him we expect a phonecall, and fix a second Thanksgiving meal in Dec. when he does come back. :)</p>
<p>We, too, will be fixing a Thanksgiving dinner in early December when DD does come home. We'll miss her this year, but we agree with Mootmom...it makes no sense for her to travel 3000 miles to eat turkey when she can travel within the state of her college to eat turkey with a member of the extended family. She won't be here for Easter either...and possibly not even spring break. Choices choices...she wants to fly home for her brother's senior recital or graduation from college. She gets ONE trip home and it can either be the break or one of the events. These events are weekend trips...three days. We simply can't fly her home in March for break, in April for the recital, in May for the graduation, and again in June at quarter's end.</p>
<p>I certainly agree that it doesn't make sense for a student to fly home for just a couple of days. One thing to keep in mind is that many colleges have longer Thanksgiving breaks. My son can leave after his last class on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I wouldn't be suprised if his afternoon classes are cancelled. West Virginia University kids don't have a fall break and are off from Saturday the 18th through Sunday the 26th. My daughter has off from Sunday the 19th of November through January 2!</p>
<p>My daughter has a full week off at Thanksgiving. It still does not make economical sense to fly her to the opposite coast...and back...and then do the same thing on December 9. It's just too much money and the breaks are too close together. She will stay on the opposite coast. She also KNEW this would be her choice if she chose that school...no surprises!!</p>
<p>Hey, Thumper, you know I'm not busting on you don't you?? Every family has to do what's right for them.
I'm really glad that Wolfpiper brought this up though. Parents of seniors take heed!</p>
<p>D2 is about an 8 hour trip from door to door, so she is coming home this year. Last year she took a trip to visit D1 who was several hours farther away. </p>
<p>D1 was always about 12-15 hours away, depending on layovers, so we never wasted our money & her time with so much travel at such a crazy time. I felt badly leaving her all alone there, but there were aunts & uncles & other family nearby, but she rarely chose to visit them on Tday, so I don't think it was all that traumatic!</p>
<p>In D2s case, she is just close enough to make it worthwhile.</p>
<p>My in-laws used to take a family photo with an 8 x 10 of whomever was missing.</p>
<p>D1 is studying abroad having the time of her life. We are planning to see her when we travel for Spring Break. D2 will catch a ride with a friend from her NY school to Boston and share Thanksgiving with her "extended" family - hs physics and running friends- 8 Northwest kids attending Eastern colleges will meet in Boston. Parents have combined resources - Mastercards - arranged hotel reservations + dinner reservations + concert tickets. For my daughter and one of the girls the week before Thanksgiving marks the first birthday they have been away from home. It's really a combined celebration.</p>
<p>Coming in late to this....</p>
<p>I was a student who didn't go home at Thanksgiving most of the years i was in college. When I did, I flew--and boy was that a hassle. Flights were expensive, planes were fully booked, everything was rushed. And usually I'd have some major assignment due just before or just after the break, so I'd be stressed out and short on sleep. It put a big damper on the enjoyment of what should have been a nice holiday.</p>
<p>In fact, in graduate school, and as an adult, I've pretty much done the same thing--avoided the travel because it's too much fuss for such a short time home. I am blessed that my family has always understood. I tried to make up for it (during the college years) by making sure I didn't shortchange my family with my time during the December holidays (resisting the temptation to spend most nights off with friends who were also home from break). </p>
<p>As for what I did in lieu of going home--One year I went to some other relatives' home which was much closer. One year my roommate took me home with her. I really enjoyed the latter--it was neat to meet everyone in her family. In graduate school, bunches of us would get together and cook a feast. Sometimes I felt a little sad about not being home. I still do, most years. But I think it's more realistic, given travel hassles, to not make the heroic effort. On the plus side, it's a nice "long weekend" to enjoy if you do stay at school or at home. I usually needed the break!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses!</p>
<p>I talked to my mom yesterday, and she really pushed for me to come home and said she wouldn't mind the drive, but it still seems like too much hassle/expense to me. She also brought up the idea of them coming up here, but they've already been here and if anyone travels, I want to see my HOME again (hope that make sense). I don't know any locals here`well, but I talked to my Bible study leader who said they aren't sure about what they'll do for Thanksgiving yet, but that he'll keep me posted. I'll also connect the Lutheran group and see if there planning anything. I think this is tough on my mom because this is potentially the first year that either/both of her two kids won't be home for the hokiday, even if it's not particularly big in our house.</p>
<p>Have you checked whether you can ride part way with another student, lessening the drive time and expense?</p>
<p>Go home. Your mom's willing to drive, she wants you there, why hold out?</p>
<p>S hasn't been home for Thanksgiving since he left for college in CA in '01, and then D left for the Left Coast in '05. So H & I celebrated a small Turkey Day last year and will do so again this year. Kids celebrate the holiday with my younger sister-in-law who lives in the LA area. It didn't make sense time-wise and economically for either kid to come home (during the heaviest travel time of the year) when s/he was going to be home just three weeks later for winter break.</p>
<p>Did the kids ever regret it? They missed not seeing us and their friends, but they knew that it would be just a short time before coming home for several weeks rather than several days. Do I regret it? Sometimes I get wis-t-f-u-l (it was asterisking me), until I remember how crazy airports can get. Then, I just pick up the phone! ;)</p>
<p>Is there a "car pool" of kids heading in your direction? Sometimes schools have ride boards.</p>