<p>I don't really have extended family except for our neighbors - my mom didn't have any siblings- and my dad had one sister who is mentally disabled and one who was a missionary- so no cousins.
My H family , he can't even stand since he stopped drinking, and the zoo dinner is actually pretty good, although they have their up and down years and you can't take home leftovers.
We also have a tradtion of going to a movie on Thanksgiving, for a few years it was Harry Potter so that was fun, don't know what it will be this year- it started with when I was 17 and it was the first big holiday after my dad died and we went to see Harold and Maude which under the circumstances was very macabre.
But anyway- some kids really like to come home. My niece who is in upstate new york- spent her own money to come home for thanksgiving ( to seattle) and then turned around and went back. Her sister who is at the same school ( and a freshman) didnt' come.
They are coming home for winter break usually in just a few weeks anyway-so I think Thanksgiving can be a big expense unecessarily.
Kids are real traditionalists though.
We started going away for christmas when my oldest was little and meant to just do it for a few years- but once you start doing something- they like you to do it until they say stop.
So we have been going to the same place for 17 years!</p>
<p>For my son's first three years at Stanford, students had classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. On top of this, their quarter ends only about 2 weeks after Thanksgiving. For this reason, many students who live a distance away did not go home. However, they have changeed their schedule and starting next year they will have the whole week off.</p>
<p>weenie, another thing to keep in mind that for the trip back to school after Thanksgiving it is better to book a flight Sunday morning rather than later that day--the airports aren't as crazy as they get later in the day and it also gives you margin for error. For example, last year the East Coast had a very windy though sunny day and a lot of flights were either seriously delayed or cancelled; kids were scrambling to get on other flights or, in cases where they were within driving distance--say up to eight hours--getting rides. You said your son's school was seven hours from home, so you might fall into this category (either getting a ride with a responsible older student with a decent car, or in a crunch driving him back yourself).</p>