Cheatsgiving: How To Get Out Of Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner EVER

I’m well into adulthood, I have two children and I’ve never made Thanksgiving dinner. Sure, I’ve cooked a random turkey here and there – but the whole get-up? Nope. Never.

You may be wondering how this can happen. Well, part of it has to do with the fact that I was in the service industry in New York for many years. Eating out on Thanksgiving is huge in New York City – so I always had to work. This was mostly a bummer, but the upside was no cooking and amazing leftovers.

Had I been amongst my extended family, I suspect I still would never have had to drum-up a holiday meal. You know why? My family is filled with alpha females and control freaks. I’ve simply followed their leads and taken a back seat. That is the recipe for never having to construct the most labor-intensive meal of the year.

Sure, I’m bet some of you actually enjoy spending hours in the kitchen preparing the meal. I actually love to cook, too. There’s just something about the preparation of this meal that brings the stress monster out of pretty much everyone I’ve ever been around who had cooked it. Maybe it’s the expectation? Maybe it’s the fact that it’s the only meal people eat that day, so by the time we get around to it everyone is about ready to faint from low-blood sugar. I don’t know. All I know is – if you find yourself fighting over who is going to prepare the meal, whose house it is going to be held in, or any other logistical detail of Thanksgiving – just stop. This is how you make it to forty without being responsible for waiting on your relatives for hours on a day we’re all supposed to be giving thanks.

Now, if you happen to be the alpha-female/male or control-freak in your family – I can’t help you. Also, it’s probably your own fault this major endeavor falls in your lap every year. If you are an amazing cook and have a family of siblings who happily take a back seat to your talents – this tactic won’t work for you either.

I wish I could give you a recipe to follow to ensure that you, too, could spend many, many years never sweating over a pot of mashed potatoes. I cannot. I’m just here to remind you that if the opportunity comes up to defer this endeavor – take it. Not cooking anything is a pretty glorious way to spend the day.

Enter your own story here to win amazing prizes from Spafinder Wellness 365.Spafinder Wellness 365 Gift Cards are accepted at over 20,000 locations for massage, facials, yoga, fitness and more. Find over 72,000 retail locations on their site.

(photo: Everett Collection/ Shutterstock)