I keep a vegetarian kitchen during the year, but occasionally invite some meat eaters over for thanksgiving. Three years ago I did cornish game hens for people who I knew had a very traditional idea of thanksgiving. Two years ago I did fish (best decision ever). Last year I took everyone out after drinks and snacks at our place (it's really too small to host more than two guests).

This year I think it's just my wife and I, and I'll make whatever she wants. Which will probably be... stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pizza. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Heck yeah we eat turkey. It's something we only have 1-2 times a year because it takes so long and there's so much of it, but I always look forward to it.

I like turkey but I love turkey gravy. LOVE. We do a spatchcoked bird and it is done in an hour in half. With Zuni cafe skin!!!

If we end up celebrating with my family, the answer will be yes because they expect it.

If it's just my husband and I, it's going to be either fish or duck--splurge on a fancy thing we don't normally buy, but something we like better than turkey :)

My parents will be just getting back into town on the morning of Thanksgiving, so I get the honors of preparing the turkey this year, especially since they are inviting some family over too! Turkey is great, and we only have it on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we look forward to it and the leftovers. Last year I didn't get any leftovers, so my boyfriend and I ended up making our own turkey, just so we could enjoy it in sandwiches and in soup and other iterations.

When we do a biiiiig family celebration (i.e. the entire extended family, which amounts to almost 50 people) we do a turkey because enough people are there to eat it and we use the carcass to make soup the next day. But when it’s just our immediate area family (about ten of us, plus kids) it’s not worth it. We don’t love eating turkey leftovers enough. Plus we have a great recipe for bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin that I’ve been making for a few years now that’s become something of a tradition. Pork feels autumnal enough and it’s way more delicious than turkey!

I am making a turkey, but it's honestly just a vehicle for gravy and cranberry sauce. The sides are always my favorite, even if the turkey is perfect - I'm completely bored with meat! We spatchcock the turkey at my place too, and haven't ever stuffed the bird (since that takes so long to cook!), so everything is made separately. I think the presentation is much better that way: the stuffing gets a little crispy on top, as do the spuds. As does the cauliflower. And sweet potatoes. Oh, yum, can't wait!

My favorite part about this is our Friendsgiving party the week before where we get the eclectic and international dishes from all of our friends. Amazing inspiration for future meals, and you get to try a little of everything.

No turkey! For the second year in a row, The Fella and I will be staying home in our jammies watching an MST3K marathon while we make Thanksgiving dinner.

Since it's just the two of us and The Fella is vegetarian, we're not having a turkey. I might roast a small chicken or a game hen, mostly so I can have some gravy with my mashed potatoes.

Spending thanksgiving at my mom's and she always makes 4-6 ducks instead of a turkey.

I'm vegetarian. My parents will be making a turkey but I'll be bringing either tofurkey or a veggie pot pie. I haven't decided.

No one in my family likes Turkey...

So no turkey for us. We have shellfish and pork.

Nope. We are vegetarian and our mothers are coming, and they told us not to bother because they like the faux duck we make better than turkey. So, we'll be making the faux fuck, mushroom gravy, roasted garlicky beets, mashed golden potatoes with real cream, fried green beans, and homemade sourdough stuffing. With prosecco and apple pie for dessert. I'm drooling already.

In the past, we've made a roasted duck with orange sauce for our small family. Goes great with all the traditional sides. This year we are with extended family, so turkturk it is.

I love the bacon-wrapped tenderloin idea, though. Sounds lovely and decadent.

We tend to do turkey but while living overseas in the middle east it was either too expensive (in Dubai) or nonexistent (Yemen). The first year I made quail, the second, we had duck. Both were fantasic and I'm considering doing duck or quail or cornish hen this year, here in the States. So good, can't wait.

I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time last year and did the whole shebang. It was the first time I'd roasted a turkey and it came out great, so now I have to try to remember which technique I used. Wish I'd had Pinterest then!

My partner and I are vegetarian, so no turkey for us. We've hosted Thanksgiving for some combination of my parents, brother, and sister-in-law for about five years and no one's missed it. I made a Quorn roast that first year, but since then we've found other interesting vegetarian main dishes: pot pie, strudel, seasonal casseroles, etc.

Even when I ate meat, I was never that excited about the turkey. I'm very happy with experimenting with my menu every year to come up with something that fits the holiday and has a good mix of family tradition staples and newer dishes.

When I went vegetarian over 20 years ago, the last meat I had was a turkey for Thanksgiving. As we sat there eating the dead bird, we thought, what are we doing? We haven't eaten meat for a year, yet here we are eating the turkey, by sheer force of habit. It was the last bite of meat anybody in my family ever ate.

Now, we eat Tofurky, just to have something to put gravy on. But we get the real enjoyment out of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry chutney, stuffing, and other fixin's.

No, because we're going over to our in-laws' and they're making all the food. Heh, heh.

I'm vegetarian, but make an exception on Thanksgiving. That said, we're roasting a chicken! My husband and I made a small chicken for our solo Thanksgiving two years ago, and it turned out great! Decided to go for a turkey last year (still a small Thanksgiving; just us and my sister) and it didn't hold a candle to the chicken.

We're smoking a turkey. Yummmm.

Yes for turkey! This year my husband is making an additional stuffed chicken outside on the smoker, which I will be excited to try.

One year my dad's -crazy- girlfriend (at the time) insisted that we have a brisket for Thanksgiving. I was in college at the time, and was sick with the flu. Girlfriend still insisted on having Thanksgiving at my dad's apartment with me being all infect-y. My mom heard I was sick (parents divorced, but still friends) so stopped by to wish me a happy Thanksgiving and bring me some soup on Thanksgiving Day. Girlfriend caught wind of this, pitched a fit, and refused to come to Thanksgiving.

This upset everyone, not because she was great, but because she had been in charge of bringing pies.

So we were stuck with this brisket that no one wanted except for her, and we had no pies. Still referred to as "the year Patty didn't bring the pies." We are an all-turkey-all-Thanksgivings family after that fiasco.

No turkey this year, it is our first just us as a married couple so we are going very traditional and eating lobster, clams, etc. Who doesn't prefer lobster plus it was more likely eaten at the first thanksgiving than turkey.

I'm also vegetarian, and Canadian! So there won't be any thanksgiving dinner for me this weekend. We had ours in October, and made a full thanksgiving meal sans turkey but with 2 tofurkeys. I used to make my own, but the tofurkey is a lot easier... and really, as others have said, it's just to get more gravy into my mouth.

When I used to eat meat, I never really enjoyed turkey. It was cooked out of habit in my family and still is for holiday dinners. My dad now eats my tofurkey because he likes how it tastes better than the turkey his wife makes!

Turkey is a very disappointing bird

No, I'm vegetarian along with most of my family. Never liked tofurkey or other fake birds...never really liked "Thanksgiving food" anyway. We'll be going to an Indian buffet.

We'll be cooking a turkey this year, but I'm pretty sure mother nature or modern agribusiness made it.

Yes; it's the only time I cook a traditional turkey. We often do a marinated turkey "London Broil" on the grill, and my aunt sometimes roasts boned turkey breasts for large family gatherings, but it's the only holiday that gets an entire roasted bird. I actually really enjoy it brined and roasted with the traditional sides of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, roasted Brussels sprouts, and gravy.

Even better are the turkey, stuffing, cranberry, and mayo sandwiches on homemade white bread the next day. Truly, I look forward to Friday's lunch all year.

Hate turkey!! I've made it four years in a row, and I've finally had it. This year it'll be a crown roast of pork for the meat eaters and a polenta/squash tart for the veggies. Turkey never tastes as good as it should.

I like other Canucks have had turkey in October. But of course we don't limit ourselves to turkey at Christmas and Thanksgiving. We have it every couple of months.
We have gone from whole birds to turkey breast roast with bone in.

My partner is Cuban and we're both vegetarian, so we make black beans and rice every year instead (along with all of the other more traditional Thanksgiving dishes).

I just don't care for the taste of turkey, so I've switched to a HoneyBaked ham. I still do mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy, and of course, the green bean casserole and buttered rolls. As long as I serve these old standbys, my family doesn't complain about the main course change. I have to say, not having to deal with a turkey carcass and several days' worth of leftovers is fabulous!

I will have a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker and brisket in the dutch oven while I run a 5K in the morning. My husband and inlaws won't miss the turkey, and my picky son will eat homemade mac and cheese. Turkey or no, it's still Thanksgiving.

I'm going to my in-laws for Thanksgiving which means Chinese Thanksgiving. They do a potluck with a bunch of their family friends and all the home cooked Chinese food is awesome.

Vegetarian should've definitely been an option here.

I'm trying a slow cooker mac n' cheese as the veg option so I don't have to use my mother-in-law's kitchen (last time I used the oven the rest of the meal was over an hour delayed and my veg main course was cold - not something I wanted when trying to impress my meat-eating inlaws).

My stepmom will undoubtedly be making a turkey, so I chose "yes" although I personally am not cooking it. Like many other commenters, I'm more interested in the side dishes. If I was doing the cooking, I would just make the side dishes and maybe buy a ham.

I'm not sure what we're doing this year, but I just put in an order with a frozen, kosher, organic meat company for two 2-3 lb. turkey thighs and a small package of turkey breast cutlets. I'm more into white meat and my husband is more into dark, but this way we can cook just for us (an maybe the 3-4 friends we can fit in our apt for dinner) without too many leftovers. Huzzah for turkey parts!

My family is tired of the idea of turkey leftovers so we're doing a spatchcocked chicken.