4 Thanksgiving Horror Movies To Be Grateful For

One of my favorite things to do after enjoying an all-vegan Thanksgiving feast is put on a little holiday horror and spend the rest of the day on the couch letting the food digest. There aren't very many Thanksgiving-themed horror movies (and even fewer that are actually decent), but there are a few that are worth checking out.

4 Thanksgiving Horror Movies To Be Grateful For:

When Thanksgiving Was Like Halloween

Costumed kids at Thanksgiving circa 1910-1915 (Library of Congress)

Did you know that Thanksgiving in the United States used to look a lot more like Halloween, complete with children going door to door in costumes begging for treats and elaborate costume balls? Before Halloween was widely recognized and celebrated in the 1940s and 1950s in America, Thanksgiving served as a time for kids to dress up in costume and go trick or treating. Read more about this "early Halloween" below...

10 Things Getting Me Through Post-Halloween Blues

I am ecstatic that one of my favorite blogs, Unquiet Things, has featured me in their "Ten Things" series, where guests write about 10 things they are loving, can't live without, or some variation thereof. For my guest post, I thought I would feature 10 Things Getting Me Through the Post-Halloween Blues, since that PHD (post-Halloween depression) hit hard this year and seeking comfort is at the top of my list this November.

And another big thank you to Sarah Elizabeth of Unquiet Things for having me - I have been a long-time reader and admirer of her writing and style for quite some time, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to contribute to her blog! Please spend some time in her archives and peruse all her posts, you won't regret it.

Check out the 10 Things Getting Me Through the Post-Halloween Blues over on Unquiet Things!

Stay spooky, darklings, and let me know how you are coping with post-Halloween depression in the comments!

How to Have a Gothic Thanksgiving

[image source]

You can easily incorporate your dark aesthetic into Thanksgiving the year, and even use some Halloween elements to spookify your Thanksgiving table. All you need are some key items, many of which you may already have on hand, to ensure your gothic vision is realized at your feast of gratitude this year.

See below for some simple tips on how to have a gorgeously gothic Thanksgiving this year:

Green Saturday LA - An Eco-Friendly Pop-Up Market for Unique Holiday Gifts

Skip Black Friday, and support local, independent businesses with Green Saturday!

If you are in the Southern California area, a fantastic event is occurring after Thanksgiving on Saturday, November 28th, 2015. It is the first ever Green Saturday LA, an eco-friendly, cruelty-free pop-up market that boasts an array of different vendors where you can find the perfect unique gift for your loved ones (and maybe pick up a little something for yourself)! Vendors will be selling jewelry, accessories, t-shirts, crafts, tote bags, skin care, makeup, chocolates, essential oils, teas, art, veg food, and much more! And another benefit is that you will be supporting local, independent businesses this holiday season!

Not only that, but a portion of proceeds from Green Saturday LA will be donated to the Whiskers and Tails Foundation, a local animal rescue that rescues and adopts various animals, from cats and dogs, to ducks, pigs and goats. Please consider making an additional donation at the event to help Whiskers and Tails continue their important work, from ensuring the overall welfare of their lovely animals to rescuing more animals in need!

Date and Time: Saturday, November 28th from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Location: Alpine Village - Klubhaus
833 W. Torrance Blvd. Torrance, CA 90502

Admission: Entry per adult is $5 or FREE with a donation of cat or dog food, new cat or dog toy, or a clean blanket that will go to Whiskers and Tails Foundation. Children under 10 are free.

For more information on the event, please visit their website and Facebook event page!

A Guide to Vegan Holiday Roasts

It is easier than ever to choose to have a compassionate holiday dinner, so why not try some delectable vegan roasts for your holiday celebrations this year? If you think about it, it really doesn't make sense to give thanks by causing the pain and suffering of sentient beings, nor does it make sense to gather friends and family around a corpse, right? So why not serve compassionate, cruelty-free centerpieces to your friends and family instead?! Ones that truly celebrate the peace, love and community that these holidays represent.

If this is your first vegan holiday season, you have many options to choose from, and you can find an amazing vegan roast to suit any taste! Finding a vegan roast is easy, the hard part is picking just one (my suggestion - try several!)! And if you've been enjoying vegan holiday dinners for years, you'll be pleased to know there are some new options this year that look mouth-watering!

Keep reading below, where you'll find my guide for vegan holiday roasts. I've broken them up by type so you can easily find what you are looking for! Of course, this list isn't all-inclusive, but rather comprised of vegan roasts I highly recommend or ones I am looking forward to trying!

Food Review: Three Vegan Holiday Roasts

If you read my previous post, you probably already know I was a glutton this Thanksgiving and was blessed enough to enjoy several vegan holiday roasts (Tofurky and Field Roast). Well, on Black Friday we got to enjoy another roast, this time from Trader Joe's! They were all delicious, but each was a little different and I wanted to give my quick opinion on all three of these vegan roasts.

First up is the Field Roast Celebration Roast. The description from the Field Roast site reads: ...rich and savory sausage-style stuffing made from Field Roast grain meat, fresh cut butternut squash, mushrooms and granny smith apples seasoned with a blend of rosemary, thyme and sage. We then surround the stuffing with our most luxuriant grain meat seasoned with rubbed sage, garlic and lemon juice. I really loved this roast....Field Roast always makes quality, artisan products and this roast was no different! It had a slight sweet taste and a really hearty texture. It also looks quite nice as a centerpiece. I would choose this roast for a slightly fancier feast or to impress any carnivores you might entertain. The size that I bought (shown above) runs for about $6-$8, but I got mine on sale for about $5 and some change.

Next is my traditional holiday standby, Tofurky Roast! Tofurky has been around since 1995 and is the go-to product for most veggies the during holiday seasons. The description of the roast from the Turtle Island Foods i.e. Tofurky site is as follows: Made from a revolutionary tofu-wheat protein blend, our famous Tofurky® Roast is known for its incredible, turkey-like texture and flavor. Stuffed with wild rice and whole wheat bread crumb stuffing. I love Tofurky and of all the meatless roasts I have tried, it is probably still my favorite. Its taste and texture are probably the most pleasing of any roast I've tried and I think its wild rice stuffing is delicious! I've had a lot of success with feeding this to meat-eaters as well (it just doesn't have the visual impact of the Field Roast). This roast (with just the roast, no extras and no gravy) typically runs about $10, and you can also buy the complete vegetarian feast or a roast with gravy included. I definitely recommend picking up some Tofurky gravy as well (either sold separately or with the roast).

Lastly is Trader Joe's Turkey-less Stuffed Roast. Trader Joe's is an independent grocery store that carries many vegan products and many times makes their own. According to their site, the roast is: Made with protein from soy, peas, wheat and ancient grains, the roast boasts remarkable texture and flavor, and the stuffing and gravy set it up beautifully. The roast was larger than either the Field Roast or the Tofurky and also came with gravy. As for the taste, I felt the roast was a bit more under-seasoned than either the Field Roast or Tofurky. It was still good and I think the texture and look of it was closer to actual turkey than the other two roasts. The gravy it came with was delicious and really helped to amp up the flavor of the roast. For more bang for your buck, I would recommend the Trader Joe's Turkey-less Stuffed Roast.

All in all, all three roasts were tasty and were long gone by the end of Thanksgiving vacation (that's just between Mister Spooky and I!). I would recommend all three of these roasts, but my favorite is still the Tofurky Roast. I also highly recommend Tofurky's Gravy for whatever roast you use!

NOTE: Check out my updated Guide to Vegan Holiday Roasts!

Thanksgiving Thoughts and This Year's Feasts

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, boils and ghouls!

I have to be honest, I have very conflicting emotions on Thanksgiving. I love getting together with family, cooking up a big vegan feast and giving thanks for all I have (though I try to be thankful every day of my life). However, Thanksgiving also sends me on an emotional turmoil since I think it is a BS holiday (the first Thanksgiving story is a lie) and I get so frustrated by the whole traditional "let's give thanks by slaughtering a sentient being and devouring its dead flesh" crap.

My Thanksgiving is usually a weird mix of bitterness and happiness, but luckily my happiness usually wins out at the end of the day. This usually happens after I am stuffed with delicious vegan food and after connecting with other vegans.

Thanksgiving Feast #1

This year it was just Mister Spooky and I celebrating together, so I cooked up two yummy feasts for us. The first one I cooked on Thanksgiving Eve and consisted of Field Roast Celebration Roast, smashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, Tofurky gravy and mixed veggies. We even had leftovers to eat for lunch on Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving Feast #2

We had the second feast for dinner, and I cooked up a Tofurky Roast, acorn squash filled with walnut-apple stuffing, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. YUM! We both soon slipped into a food coma and spent the rest of the evening digesting our food while re-watching American Horror Story season one (tip: it is on Netflix Instant now!).

I had a cuddle buddy on the couch

Of course, I am never too full for pie, so I finished off the evening with a delicious slice of vegan pumpkin pie (it wasn't from scratch...I was too lazy this year). 

Vegan pumpkin pie YUM!

All in all, it was a pleasant Thanksgiving with tons of delicious food! It made me realize how thankful I am for other vegans and how lucky I am to be able to connect with them online (sadly, I don't have any vegan friends in real life). I don't know what I would do without their support. 

I hope you enjoyed a compassionate Thanksgiving (if not, you can always start now!) and I hope you are participating in the worldwide Fur Free Friday (and everyday) as well!

Giving Thanks

I've been busy cooking/stuffing my face/napping all day and haven't had a chance to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoyed the holiday with good food and spent it surrounded by the ones you love. I had a wonderful day that started with a massive cooking frenzy around 9 AM. I had baked two pumpkin pies on Wednesday night (for those interested, I used this recipe, which turned out AMAZING by the way!), but this morning I set out making two Tofurkys, oven-roasted potatoes, green bean casserole (check out the delicious recipe) and herb seasoned stuffing (all vegan, of course!). I hadn't planned on cooking so much, as Mister Spooky and I had been invited to my uncle and aunt's house for Thanksgiving, but I guess the cooking bug bit me hard this morning!

After cooking up a storm, we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house, where I had the opportunity to introduce them to Tofurky! My cousins even tried it and said it was tasty! Woo hoo! It was a fun afternoon and I got to see some relatives I haven't seen in far too long. Ah, and my once little cousins are growing up so fast!

After feasting with the fam, Mister Spooky and I headed home for some much needed "couch time"...we kinda just zonked out on the couch for a while as I caught up on American Horror Story (FYI...I've been meaning to do a post on this show but for now I'll just say: LOVE IT!). And then we pretty much spent the entire night on the couch...where I'm currently writing from haha!

Couldn't resist posting Eli Roth's faux Thanksgiving!

Anywho, Thanksgiving always gets me all introspective and inspires me to think about what I am thankful for, and I have many, many blessings to count! Among them is my fantastic boyfriend Mister Spooky, my loving family, my stellar friends, my black kitty-cat Havoc, the roof over my head, the food on my table, groundbreaking vegan/animal rights organizations that make a positive change in the world, the vibrant vegan world and the unique horror community! Sheesh, a hundred other things come to mind,, but I could spend days listing everything I'm thankful for!

What are YOU thankful for?

There's always Roth's faux Thanksgiving trailer to be thankful for! 

Vintage Thanksgiving Postcards

I hope you are enjoying this Thanksgiving week, spooks! I am thankful it is a short work week and I only have to work through Wednesday. And I am definitely ready for a Tofurky feast this Thursday! The rest of the week I'll be hibernating and trying to recover from the inevitable food coma I'll slip into come Thursday night!

In the meantime, please enjoy the following vintage Thanksgiving postcards (I simply adore vintage postcards!) for a bit more holiday cheer!

 Pretty turkey!

I love the melancholy feel of this one!

 I love pumpkin-y postcards!

This one is my favorite! 

If you want to spare a turkey's life this Thanksgiving, please consider "adopting" one through Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey project!

Thankskilling (2009)

Horror fans don’t have many options when it comes to horror-themed Thanksgiving holiday movies. When Eli Roth’s faux Thanksgiving trailer was seen during the Grindhouse double-feature in 2007, interest in a feature-length Thanksgiving-themed movie only grew (hmmm...whatever happened to making a full-length feature out of the trailer, Roth?).

Well, now horror fans have another option with Thankskilling, and independent production from In Broad Daylight Pictures that was released in 2009. Thankskilling comes off as a wacky Troma film, filled with bad acting, ridiculous situations, silly one-liners and hell, a talking turkey! You definitely need a sense of humor to get through Thankskilling, just like you need one to get through seeing your relatives during the holidays.

Thankskilling is about a group of friends that drive home for Thanksgiving, but inadvertently find themselves and their community terrorized by a talking, killer turkey. The turkey was resurrected 510 years after a Native American placed a curse on the pilgrims after the very first Thanksgiving.

This is a campy, over-the-top film that is completely silly and isn’t to be taken seriously. The best parts are when the turkey is on screen…he is completely hilarious! There is even a part where he skins and wears someone’s face a la Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that’s pretty awesome! And take a look at some of the gut-busting lines he utters: “I’m gonna drink your blood like cranberry sauce” after threatening one of the characters or “You just got stuffed!” after raping a character or the infamous “gobble, gobble motherf*cker!”

The rest of the characters are all basically brain dead and are intended to poke fun at all the stereotypical horror situations. There’s the slob of a redneck, the nerdy bookworm, the jock, the slutty airhead and the Final Girl. The characters’ parents all play minor parts in the film as well, and I really enjoyed the silly Sheriff’s character! Of course, some of the acting is pretty bad, but most of the actors are decent. I really enjoyed Chuck Lamb as Sheriff Roud and Aaron Ringhiser-Carlson as the redneck Billy. And whoever voiced the turkey was just brilliant!

Some situations are so unbearably stupid, though, that my disbelief was wayyy too suspended. For example, a dog peeing on the turkey’s grave resurrects him. Really? Writers Kevin Stewart and Jordan Downey couldn’t think of anything more creative than that to bring back the killer turkey? Or how unbelievably dumb the characters are in certain situations (hmmm if a turkey was wearing my dad’s face you’d think I’d notice!). I understand that this was the tone for the film and part of its appeal, but if you don’t enjoy horror-comedy hybrids that are this outrageous, you probably won’t enjoy Thankskilling.

For a low budget film, I really was impressed with the look of the killer turkey. Besides being hilarious, he also looked pretty awesome. I believe they used a puppet, and whenever he spoke it did indeed look realistic. The gory effects were pretty good too…I especially enjoyed when one of the characters ate the turkey and the turkey ate its way out through his stomach! The skinned face of one of the characters looked pretty realistic as well. And the turkey used an electric carver, a meat thermometer and other Thanksgiving utensils as killing tools! Unfortunately, there were some instances of CGI that were noticeable, but luckily these weren’t too numerous or distracting.

If you enjoy campy horror-comedies in the vein of over-the-top Troma releases, you just may count Thankskilling as one of your blessings this Thanksgiving. If those aren’t your thing, though, you way want to steer as clear of Thankskilling as you would dry turkey and nosy relatives!

Order it on Amazon!

I Adopted a Turkey for Thanksgiving!

The adorable Payton

This year I solidified a new Thanksgiving tradition for myself...adopting a turkey for the season from Farm Sanctuary! I've been meaning to do this for YEARS now, but for one reason or another (finances, running out of time, etc.) I never got a chance to donate to this very worthy cause.

I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving (or as I call it, Thankskilling, which is also the name a pretty hilarious horror movie where a badass turkey turns the tables and massacres humans!), which seems like a silly holiday since we Americans have lost sight of what it really represents, instead treating it like a free-for-all glutton fest. And of course, it puts me in a very fowl (mwahaha...couldn't resist a poultry joke) mood to see turkey carcasses littering grocery stores. You can learn more about Thanksgiving’s toll on turkeys here.

This year is different, though, since donating to Farm Sanctuary and adopting the cute Payton (seen above) has put me back in good holiday spirits! I saved a life this Thanksgiving and realized I can and do make a difference for turkeys. I plan on adopting a turkey every year from now on and joining many others in making the compassionate choice this holiday season.

Adopt your turkey this Thanksgiving instead of eating one! Save a life instead of senselessly ending one!

Learn more about the Adopt-a-Turkey project (the rad Ellen DeGeneres is the spokesperson for the cause!) by reading the official press release below:

Who can resist the adorable faces of turkeys gobbling for compassion at Thanksgiving? Not Ellen DeGeneres. That’s why she’s back for the second year in a row to serve as Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey Project spokesperson, inviting everyone to save, not eat, a turkey this holiday season.

Says DeGeneres: "Did you know that every year between 250 and 300 million turkeys are bred for slaughter in the United States? More than 46 million for Thanksgiving alone. So, this Thanksgiving instead of eating a turkey, please join me in adopting one from Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey Project and you can give a turkey something to be thankful for."

For 25 years, the Adopt-A-Turkey Project has put smiles on the faces of both carnivores and vegetarians alike, while providing support for the care of more than 1,000 rescued turkeys and inspiring people everywhere to make more compassionate choices. For a one-time donation of just $30, adopters or a recipient of their choice will receive a special Adopt-A-Turkey certificate complete with color photo of a rescued turkey who resides at one of Farm Sanctuary’s shelters and fun details about their adopted turkey.

This year’s irresistible flock of “adoptable” turkeys include Skip, who advises prospective adopters “When preparing Thanksgiving dinner, skip the turkey!;” Antoinette, who declares ”Let them eat squash!;” Elizabeth, who demurs “This Thanksgiving, give a turkey the royal treatment;” Victoria, who proclaims ”A holiday feast that’s cruelty-free is one fit for a queen;” Payton, who counsels “In a ton of ways, compassion pays;” Amelinda, who reveals “I’ll be having a happy Thanksgiving, thanks to kind people like you;” and Raphael, who pleads “Picture a more compassionate world. Start with Thanksgiving.”

“We’re thrilled to have Ellen’s support again this year,” says Farm Sanctuary President and Co-Founder Gene Baur. “Here at Farm Sanctuary, we live with turkeys, so we know they are interesting and intelligent and have complex emotional lives like dogs, cats and other animals. Sadly, the meat industry subjects turkeys to intolerable cruelty and treats them like inanimate objects with no feelings or personalities. Fortunately, each one of us can choose not to support this cruelty by adopting a turkey at Thanksgiving instead of eating one.”

You can learn more about Thanksgiving’s toll on turkeys here.

To join Ellen DeGeneres in starting a new tradition by adopting a turkey instead of eating one and to view this year’s “adoptable” turkeys, visit adoptaturkey.org or call the Turkey Adoption Hotline at 1-888-SPONSOR.

About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal protection organization, promotes legislative, policy, and individual lifestyle changes to help farm animals. Farm Sanctuary’s shelters in New York and California provide lifelong care for nearly 1,000 rescued farm animals. For more information, please visit farmsanctuary.org.