It was once great to be able to hop in the car with Mom and Dad and ride over to grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The only thing on your mind was which horrible radio station you would have to listen to on the way.

Now we have to worry about limited vacation days, new families, tight finances and geographical separations that make those carefree times impossible to relive.

Some people will find a way to reunite with at least some of the family on turkey day, but others are willing to tackle the task of assuming the position in the kitchen this year.

Chad Peterson, 27, who moved to the Upstate from New York last year is both excited and nervous about his first Thanksgiving away from relatives.

Peterson and his girlfriend Meghan Gustafson, 28, are attempting a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes homemade bread and pumpkin pie.

"It's just us two," he says, "I've been calling my mom every other day and asking for recipes and directions and this, that and the other because I don't have a clue. Neither one of us have ever done it before."

While Peterson is sure the experience will be a tough but fun one, he notes how the tables have turned from when he was a kid.

"I never paid attention close enough growing up," he says. "I used to be on the couch watching football. Now it's me in the kitchen."

Lucky Jollye, 26, and Cameron Siler, 23, both bartenders at Blue Ridge Brewing Co. in Greenville, are switching things up this year. Instead of serving drinks at work to their friends like they usually do, they're going to be serving food at Jollye's house.

"Lucky was talking about how this is his first year without his family and he wanted to do something with a group of people," Siler says.

Since she threw a potluck Thanksgiving at her house last year, she suggested to Jollye that it would be even better if they joined forces for the feast.

"That's why we're doing it together this year, just combining our groups of friends and having fun," she says.

Jollye says he thinks it's a great idea because "a lot of people, either their families work or they have to work at a certain time on that day so we're sticking together since not a lot of people get it off."

"It's hard to take a couple of days off to go see your family, and you have to be thankful for your friends too and not just your family," he says.

They expect about 20 or so people to drop by Jollye's house throughout the day.

"We're going to cook the typical things and try to make it as homey as we can with all our friends," Siler says.

Yet for some people Thanksgiving Day traditions don't always finish with Thursday's end.

Chris Danigel, 28, works in the information technology department at Greenville City Hall and bought a house in Greer five years ago.

Since then, he has headed up a dinner especially for the day after, cooking for anywhere from five people up to 20.

"A lot of times I end up cooking a ham with a clove and garlic mix to go over it. Because I'm German I do turkey at Christmas," he says.

Danigel says it's too hard to round up a group of people on Thanksgiving Day because of so many family obligations, so instead he extends the celebration to Friday and serves his buds plenty of drinks, mashed potatoes, green peas, cauliflower and broccoli along with the ham.

Besides, Danigel says, "It's absolutely ridiculous to go (Christmas) shopping on the day after Thanksgiving - it's insane out there."