thanksgiving dilemma

Thank goodness my large animal medicine rotation is almost over. It has been rough. Plus I am dog sitting for Ryan all week while he is in Cali and I have not been home during daylight hours once in the last week. Ryan's dogs are very well behaved and nice, but my goodness, I never realized how much I hate living with dogs due to all the hair! I am SUCH a clean freak and I can barely handle all the cleaning I have to do! It doesn't help that Ryan NEVER cleans, but I am cleaning the futon cover and blankets twice a week, sweeping and vacuuming every third day, etc., and I can barely keep up. I just find dog hair gross and can't handle sitting on a futon with dog hair on it. I think if I have dogs they will either have to be small and not shed much or trained to stay off furniture (probably the first one there).

So my family is traveling to Scotland (without me of course since I am on clinics) for Thanksgiving. I used to hate thanksgiving since it is aka Turkey day, and centers around a slaughtered dead bird in the middle of a table. Except for the past three years I have hosted an all vegan thanksgiving for family and friends, and it has been a HUGE hit. This year, with my family traveling, I am not sure what to do. Of course, I have been invited enthusiastically to Mark's family's house. I was actually over at Mark's parents house twice in the last week for dinner and his mom keeps talking about all the great dishes she is making that I will love on thanksgiving even though I never officially said I was coming.

My dilemma...I love Mark's family. Seriously. If I refer to all boyfriend's families as the in laws, I have to say that Mark's in laws are the first family I really get along with and feel completely comfortable with. I used to dread seeing Shawn's family and would try to come up with excuses as to why I couldn't visit them, and Zach's mom threatened to kill me in high school for dating her son, and Brian's parents were pot heads...not too many amazing in laws there. But when Mark asks me if I want to go to dinner at his parents house I am actually sad if I am busy and can't go. So of course I don't want to disappoint them an not show for thanksgiving. Plus Mark's older brother is vegetarian so they are quite good at cooking vegan dishes. But I hate supporting a holiday with a dead bird in the middle of the table. It makes me sick to my stomach. I am sure Mark's mom would cook a ton of vegan things, and she wouldn't care if I brought my own tofurky and vegan mashed potatoes and gravy (although I am sure Mark, his dad, and his brother would make fun of me for it). Still, there is something about participating in a holiday I have kind of protested by hosting cruelty free for three years now. I think of Thanksgiving as MY holiday. I am sure if Mark and I were living together I would ask both my and his family if I could host the holiday and have people over for the vegan feast. But right now I need some advice: should I go to thanksgiving and suck it up with mark's family, bringing my own meal, or should I stay home and relax, or even work at school and make $10 an hour in the radiology department, not supporting the killing of millions of innocent turkeys?

P.S. I got my hair cut and it looks amazing.