Anonymous wrote:Grandma will be 94 that day, so we are starting about 2. There will be 8 of us.

Holy cow, that's pretty exciting! 94!!!! Many blessings for Grandma!!!

We are early eaters:1:30 is what I usually shoot for.
That’s always been the tradition in my family— like the Sunday dinner after church. Also works well for those who have a ways to travel — they aren’t driving home at midnight. And as the host, I love having the evening to relax because I am typically exhausted!

We will be in Mexico then, and have 7pm reservations.

Anonymous wrote:Person w 35 guests…are
You cooking all yourself? What is the menu and seating arrangement

Hi, yes, I cook all myself with the help of my sister and kids. My husband and BIL handle the bars and drink stations. Whomever does Thanksgiving also does Christmas that year because the setup is the same and it involves less schlepping things around. So this year I have both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Next year it will be my sister's turn.

We have a formal living room that runs the width (front to back) of the house. We clear out all of the furniture (some to DR, and some to garage) and set up two long tables to seat everyone, and then I run the buffet at the back of the house in the living room but directly off of the kitchen. Because we take the dining room table out of the dining room to use in the LR, we set up some couches and chairs in the DR for elders. The kids and the rest of the family can go to the basement rec room or the family room.

A long time ago I bought 30 catering type chairs (those wood/cane stackable kind) at a going-out-of-business sale that I keep in the garage. Each year either I use them or my sister does, depending on who is doing Thanksgiving and Christmas.

My sister's house is a much different set up and she has a humongous Great Room so that's where she sets up her dining tables and buffet. Then she uses the Dining Room and the formal Living Room for watching games and hors d'oeuvres.

Either way it works. We each have a full complement of china and crystal so at least we aren't moving that stuff back and forth. We like very formal dining tables and we go all out with the decorating. It is funny to think we've been doing it this way for 10-20 years and each year it still feels special and different because we change the menus slightly or alter the decorating, etc.

Anonymous wrote:My side of the family: arrive at noon, eat at 2.
Inlaws: arrive at 5 or 6, eat at 7.

So you have two shifts? Do they not get along?

Grandma will be 94 that day, so we are starting about 2. There will be 8 of us.

My side of the family: arrive at noon, eat at 2.
Inlaws: arrive at 5 or 6, eat at 7.

We invite people for 4:30 and usually wind up eating close to 5:30. Depends on the turkey.

We host between 16-20, and ask people to come between 2:00-3:00, dinner served at 4:00.

Prior to that, our family runs the Turkey Chase, then come home and shower, and either nap, watch football or watch the parade. I usually do most of the prep on Wednesday, so Thursday is just sticking things in the oven (spouse brines and smokes the turkey)! Only a little bit left to do on Thursday, and running a 10k that morning makes me feel a bit less guilty about eating so much dessert!

Person w 35 guests…are
You cooking all yourself? What is the menu and seating arrangement

We’re starting the feast at 5.30. Guests will arrive thorough out the day and I’ll have nibbles and light lunch out for them. Anyone who doesn’t feel like driving home is free to bunk overnight.

We do appetizers around 4 and dinner at 5 or 5:30. I like an early-but-still-proper-dinnertime Thanksgiving meal. I don’t like having it at lunch time or 3 p.m. Especially if there is a family gathering with babies or kids who still nap, lunch or early afternoon is the worst.

We drive elderly attendees so none of them have to worry about driving in the dark.

We like to eat close to regular dinner time, but a little on the earlier side. So, maybe 5, 5:30ish.

We invite people to come over at about 3 or so and we have appetizers and conversation while we get the meal ready for the table.

We will have about 35-40 this year. People will begin arriving at 11:30 am, and that's when I'll start with the first hors d'oeuvres. Those will get replenished (replacements and then new items as time goes on) until I serve dinner at 3:30 pm.

I am planning to invite people at 4 and starting dinner at 5.