About 30 or 31. Yeah I think I’ll just have the food on the island then everyone can still sit down. Just not at the same table.
We serve buffet-style in the kitchen and eat in the formal dining room. If there are 10 or less, we can all cram in there. If more, I can seat 6 in the kitchen. I prefer us all in the same room. I’m last in the buffet line and always end up eating in the kitchen with my mom while my kids and the “menfolk” are in the dining room. That really bothers me.
@Nhatrang That’s a big group but how fun! You can always switch up the table seating arrangement for dessert if people are at different tables. We would sometimes do this for large business dinners. If your family is like mine, we like to take a break between dinner and dessert anyway to clean up and digest a little.
Sounds like you need to do some place cards. 
The person who worked the hardest to prepare and host should be stuck at the less desirable table!
5 pm. I refuse to be awaken early on Thanksgiving. 
Turkey is always cooked on the grill ever since I discovered the Reluctant Gourmet’s method. We have cats rescued from a dumpster. See my avatars. ? ? Hence, all food is placed on the dining table and passed around. Said cats go bananas about turkey, so not a trace of turkey is kept in the kitchen while we eat to prevent guerilla counter surfing. (Carcass is shoved into the fridge as soon as we get the meat off, and dishes go into the dishwasher asap).
Yes it’s so fun!
Good idea about switching at dessert. We usually do the clean up before the desert. Actually the men do the clean up the women take a walk. But the weather is so cold lately we may just skip the walk. Dessert is usually an hour after we finished dinner.
Fun fact about our group of friends, 5 out of the 6 couples are mixed race. And together we speak 7 languages (Swedish, French, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and English lol).
Do the culinary influences of the different ethnicities get added to the menu or do you stick with traditional Thanksgiving fare? That group would make for a yummy potluck experience!
We go to my inlaws and they like to eat in the evening. Growing up my family ate mid afternoon which I prefer. We all live about an hour from the inlaws but we all spend Thanksgiving night. We arrive after lunch (so MIL doesn’t have to fed us lunch) and if the weather is nice usually sit outside, play outside games, watch the 7 dogs run around, feed the horses apples and take a walk. Same routine for 30 plus years. We all bring parts of the meal but my MIL does the turkeys. After dinner we sit around the fire and play games and some of us play guitar and sing.
Friday morning is a bagel breakfast. Another walk and leftover lunch. Most everyone goes home mid afternoon. The grandkids love the tradition of Thanksgiving. We usually go around the table and each person says what they are thankful for.
Buffet but we eat at the formal dining table. They have a long table but some years they add a card table extension. My MIL sets a pretty table with some decor that dates back to the 60’s.
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Omg you sound like my friends they have 5 cats, they were rescued and wild. Food always go to the fridge, turkey or anything. What is the Reluctant Gourmet’s method? We will have 2 turkeys this year, one in the deep fry one in the oven. The timing is tricky to get both done at the same time but hubby is a pro at making turkey dinner it always comes out perfect.
Since we host the meal outdoors we like to eat around 3 or 4pm before it gets dark. We always take an after meal walk around the neighborhood and eat dessert about an hour after we get back.
Eating the Thanksgiving meal outdoors is such a foreign concept to this New Englander!
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Sounds like you need to do some place cards. The person who worked the hardest to prepare and host should be stuck at the less desirable table!
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Should NOT!
@doschicos I knew what you meant when I clicked Agree! 
We’re usually around noon. Then we loaf around for a few hours. My sister’s and I sometimes go out shopping at night or the next morning.
@Nhatrang - here is the method:
https://www.reluctantgourmet.com/how-to-grill-your-turkey-on-a-barbecue/
Works like a charm! I grill a 16-20 lb turkey. Just do the math like he says and set your timer. The turkey comes out very moist and delicious. We get whatever “inorganic” turkeys are sold at Costco.
@Nhatrang - my cats are only obsessed with turkeys. Ham or roast does not impress them, but there is something special about that bird that triggers their old counter surfing habits. Go figure!
Sounds lovely!
Right? But it sounds so wonderful! Especially watching the 7 dogs running around part
But then my sisters from California is always amazed with how we use the deck outside as a “refrigerator” in the winter. We always leave the drinks outside and have a nice cold of whatever you want to drink at any time.
Growing up, we ate mid-afternoon.
Now, we have just the immediate family & will likely eat around 5-5:30.
I will probably hike in the morning & won’t be back until 1 or 2.
It’s a laid back easy dinner for us.
Traditional thanksgiving. They bring side dishes but we also make traditional american side dishes.
This is the ONLY time that hubby gets to shine :-). He does 90% of the cooking on thanksgivings. If we all go crazy with our ethnic food (which we normally do through out the year at various get together’s), no one would eat the turkey and we would lose the american tradition. I used to make this really delicious spring rolls and a few other dishes appetizers, but then everyone was so full before dinner. Hubby wasn’t happy at all, he pouted and complained lol. So no more (crazy) ethnic food at thanksgiving!