WWYD? Thanksgiving

[barkley]

I have a few family members over for Thanksgiving dinner in my small house. Then afterward, it is open house for dessert. I never know who will show for dessert, or when...it can be nobody, or the whole entire extended family. It's crowded, but fun. I guess it helps that NOBODY in my entire extended family has a big house so we're used to being "close" lol.

A story of my best Thanksgiving dinner: my sister had a tiny one-bedroom apartment...the cheap-o kind. I was temporarily staying on her couch for a couple of weeks. We both knew many of the same people, quite a few not close friends but definitely acquaintances who for a variety of reasons had nowhere to go for T dinner (newly moved to town, in the middle of messy divorce, older with no family left, etc). So we invited them. All of them. My sis had no table/chairs yet (they were ordered but not delivered yet). We spread a picnic blanket on the living room floor, set the food as a buffet on the coffee table which was pushed to the far wall out of the way. Everyone had turkey dinner with all the fixings on their laps. Most people met each other that day. It was a blast and really, to us, felt like the truest meaning of the season.

we have fun memories like this too-but i SO remember the first thanksgiving (and christmas) in the first home we owned. like the op's dd we bought our home in the fall, and when we were looking it was always in the back of my head-picturing what i wanted for my first holidays there (and for me it was the norman rockwell with tables and table cloths, matching dishes-and the "good" glassware-which basicly meant the cheap matching stuff we owned that did'nt just match by virtue of being bought at mcdonalds or taco bell during a single movie promotion).

if i had changed it to more than the number of people i knew i could facilitate it would have been totaly different, not nesc. bad different but different from what i was looking so forward to.

that was 19 years ago this year, and while i've got nicer matching glassware now, and have expanded my dishes as well as the size of my home, such that i could host allot more people, i still look back on that first holiday dinner in our first little house and it was so special to us (and has sustained us mentaly through subsequent holiday get togethers that have become known in our family as "the roseanne show reinactments")

 

[phred52]

Thanks everyone for weighing in and giving us a lot to consider!

By the way, what was her response to them when they asked her to Thanksgiving?

She told them she already had plans. No, they didn't press, however it felt awkard to her. No question that they would accept if invited.

dd read through this thread just now. The situation is difficult for her as she would dearly love to invite 'everyone' & still have a nice formal dinner. Her dream is a beautiful formal dinner using crystal and china and candles. Can't do that if 21 or more come.

DD's verdict is to keep it "small" with the original group and invite the others over again another time.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Thanks everyone for weighing in and giving us a lot to consider!



She told them she already had plans. No, they didn't press, however it felt awkard to her. No question that they would accept if invited.

dd read through this thread just now. The situation is difficult for her as she would dearly love to invite 'everyone' & still have a nice formal dinner. Her dream is a beautiful formal dinner using crystal and china and candles. Can't do that if 21 or more come.

DD's verdict is to keep it "small" with the original group and invite the others over again another time.

Oh well heck. You did not say she wanted a formal affair. Obviously she cannot invite that many people.

 

[minniecarousel]

Thanks everyone for weighing in and giving us a lot to consider!



She told them she already had plans. No, they didn't press, however it felt awkard to her. No question that they would accept if invited.

dd read through this thread just now. The situation is difficult for her as she would dearly love to invite 'everyone' & still have a nice formal dinner. Her dream is a beautiful formal dinner using crystal and china and candles. Can't do that if 21 or more come.

DD's verdict is to keep it "small" with the original group and invite the others over again another time.

She'll be fine! There will be instances in the future to have "everyone" over. She should keep this to the size crowd she can handle. I routinely have 21 for T'giving dinner and I have a very large house. So hosting that many in a small house is not appealing to me either.

 

[Kathi OD]

whoops...didn't see the end version.

everyone will have a great time

 

[shirleyb]

Does she live close to you? Would it be possible to have the dinner at your place and then do dessert at hers? Or just for her to do tours of her house later?

 

[LilyWDW]

Thanks everyone for weighing in and giving us a lot to consider!



She told them she already had plans. No, they didn't press, however it felt awkard to her. No question that they would accept if invited.

dd read through this thread just now. The situation is difficult for her as she would dearly love to invite 'everyone' & still have a nice formal dinner. Her dream is a beautiful formal dinner using crystal and china and candles. Can't do that if 21 or more come.

DD's verdict is to keep it "small" with the original group and invite the others over again another time.

If that is what she wants, then that is what she wants. There is no reason she should be "forced" to invite more people that she wishes OR change what she wants to do. There will be time to have bigger events and other people over. This just is not that time. Nothing wrong with that.

I hope she has a wonderful holiday and enjoys her first ones in her new home.