Another Thanksgiving question

MairePoppy · November 2015

What time of day do you have Thanksgiving Dinner?

For my family and my husband's, it was always a day long event. Dinner at 1 or 2 p.m, TV football and table clearing, followed by pie, followed by turkey leftover sandwiches, followed by cleanup. We usually skip the sandwiches and send everyone home with leftovers so they can have sandwiches the next day.

My adult kids have told me that all their friends have their TG dinner at dinner time 6pm give or take an hour.

KeptInStitches · November 2015

My family: noon precisely. Then lunch (sweets mainly) at 3 p.m. and supper (leftovers) at 6 p.m.

H's mom: noon or so, usually.

H's dad: 1-2 p.m.

lyndausvi · November 2015

We always did early afternoon. I'm guessing between 1-3. Then have turkey sandwiches sometime later in the evening.

ETA - if we were living in the Delaware area we would go to my aunt and uncles in the evening. Which was after their dinner too. Often eating their leftovers for a "snack". Pretty much the entire extended family would end up there. Some 40 of us in this small house. All the adults around the table drinking. Us kids mixing their drinks or pouring the beer from the permanent kegerator. Football always on the only TV. Oh and they all smoked so it was filled with smoke. How the hell none of us has lung cancer is beyond me.

Anyway, fond memories. No really, I have very fond memories of those days.

CSunshine76 · November 2015

My family always ate around 1:00, before our Dallas Cowboys played at 3. Dessert some time during the game or before. If anyone was still around and hungry that evening, we brought out leftovers or made turkey sandwiches, or just had more dessert!

JoanE2012 · November 2015

Holiday dinners are always served around 3pm for us.

Jen4948 · November 2015

Earlier than we normally eat dinner-anywhere from 3pm to 5pm. We normally eat dinner around 6pm.

MairePoppy · November 2015

Oh yes, Lynda, everyone smoked back then. The adults sent us to fetch cold beer from the fridge so they wouldn't miss any football. No fancy kegarator for my family. As a reward, they'd let us take a swig of beer. The moms and grandmother didn't approve so that was top secret.

lc07 · November 2015

We usually would do soup and sandwiches and dips and apps galore around 11 am. Thanksgiving "dinner" around 3:30 pm with all day football, drinking, and relaxing. Dessert is served immediately after dinner. I can't remember ever eating another dinner later. Must be all of the food I put back around 3:30. This is the only holiday where my family eats this early. Regular meals are normally somewhere between 6:30-8 pm including Easter and Christmas.

May14TXbride · November 2015

Our family has always eaten earlier in the day, around 1. My husbands family eats between 6-7. Works out nicely because we can celebrate with both families, but boy are you full by the end of the day!

WinstonsGirl · November 2015

Wow, I had no idea everyone eats so early. Thanksgiving dinner is around 6pm for us. No lunch cos the turkey is still cooking

kmmssg · November 2015

The grazing herd sits down around 2ish and commences operation "You are going to need unbuttoned your jeans before you're done." Then the dishwasher gets filled and turned on. I cook the turkey the day before so cleanup.is pretty quick. The rest of the day is spent maintaining the food coma.

ILoveBeachMusic · November 2015

We usually eat the meal around 2 or 3 with apps before. Dessert follows about 30 mins to an hour after dinner. We clean up and "pick" at leftovers for snacks later in the evening.

STARMOON44 · November 2015

Usually 4.

kvruns · November 2015

We usually eat around 12:30 or 1ish. H and I are hosting this year and I think it will be more like 2 since we always run a race Thanksgiving morning and then will have to come back and cook so it will be tough timewise.

MobKaz · November 2015

We have a family mantra for holidays. Arrive any time after 1:00 PM for drinks and appetizers, with dinner expected @3:00 PM. Thanksgiving appetizers are usually light in nature because the meal is so "heavy" with carbs and starches. The Christmas meal is a little lighter in nature with beef tenderloin and fresh salads, so appetizers are amped up and more plentiful.

Even as a child, Sunday dinners were always mid-afternoon. For us, I think it stems from my dad's European roots.

@MairePoppy, my brothers were always the fetchers of beverages and they received a similar reward. It was also not unusual to get a small dose of Jager when home sick with a cold, or bitters in 7-Up for an upset tummy. I'm not sure you can even purchase them anymore, but I have a few glass ashtrays placed around the house as "heirlooms" and in memory of family members no longer here. They are no longer used in that capacity, but they really spark memories as so many family members smoked back then.

ericasm0703 · November 2015

We went to my aunt's house and always started around 12:30-2:00 to eat lunch with my dad's side. After her grandkids were born we made it a little later to accommodate for their nap time and started around 2:00. Then we would go to whoever was hosting from my mom's side and have dinner around 5:30-6:00. FI is from NY, so we try to make a trip up there to see them between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

At the firehouse, the local grocery store usually has dinner dropped off around 2:00. Depending on how busy we are, we may eat it while it's hot or it'll sit on the table and we'll get to it when we come back. Last year we were lucky enough to only run three calls the whole shift, but the year before that we were eating Thanksgiving dinner at 2:30 Friday morning.

This year one of my mom's brothers is hosting at his new home in VA, but FI is working day shift both Thanksgiving and the day after, so we won't be able to go down there. FI talked to my dad's sister about changing the time so that way he could come after work, so we'll still be getting together around the same time (2:00) for appetizers and whatnot, but we won't eat until FI gets there.

jenna8984 · November 2015

When I was a child we always did Thanksgiving at my grandparents on Cape Cod. Since it was a 2 hour drive for all the siblings/ cousins we'd eat around 1pm so everyone had time to drive home around 4pm. My favorite part was at exactly 11am each year we'd hit the bridge to the cape and Alice's Restaurant would come on the radio. Please someone tell me you know this famous 15 minute song?!

So yup, now that I'm a grown up I host it around 2pm.

littlemushroom · November 2015

We always do Thanksgiving around 1:00 at my Aunt's house. We all eat, sit around chatting and doing dishes, then have dessert. My H and I also bring some board games that the whole family ends up playing. We can't say for games this year because we are hosting a Thanksgiving on Friday at 1 for our parents and siblings and I need to get home to prep some stuff for the next day.

emmaaa · November 2015

DH's family eats dinner at 1 pm (so that means arrive around noon) and then my family eats supper at 6 pm (arrive at 5 pm). Usually we take an hour in between to go home and take a nap.

All I have to say is, thank God for leggings so that way my pants stretch as I eat!

MobKaz · November 2015

jenna8984 said:

When I was a child we always did Thanksgiving at my grandparents on Cape Cod. Since it was a 2 hour drive for all the siblings/ cousins we'd eat around 1pm so everyone had time to drive home around 4pm. My favorite part was at exactly 11am each year we'd hit the bridge to the cape and Alice's Restaurant would come on the radio. Please someone tell me you know this famous 15 minute song?!
So yup, now that I'm a grown up I host it around 2pm.

I grew up on Arlo!

Maggie0829 · November 2015

I have never been a fan of having Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the afternoon. I find it makes for a very hectic morning and a very long evening. So we usually shoot for 5:30 for dinner.

thefanciestbeckler · November 2015

Ours is usually around 4. My cousin always hosts it at her house, and half of us have to drive about 2 hours to get there. So 4 gives everybody plenty of time to get our dishes ready and get there. Everybody in our family typically eats a pretty late breakfast to keep us tied over until dinner is served.

cupcait927 · November 2015

When I was a little kid, dinner was always at my grandma's house or we went out for dinner and I remember eating later in the day, maybe around 4? When we were about middle school age, we started just doing dinner as a family (mom, dad, sister and I) and we'd eat around 2 or 3.

Now that I'm with H, dinner is usually with his family. If we go to his aunt's house, dinner is at 2 pm. If it's a year that MIL does dinner, then it's between 1-2. This year we're going out to dinner with my in-laws, my dad, and MIL's siblings for Thanksgiving and I'm SO excited. I was slightly bummed about no leftovers but MIL told us over the weekend that she's decided she's also going to cook a whole dinner Thanksgiving dinner on Friday simply so we can munch on leftovers all weekend. She's the absolute best.

lyndausvi · November 2015

@MairePoppy said:

Oh yes, Lynda, everyone smoked back then. The adults sent us to fetch cold beer from the fridge so they wouldn't miss any football. No fancy kegarator for my family. As a reward, they'd let us take a swig of beer. The moms and grandmother didn't approve so that was top secret.

Blah. Here is my first sip of beer, thanks to grandma. To be fair she had a frosted mug with a glass bottom. I'm sure I was teething and like the cold mug on my gums.

I learned how to pour beer from a keg around 6.

Liatris2010 · November 2015

People show up at 2 or 3, cocktails and apps for an hour or two, then pasta, then turkey and sides, then we play games and eat some dessert. Food probably ends around 10 pm. The key to eating a lot of food is to pace yourself and spread it out over several hours.

OliveOilsMom · November 2015

When I was younger we would eat dinner around 2 to accommodate our elder relatives. It would also rotate who was hosting. Back then, I think the hostess pretty much cooked everything except for dessert. My mom always did the desserts. She is a great baker and would make about 12 desserts of different pies and cakes! We never hosted any holidays at our house due to my mom's crazy work schedule. Sometimes she didn't even come to Thanksgiving dinner, but always made the desserts.

But now we eat at more of a normal dinner time, around 5. We typically have Thanksgiving at my aunt's house now (I did last minute last year because my aunt got sick). But my aunt doesn't like to cook, so it started that my mom would cook the turkey and bring it to dinner. Now, I cook the turkey and bring it to dinner. My aunt always volunteers to buy the turkey (she usually earns a free or discounted one from the grocery store) as payment to us for not having to cook it! Usually we get around a 12-13 lb turkey, but since my aunt was sick, my uncle went to the store to buy the turkey and he bought a 22 lb one! OMG! Thank God my convection oven had just been installed or it would have taken all day! Got it cooked, unstuffed, in about 3 hours!

The rest of the attendees always bring sides or desserts with them, so its always a group effort for our dinner.

ShesSoCold · November 2015

As a kid, dinner was always at Grandma's at four. For every birthday party and holiday. Everything else was always worked around that.

Now she's in a senior community and we rent the private banquet room at noon. After that, H and I go to his dad's and then my dad's. I'm hoping we can move that to my house though, since the Bears play and I have a bigger TV.

My MIL is a Packers fan and she's been trying to get us to go up to WI for Thanksgiving. I told her not unless we'll be celebrating the holiday at Lambeau.

julieanne912 · November 2015

Growing up it always varied on who was hosting, and what my mom's work schedule was like (she often worked on holidays).

This year, we're eating around 4pm. We're doing an "orphan Thanksgiving" for all our friends and a bit of family who don't have another gathering to go to, so we've told everyone our house is open starting at 2pm to hang out, drink, and watch football. I kind of picked this time because we have a hockey game to go to the night before so I don't want to get up at the crack ass of dawn to start cooking.

I can't imagine getting an entire Thanksgiving dinner together by noon.

MairePoppy · November 2015

MobKaz said:

We have a family mantra for holidays. Arrive any time after 1:00 PM for drinks and appetizers, with dinner expected @3:00 PM. Thanksgiving appetizers are usually light in nature because the meal is so "heavy" with carbs and starches. The Christmas meal is a little lighter in nature with beef tenderloin and fresh salads, so appetizers are amped up and more plentiful.

Even as a child, Sunday dinners were always mid-afternoon. For us, I think it stems from my dad's European roots.

@MairePoppy, my brothers were always the fetchers of beverages and they received a similar reward. It was also not unusual to get a small dose of Jager when home sick with a cold, or bitters in 7-Up for an upset tummy. I'm not sure you can even purchase them anymore, but I have a few glass ashtrays placed around the house as "heirlooms" and in memory of family members no longer here. They are no longer used in that capacity, but they really spark memories as so many family members smoked back then.

That shot of Jager was mild in comparison to the cough medicine with codeine that was OTC back then. We got whiskey or brandy if there was no cough medicine in the house. That was good for 'belly aches' and tooth aches, too. Mom was okay with booze for medical reasons.

@lyndausvi - that pic is adorable.

emmaaa · November 2015

lyndausvi said:

@MairePoppy said:

Oh yes, Lynda, everyone smoked back then. The adults sent us to fetch cold beer from the fridge so they wouldn't miss any football. No fancy kegarator for my family. As a reward, they'd let us take a swig of beer. The moms and grandmother didn't approve so that was top secret.

Blah. Here is my first sip of beer, thanks to grandma. To be fair she had a frosted mug with a glass bottom. I'm sure I was teething and like the cold mug on my gums.

I learned how to pour beer from a keg around 6.

That's awesome. There is a picture of DH as a baby holding (and turning up) and Budweiser in his grandpa's lap. Apparently, he could spot a Bud can from clear across the room after that.

CharmedPam · November 2015

I don't think we've ever had it before 4. Last year, I was at TGI Friday's, which I loved, but this year we're cooking. I'm in the 1% percentile who really does not care for a turkey dinner.

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