You did hit the nail on the head. Leftovers are the best part of hosting and I usually have enough deserts left over to have something different each day for a week along with all the turkey and dressing.

Between Community Youth Meal at Church this Wednesday, Church Thanksgiving meal on Sunday and Thanksgiving on Thursday...I'll be ready for Pizza by Thursday afternoon. Luckily for me my wife makes the best Turkey Salad I've ever eaten and she always gets enough Turkey to make me some for sandwiches all week end.

We always host, never are guests. But this year the guests can't make the trip. So it will just be the 7 of us for dinner.

Unless HB decides he needs a few more...

 

Also told my daughter to bring home any dorm strays that can't get home for Thanksgiving.

Thats pretty cool. Thanksgiving always reminds me of my sister who just passed away a couple months ago. She was one of those people that may not think things all the way through sometimes but just go with her heart and do things that are nice. About 3 years ago she calls me up Thanksgiving morning and asks if we minded if she brought someone over to celebrate with us. I said I had no problem at all, who was it? She brought over a homeless guy she passed that morning on the street, he had dinner with us and that night she drove him to a shelter. That's the type of person she was, but I admit at the time I was a little worried, a stranger in my house not knowing what kind of person he was etc. He ended up being very very nice and I was really happy I could help make Thanksgiving that year special for him.

Thats pretty cool. Thanksgiving always reminds me of my sister who just passed away a couple months ago. She was one of those people that may not think things all the way through sometimes but just go with her heart and do things that are nice. About 3 years ago she calls me up Thanksgiving morning and asks if we minded if she brought someone over to celebrate with us. I said I had no problem at all, who was it? She brought over a homeless guy she passed that morning on the street, he had dinner with us and that night she drove him to a shelter. That's the type of person she was, but I admit at the time I was a little worried, a stranger in my house not knowing what kind of person he was etc. He ended up being very very nice and I was really happy I could help make Thanksgiving that year special for hiim.

That's very cool, HB. Sorry for your loss. No doubt this will be a sad first Thanksgiving without your sister.

 

Made me think of my mom. The Sunday before whatever big holiday was coning up, she would always go up to a couple G.I.s at Mass and invite them over for Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter dinner. I'll admit that as a kid, I was not always thrilled about having strangers at the table, but it always meant the world to these soldiers stationed so far from home in Germany.

 

And like many moms, the more mouths she could feed, the happier she was. :lol2:

Always a guest. But my Mom started hosting when Granny got ill. Granny still hangs on to Christmas thought but she has let us start helping a ton.

Pseudo-host. Going to the mother-in laws but I end up preparing and hosting everything. That woman could screw up a peanut butter sandwich.

Pseudo-host. Going to the mother-in laws but I end up preparing and hosting everything. That woman could screw up a peanut butter sandwich.

hahaha. I may have to invite you over to my daughters in laws next time they cook dinner for us. Not good to keep it nice.

hahaha. I may have to invite you over to my daughters in laws next time they cook dinner for us. Not good to keep it nice.

 

My mother-in-law once burned pre-cooked turkey sausage. How in the hell do you screw up that? It is already cooked? Her only claim to fame is her carrot cake. But it SUCKS. To borrow from one of my favorite bands, Phish. It is like chalk dust torture. Dry to the bone.

We hosted everything for years. Now, we go to the kids homes.

 

This year, we'll go to my son's place in Apopka Thursday afternoon for dinner there, stay the night, and go to the USF/UCF game Friday night. Saturday we'll come home and head over to my daughter's for dinner there. My daughter likes to go overboard, so I might have to actually bath for that one.

Always a guest, but I think that changes as you get a little older. In recent

years the wife and I've started to have a small Christmas gathering and really

enjoy having friends and a few family members over for that.

One thing about Thanksgiving since the wifes Grandpa passed away it's not the same;

every year we used to fix our plates and head out to his garage and watch football and

drink Busch Light. His choice not mine but you adapt

This will be the first Turkey Day without my mom who passed in April. We used to go to her place for every holiday. This year, we are going to my sister's. I am dreading the holidays.

We are hosting as we have been for the past 10 years. I like it as I can take a nap after dinner in comfort. :woot:

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Mom always hosted Aunts , Uncles, Cousins and any strays who had nowhere to go. Sometimes in the 40s in number. My sister and I have kept the tradition alternating hosting every other year. Fewer children and grandchildren and those who can't come home mean smaller crowds, only 17 this year. We have the same traditional menu, play the same card and board games, (adults and kids), tell stories, look at pictures and watch football just like we always have. Tradition dictates that the men in the family do dishes after the women cook. Every family contributes and this year my sister's 42 yo daugther is cooking the turkey for the first time with her mother's supervision. We all take home leftovers.

We go to other places. We usually have 2 or 3 places.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Mom always hosted Aunts , Uncles, Cousins and any strays who had nowhere to go. Sometimes in the 40s in number. My sister and I have kept the tradition alternating hosting every other year. Fewer children and grandchildren and those who can't come home mean smaller crowds, only 17 this year. We have the same traditional menu, play the same card and board games, (adults and kids), tell stories, look at pictures and watch football just like we always have. Tradition dictates that the men in the family do dishes after the women cook. Every family contributes and this year my sister's 42 yo daugther is cooking the turkey for the first time with her mother's supervision. We all take home leftovers.

 

Very nice & thanks for sharing. Especially the "any strays" part. :thumb: