Your Thanksgiving Table

I serve Thanksgiving buffet style. It's just easier that way for us. I keep rolls, a water pitcher, and wine on the table.

It's kind of annoying to pass platters of food across the table, IMO.

We also serve buffet style. And we don't use any special plates, decor, etc. We all meet at my mom's since she is sort of the halfway point for all of us coming in from other parts of Texas, and she lives in a mobile home and since there are usually 15 or so of us there, there is not much room for anything else! LOL

we serve buffet style,too!

I would love to have enough space to place everything on the table, but don't. Even when the table has all leaves in it, I feel it is too crowded and doesn't look good with all the food on it (for a big holiday meal that is, now if it is just a regular meal with a salad and a lasagna, I can still make the table look nice with the food on it).

I go to a lot of trouble to set a holiday table, with centerpiece, tablecloth, placemats and chargers, candles, cloth napkins arranged in rings etc. so I don't want to get the table too full with the food. It makes it uncomfortable for people trying to juggle things.

I set a buffet on the counter between the kitchen and dining room, with all pieces matching the table settings, and often a centerpiece there as well. I want the buffet to look as good as the table does. Just seems to work out best for us.

We meet at mom's house and she insists (and there is no changing her mind) that we set all of the food out on the table. Brii, you are so right!! very annoying passing food across the table (and it usually happens just as you are ready to take a bite of something!!)

DH's elderly parents come to our house for all the holidays and for picnics and large family dinners. They are both in their 90s and it's very difficult for them to walk around; we are thankful that they can even come to us for dinner. DH will bring them to our house and then take them back home when they're ready to leave. We did the same for my parents when they were still living. It's important to us that our parents are able to be with us.

So yes, our table has a small centerpiece for the holidays or the dinner and I serve the food on the table. I will not make them get up to walk over to a buffet, nor will I get their food for them from a buffet. They would not want that. I put the food on the table and we all pass around the dishes. Sometimes we hold the bowl of food while they're serving themselves and then continue passing the food to the next person.

That being said, I still try to make the table as inviting as I can. A pretty tablecloth to suit the holiday, a pretty centerpiece, some lit candles, etc.

So no buffet here. I don't worry about it.

I decorate it formally a week before Thanksgiving, and I add holiday accents. But the morning of I refresh the china, glassware, and flatware.

At meal time I remove what is ancillary decorations, and use space to fully serve the big meal, with a couple of extra heating trays on the buffet table.

I don't want my guests having to get up and down , or move around the house carrying plates of food.

My joy is in preparing and serving them and making them as comfortable as possible, without them having to work to get and eat their meal.

We do buffet style. I don't want to decorate the table and then have to take away some of the décor to make room for the food. That's what we've always done and family and friends enjoy eating at the table decorated in festive style. I look at pictures on TV and in magazines of people eating at a table with all the food there, turkey in center and it looks so nice. I also don't want to carve the turkey on my good table cloth and also the guest would probably end up with turkey all over them. Buffet style works better for me.

We have a lot of guests for Thanksgiving dinner, so buffet style makes the most sense. Since we're doing buffet, I get really elaborate with my table.

Here is one table from a couple of years ago. Disclaimer: my dining room table is not this long....we also had a plywood table built that butts up against our regular table for Thanksgiving: