Do you go out for Thanksgiving dinner, cook or go to someone else's house?

I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner for over 40 years. I started when I first married. My mother-in-law always helped but she liked my cooking better than her own. Together we have put many holiday dinners on the table for our family. I thought that when my sons had their own families I would get a break and get to go to their houses for holiday dinners. Boy was I wrong. My daughter-in-laws don't like to cook so everyone still comes home for dinner. I am now 60 and my mother-in-law is 92. Wonder who will feed them when we are gone? LOL

This year we are ordering Chinese food, but we usually would order pizza and watch the game.

NONONO theres no take out here I never did and can't even see myself doing it in the future. I do all the cooking and baking plus I'm also the one that does the shopping. I love to cook and bake.

We have never really celebrated Thanksgiving dinner only because it just wasn't something we did in NZ and Samoa. This year my sons school is putting on a thanksgiving lunch at their school and I am going to join him for that. It will cost me at most $3-$5 total for my lunch. Pretty good deal I say. We might just go out to dinner this year since it's just the three of us in my family here in DC.

With the exception of a couple of years ago, ctry, I gave up cooking the large Thanksgiving feast a long time ago. The last several years before I broke up with my ex I ordered in our meal from Kroger. My mother told me about this after she had tried it. The meals were delicious every time. And, as you said, there is no big mess to clean up. Since I've been living alone the kids will bring my dinner to me if I don't want to go out. I did cook two years ago for my youngest daughter because she loves my cooking so much. Now she will call me on the phone and I walk her through the steps in preparing her dinner. She did a very good job last year.

Well my husband just retired from the army however when we were in Texas, home away from home, we cooked our own and invited some friends over to join us. Hubby and I did all the cooking. Then we moved to Arkansas, we had thanksgiving alone one year and the following year we went home to Virginia to have it with family. This year, since hubby has retired, we now live in North Carolina and my parents moved four hours south of their old home so they're much closer to us than my brothers families so we may have it together either at our place or theirs but hubby and I are doing all the cooking. We're hoping to get our family to come down but if not then that's ok, it'll be just us. We'll have to see how it goes.

We usually all go to my or my husband's parents' house for Thanksgiving. One year we all went out to eat which was nice...no cleanup! I think I'd like to try and buy about half the meal from somewhere like Wild Oats and then prepare the rest myself. We've also talked about having a potluck Thanksgiving so no one person is doing all the work.

It sounds like you got an awesome deal! We usually take turns cooking at a different family member's house each year. I think last year was the first time we ate out. Cooking big meals has gotten to be too much for my mom, we had various things going on (Dad sick, daughter pregnant, etc) and other kids going different directions so we decided to eat out. We had a great time and enjoyed it. And like you, the best part was no pans and dishes to clean up!

Wow...how many people were at your house..I have a Stop & Shop around the corner...obviously you don't get the turkey hot ...but tell me what you had to do....I am not sure if I am working on Thanksgiving yet.

We always go to my grandmothers house. She usually does all the cooking. The last 2 years though, its been harder for her to get around, so my mom will cook the turkey and then bring it to dinner. My grandmother handles all the side dishes. We've never tried ordering the meal. That actually sounds like a good idea though.

well i lie in Canada and here we celebrate our thanksgiving in October (early October in fact) so we have already had ours. while i generally spend it with both families (my parents and the inlaws), my dad was in hospital over the holiday, so we will do it at a later date. I have never ventured to cook thanksgiving or turkey for that matter.

I go to my father's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The funny thing that eventhough I am invited as a guest, my father just makes some soup for the first course and then leave the rest of the cooking to my sister, step-mother, and myself. So that means my sister makes the yams and stuffing, my step mother helps with the prepwork, and I'm in charge of the turkey. Sometimes I wish we could try that Stop and Shop meal, but my father is a really picky eater. Phew, just thinking about all the work though makes me a but tired.

well growing up even after i started a family of my own thanksgivng has always been at my mothers and then in 2005 i wasnt really speaking to my famiy for many reasons and i decided to make thanksgiving dinner for just myself my hubby and the kids, let me tell you i was nervous i had it in my head i was going to over cook the turkey and when my hubby went to cut it it would all split open and be all dried out like you see on some tv movies but it came out great so last year i cooked for my hubby the kids and my inlaws and this year im having my whole family over still a little nervous cause to date ive only cooked 2 turkeys and its always stress full when cooking for others you want it all to be jsut so but ill get over that and it will be great just like it has been in the past. i will be cooking for about 10-15 people . yes there will be alot of pots and pans but thank heavens for my dishwasher :)!

When I was still living in Texas, Thanksgiving dinner was always at my mom's, but me and my sister always helped out, and as my girls got older they were always in the kitchen helping too. They all still go to my mom's. I now live 1600 miles away and we go to my boyfriend's mom's, she does all the cooking, his sister usually brings desert. I do miss my mom's big kitchen and all of us working and laughing together, and my dad always did the turkey. We still have an enjoyable time at his parent's just not the same, also the dinner is a bit different than a good ole Southern Thanksgiving dinner lol. Yes, we did by the entire dinner from a store, once! it just wasn't the same, the smells, the laughter, that comes from doing all the cooking and baking.

I use to take turns with my mom. One year she would have Thanksgiving at her house and I would have Christmas and then the next year I would have Thanksgiving and she would have Christmas. It worked good that way. The whole family would come and we would play board games or cards after dinner. Now she moved to a different state than us, so I will be having both holidays.

I go to my Brother's house, but everyone brings some food. None of us have enough money to do an entire meal like that. So we each bring something. Buying the entire meal from a store? Just not possible. Under a hundred sounds great if you're making more than minimum wage, or part-time work, or on Social Security disability or unemployed and don't qualify for unemployment. I'm making $220 a week, so that's about 1/2 weeks worth of money that I need for a bill. Another person makes $600 a month. I suppose if we each contributed $20 dollars, then maybe we could do it. But if one person is unemployed, that may not be reasonable either. I'd rather that my family bring what they grew in the garden, hunted, foraged, got dirt cheap at the dollar store, or made from flour, water, etc. But someday, maybe someday. But with the high blood pressure and problems with salt making it worse in my family, I still think I'd rather have home made. It's an interesting thought, though. Take care

Yes, the leftovers are the biggest reason for having the feast at our house! But I also have the biggest house, and we can fit in more of our family and friends. We went out once... it was so sad to not have turkey hash the next day... I felt like we were really missing something!