It looks like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We hosted this year for a group of 8, and it went really well. My husband and I smoked a turkey and made cornbread dressing, gravy, rosemary roasted cashews, and mulled cider. Friends brought mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, and apple and pumpkin pie. I set two tables of four with our white china and family crystal -- one with a brown table cloth, orange napkins, and green pears in a glass bowl and the other with a cream table cloth, brown napkins, and clementines in a glass bowl. We enjoyed football, food, and each others' company.

This is the first year I did NOTHING!!! I visited from school out of state and basically helped with the gravy. Thats it. It was kind of freeing. This from someone who hosted a few times and loved it. It was a lesson in letting go, and relaxing.

I would love the recipe for "Persimmon and pomegranate salad with pine nuts and cilantro!"

Pretty please?

Y'know, mine was OK. It was small, as usual, but I would have liked it to be a bit livelier. The food was so-so, nothing was particularly bad, but nothing stood out, either. I think some of it had to do with a few cranky people, too, but who knows. I hope next year it'll be a bit better. I'll be in a new location (::crosses fingers::) and plan for a bit more festive day. We'll see.

I hosted for my hubbys family fo rthe first time and it was great!
He kept everyone out of the kitchen at crunch time with a game of family croquet, and I cooke dup a storm, with a spreadsheet to keep everything on time.
Spatchcocked dry brined turkey, apple pie, cranberry tart, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans almondine, Mixed greans with sliced pears, candied pecans, and blue cheese, bacon wrapped dates, mini crab cakes, a cheese spread and Maine Rapoports stuffing... it was a total feast!

Last year the gravy was gross -- this year the gravy turned out great but the stuffing was burnt. This was the first year I cooked with this particular (rental) oven and it is much, much too hot. I turned everything down 25 degrees and still some things got too brown. I also made a salad that got wasted, but overall everything was delicious!

This year I decided for the first time to host a sit-down dinner for 12 family members and friends. It's not plated, just buffet, but I set a long table with table cloth, china, etc.

It went pretty well and even though I cooked almost everything, I didn't feel stress or rush at all. I've hosted several parties before, and I was always stressed to the last minute because of so much to do. This year I planned ahead, made the cranberry sauce, gravy, blanched the green beans, rose the dough in the fridge, brined the turkey, made the pie crust and cornbread for the stuffing ahead of time.
When the day came, everything just fell into place.

Here's my menu:
Alton Brown's turkey with cranberry-orange sauce and gravy I made with roasted veggies and bacon
Green beans salad with miso dressing (so good!). Here's the recipe: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/11/green-beans-with-miso-and-almonds
Beet and fennel salad with balsamic reduction
Garlic mashed potatoes
Sweet potato bread from The Kitchn (didn't rise as much as I thought it would, even though I made it 36 hours ahead... also not as sweet as I would like)
Cornbread stuffing by Pioneer Woman
and Paula Deen's pumpkin pie

Total bust. Spent 3 days ahead of time preparing everything, 2 days cleaning house and decorating and my husband's family came, ate, and left in under an hour and a half. Never again.

i made that sweet potato gratin with caramelized onions and it was a huge hit!

Well, we sort of had a two-day Thanksgiving (that was what it felt like, anyway). My honey and I went out for a restaurant buffet on Thursday, took a long walk, then came home and took a nap. On Friday, some friends had their annual Gluehwein (hot German spiced wine) and Goulash party, complete with a massive bonfire; I brought apple strudel, which was a big hit. Both days were great.

lambofcairo, I feel your pain as that happened to me a few years ago at Easter. I spent days preparing the house and meal and by the time I was sitting down to eat the person who brought the dessert was rushing it to the tables. Before two hours had passed the first group was out the door. The only difference is that I will be doing it again this year.

I brought my traditional dinner rolls to our family gathering this year. Yesterday I bought a fresh turkey on clearance and cooked it up with a few sides so we now have some leftovers.

Being Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras, my husband and I just had chicken pot pie on Thanksgiving day. It's high school graduation season here, so we had other engagements so couldn't participate in dinner with other volunteers. Saturday was our Thanksgiving with other volunteers, and we roasted two pigs over a homemade charcoal pit. Non traditional but very memorable and delicious!

Terrible. A vegan of 10 years, I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with absolutely nothing I could eat. (The salad had cheese, the veggies had butter, the bread had eggs.) Luckily I brought a lot of dishes to share, but I just felt so excluded. Never again.

Amazing! we had 24 people over and LOTS of food. Brined and roast turkey with giblet gravy, braised turkey legs in red wine sauce, mashed potatoes with bacon and sausage, wild rice and chestnut stuffing, cranberry tangerine port relish and caramelized mushrooms.
For dessert: pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream pie, chocolate pecan pie and apple pie cookies.