I am still in the generation that I go to my aunt's house for the big dinner. My mother and my aunt take turns with hosting holidays. Putting the two families together (3 sometimes 4 generations) makes for 30 or so people in the house. 3 or 4 come from out of town and nobody gets hotel rooms so spare beds and couches and air mattresses are used in all the homes.
I bring green bean casserole this year. I used to bring breads and stuffing, but since I can't eat it anymore- I let someone else cook it. Everyone has their specialty dish and others that are passed around each year.
With all the kids (9 1/2 of them) we have quite a kids table, 12 grown-up kids, 6 "adults", 2 grandparents and a partridge in a pear tree. Sometimes there is a stray or two in the mix, you never know. Someone could walk in off the street and no one would even notice.
There is usually a room with a movie going where the kids are shushed and the lights are dimmed and you can find people hiding from the crowd taking naps or just getting a bit of peace. We start the old Christmas movies that day like White Christmas and such. Over the years I spend more and more time in that room (whichever house it is hosted in).
My mother, aunt, grandmother and I all like to shop black Friday- but we don't all so it the same way. I used to like to "sport shop" that day. I would get the Ad's, plan what I wanted to buy with the time of store opening and be there as the doors opened. If I walked in, grabbed what I needed, walked straight to the register, checked out before the line formed and hopped in the care for the next store I could make it before the next store opened. That is best done as a single, and starts about 3am. At about 7 all the stores have opened and it is best to have a partner so that you walk in the store, grab a cart if it is available and get in the checkout line. The one goes to collect their things while the other stands in line. By the time you have collected everything, you are halfway through the line. By ten the crowd is mostly gone and you can stroll through the last of the stores looking for things in the picked over stores. That is the time to get wrapping paper, or impulse items. I usually go to a late breakfast (alone) and look over my lists and receipts and see if I have doubled up on anything in the rush. (If I find a better deal in a later store I will usually get it and return the higher priced one later in the day). After breakfast I return what I need to and go home to a long nap.
I don't get to "sport shop" this year because I didn't save the $$$ to do it. I haven't been able to since I was working. After getting disability I will be able to afford it again. BUT, I don't enjoy crowds anymore- will I even want to do it again when I can afford it?
Anyway, that is my expected Thanksgiving.