I love Thanksgiving. Nothing better than getting together with family and friends. We use to go over to a friend's house and join in their family meal, but one of their kids (lol old enough to have their own kids) was always hours late. Everyone just sat around and waited for them. I also made a Thanksgiving meal the following weekend for my own family since Turkey is a favorite. Now that my husband is no longer with me, I feel like a fifth wheel, I stay home with my son and we make Thanksgiving together.
I live with my daughter now - near Atlanta. It is usually just us and we share in making a nice dinner (usually stuff a roasting chicken) with lots of other leftovers which we love to eat for days.
When I was living in Ohio, after my divorce, my kids showed up late for dinner the first year. They had been at their father's and his live in girlfriend's and said her dinner got done late. My food was pretty well ruined and they weren't hungry anyhow. I was hurt that they hadn't told me they were going to another dinner. I couldn't really afford the food and would have just had desert and coffee or something like that for them. For years after that I didn't make dinner and went to a potluck held by other divorced people I knew. Then that kind of fell apart and I started making a simple dinner for myself and gradually they started showing up again. I never held food again though - I just announced a one hour or so range of time and that was it. If anyone came late, they could serve themselves leftovers and/or desert.
