From our home to yours—the people behind Wayfair share some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes, family traditions, and cherished memories. We are thankful for all of you and wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving!
"My family wakes up early on Thursday morning and goes to a diner to have a huge breakfast to 'shore us up' for Thanksgiving lunch. We sit, we laugh, and we pave the way for a wonderful Thanksgiving day. This is one of the most special moments of the year for me." - Eliza
"Ours is a full day event. Everyone comes in sweats—no jeans allowed! We have an afternoon turkey and an evening turkey so there is a lot of eating. Dinner always starts with Grandma yelling at the boys to turn football off while we are eating (every single year it is the same thing). 6pm and on = Movie time! We always watch Christmas vacation to bring us into the new holiday season." - Alicia
"My Ma's (my grandmother's) stuffing is the highlight of every family Thanksgiving dinner. It's so good that it takes the focus completely off the turkey. She's shared the recipe with the family but no one makes it like she does. I think she's still holding some secret ingredients close to the vest..." - Phil
"My family always goes around the table and says what they are most thankful for, we then reflect on the previous year recognizing how much has changed." - Claire
"My family is kind of multicultural so the traditional plates are supplemented with some other genres of food. Additionally, the big events around Thanksgiving for us are: Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot (5k run), Turkey Bowl (family touch football game on the front lawn), and watching football on TV before and after dinner. In terms of food, a thick gravy is absolutely necessary along with a cranberry stuffing. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!" - Jesse
"To me, Thanksgiving is my mom's brown-sugar-maple-syrup-sweet-potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows." - Jonathon
"My family and I gather at my aunt's house. We're a huge Jamaican family, so it's filled with laughter, music and the smells of the Caribbean island. Before we eat, we all hold hands (all 20+ of us) around the table and one by one give some things we are thankful for. We then bless the food and dig in! Makes you really appreciate your loved ones and all that you have."
- Janelle
"Every year without fail my grandmother burns something. It's something different every year, but it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without that one burnt dish on the table! :)" - Lindsey
"Every year at the Thanksgiving table each member of my family says one thing they are thankful for. I also have a Friendsgiving party, however this year we are starting a new tradition. Going forward we will choose a charity that has impacted one or more of our friends or families to donate to. This year we will be raising money and donating to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society." - Kelly
"I'm originally from Texas so I can't usually make it home for Thanksgiving. But I have friends around here who are also far from home and we always get together for our own Thanksgiving. It's a really great time to be thankful for loved ones even when we can't be with our families."
- Sarah
"Last year, my daughters and I served Thanksgiving meals to the homeless and had our family Thanksgiving the next day. We were grateful for our food and home after seeing so many people hungry and cold." - June
"One of my favorite parts of our Thanksgiving tradition is how my dad carves the turkey. He's a lawyer but he carves a turkey like a surgeon. Not at all the "Currier and Ives scene" as he dons his disposable latex gloves and wields his electric knife. But the result is out of a lifestyle magazine spread. Precision carved and then gorgeously rearranged on a huge platter. I've tried over the years to get my sons interested in cooking the bird (my job: one roasted, one done on the smoker) but they only want to apprentice with the carver!" - Michael
"On Thanksgiving morning about 25 people come over to my house for breakfast around 7:30 am before the final high school football game of the season! So fun!" - Sabina
"Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. Cooking together all day and sharing family memories. Growing up the whole family would get together and we'd set an impossibly long table in the dining room with the kids way off to the end. As the years went on and we got older we'd be having so much fun at the kids' table that no one wanted to 'graduate' to the grown up table. I even remember my mom and aunts and uncles asking if they could join us. No way! P.S. I still sit at the kids' table." - Trisha
"I have Thanksgiving traditions with my family, but since I moved from Boston to Ogden, I am not able to be with them right now. Now my tradition has become appreciating the hospitality of the Utahns. Starting from the very first year, my Ogden coworkers have opened their homes to us Boston transplants and made us feel like we were part of their families. They have made what could have been a really sad day into something worth being thankful for!" - Jessica
"Cannot live without those homemade mashed potatoes and gravy!! Thanksgiving is the only day you can get my ENTIRE family around for food!! Haha!!" - Shaylee
"We get together with family. The younger members go out in the woods around the family farm and cut down pine branches to make wreaths. We're always thoughtful about getting a variety of species: white pine, scotch pine, fir, cedar, hemlock. We also try to find holly trees with berries and pine cones. We bring the piles of materials into a relative's barn and all chat about the year while making wreaths together. It's a little bit of an assembly line process, but it is mostly about the fun of getting together to catch up. The homemade wreaths look amazing, much better than anything you can buy!" - Steve
"Squash covered in marshmallows! SO delicious but I feel like it might be a strange thing just in my family, not sure..." - Wilson
"My favorite and most memorable family tradition is my late grandmother's chocolate steamed pudding with hard sauce recipe. It has always been a family favorite and it's only made on Thanksgiving. We have continued the tradition by making it every year and it is the most delicious treat ever. It's necessary these days to make a double batch because that's how delicious it is! I will be making it this Thanksgiving and always thinking of my very special Grammie. Happy Thanksgiving!" - Jessica
"My family recently started a new tradition of pie for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. Sometimes you're just too full after the big feast, but it's not Turkey Day without a slice!" - Catie
"Best memory? Driving to Grandma's. My mom's side and my dad's side all together and being VERY VERY full at the end of the day!!! Oh yeah and FOOTBALL!!" - David
"It's always been a tradition in my family to head to the beach for some winter camping on Thanksgiving! We bring a Crockpot turkey roaster and cook the turkey in our camper—enjoying a family meal together surrounded by the crazy Oregon Coast weather. It's guaranteed to be windy and downright frigid, which makes for a great drive along the Pacific Coast Hwy 101, enjoying the crashing waves along the steep cliffs. If you're lucky, you may spot a few whales, too!" - Shaila
"Our family tradition is to play musical chairs. Usually a big game with minimum 10 people with an age range of eight to 80. My sister is the DJ. One time, my uncle almost hip-checked me through a window. The game usually ends with screaming, crying children if they don't win. For a period of time we had to declare the final three as winners to avoid the melt-downs." - Alex
"We fry our turkey and have for as long as I can remember! There was also that time my grandfather fell asleep in his plate—literally face down in the Thanksgiving meal." - Emma
"For the past five years I've spent Thanksgiving with my fiancé's family. It's a large family; Cuban on the mother's side and Italian on the father's side. Throw in the fact that they live on Long Island and you can imagine the fun we have. They are some of the most loving people I have ever met and I'm very thankful to have them in my life! When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of my Aunt Lynn and her amazing broccoli and cheddar casserole. She passed years ago after a long battle with cancer, but I make her casserole every year in her honor. It's still my all-time favorite dish." - William
"My grandmother is a unique individual, one Thanksgiving she used Styrofoam plates for the 20-25 of us, then when dinner was over she sent an empty pot around the table to collect all the dirty silverware. God bless her." - Anonymous
"My family is very Italian and when my brother and I were little we were not excited for traditional Thankgiving foods, just the idea of being with our entire family. So every year my Grandpa would take my brother, cousins, and myself to go get pizza and bring it back to our house to please all the children in the family that preferred Italian food over the traditional holiday food. We did this every year until my Grandpa passed away and we eventually all grew to like the Thanksgiving foods. It's definitely a special memory that I will always cherish from my family Thanksgivings!" - Elizabeth
"A few of my favorite traditions: Using the family torch to brulée the crème brulée after dinner, 3rd quarter nap during Thanksgiving day football game, and the 'buzz' of a full house of family and friends all catching up and enjoying the day." - Marcus
"Every year after dinner my family takes out plum pudding and drenches it in rum. Then we turn all the lights out and light the rum on fire. It lights the whole thing up in a deep blue flame for a good 10-15 seconds. No idea why we do this, but we do.." - Cornelius
"Here's the recipe for Roast Chicken with Middle Eastern Stuffing that we use for our favorite Thanksgiving meal." - Steve
"One Thanksgiving morning my little kids were sitting at the counter very impatiently waiting for dinner. At some point I handed them each a 3x5 card and asked them to write down something they were thankful for about each family member. It was SO sweet and 20 years later, our family has grown to include my daughters-in-law and two grandchildren, and we write a 3x5 card for each person. Before we eat, we go around the table and one by one we read our cards about what we admire or are thankful for about each family member, and then give them the 3x5 card to keep. I have stacks of these little cards, stapled together now from year to year and I love reading back through them. The first year my oldest son was away in the Philippines serving a mission, a week before Thanksgiving his 3x5 cards to each of us arrived in the mail. I cried and cried as I read each one, but MOSTLY because I hadn't thought about it until then and I didn't have time to send his to him before the holiday! It really touched me that he would remember 8,000 miles around the world, and plan enough time that they would get to us."
- Cynthia
"My husband's family has a holiday table cloth that we have all signed and dated as we've joined the family. I signed in 2007 before getting married right next to where my husband signed in 1981, he was three and a half years old! The oldest signature is from 1956, my husband's great-grandmother." - Melissa
"We always have a sticky rice stuffing that is amazing! Joanne Chang has a good version as well, check it out." - Nancy
"We get all of the men and older boys together and have a boxing tournament with over-padded gloves. It sounds brutal, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Some of my nephews have grown up so much that they can actually beat me. It's my favorite tradition." - John
"Thanksgiving is the holiday that my family looks forward to the most throughout the entire year, we have been hosting Thanksgiving at my house for the past 14 years. My "family" that celebrates Thanksgiving is comprised of families that don't have any immediate family close by (relatives live in Ohio, Florida, or North Carolina). We also invite close friends that may be spending the holiday alone—the more the merrier around our dinner table! We start prepping the cooking on Wednesday night, enjoy ourselves on Thursday and then have what we've dubbed 'Family Fun Day' on Friday when all the kids will get together for a fun group activity. It's a wonderful time of year!" - Kathryn
"On Thanksgiving my family always takes a long walk in the woods with the dogs. I also still make paper place cards in the same way I did as a kid—out of cookies, leaves, construction paper, etc." - Sarah
"As the trees shed their leaves and the weather follows the annual pattern towards winter there stands a brave group of distinguished gentlemen who bare their faces to the elements for a great cause, "Movember." With the support of their fellow mo' brothers and sisters, as well as family, friends, and peers this team makes a yearly pledge to grow a mustache for the entire month of November (that means battling through turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving) all the while raising vital funds and awareness to combat prostate and testicular cancer and mental health challenges. If you'd like to support us fight the good fight, you can donate to the team here. Thanks for supporting Movember and helping us change the face of men's health!" - Nate and the Wayfair Movember Team
"My mother always makes a delicious string bean casserole that I think I only eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas." - Peter
"My thanksgiving is spent in Baltimore with my mom's side of the family that consider themselves is 'watered-down German'. Thanksgiving means that in addition to turkey, mashed potatoes, and the other typical American fare, we also serve Sauerkraut and Green Tomato Pickles (which we pronounce green ta-mah-toh pickle). It wasn't really until high school or college that it occurred to me that not every family served sauerkraut or other pickled/canned food at their Thanksgiving dinner table. The two sides are so vinegary and delicious, and possibly my favorite parts of the meal. And since Maryland is on the Chesapeake Bay, my relative's friend always brings a bucket filled with oysters that he shucks. Everyone else in the family slurps them down with smiles and discusses the merits of this year's batch versus years previous. Every year he asks me if I'm going to try one, and every year I say, 'Absolutely. Not.'"
- Hannah
"My family and I go to Scottsdale, Arizona every year to escape the cold. It's a great way for me to relax and spend quality time with family away from everyday life's distractions. Seventy-five degrees and poolside…not your typical fall Thanksgiving!" - Julie
"Growing up, we always had Thanksgiving at my grandparents. The whole family would come. Every year, my grandfather would go to the homeless shelter and choose three people to come celebrate with us. He would provide them with new clothes and they would come and shower, get dressed and eat with us. Lots of memories and laughs. It was always an amazing experience for everyone around the table." - Camille
"My family celebrates with a huge family dinner where everyone gathers for merriment. The dish I couldn't live without is deviled eggs!" - Britan
"Every year I go to Washington and Oregon for Thanksgiving with my husband and kids. My in-laws live up there so we also celebrate Christmas with them while we're there. My mother-in-law always has all of the Christmas decorations up early for us and we usually have Thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon and then we exchange presents for Christmas in the early evening. Afterwards we'll go over to my father-in-law's house for a second Thanksgiving dinner and after we eat we exchange gifts again for Christmas and play games. It has been tradition since I was married so my kids just realized, last year, that not everybody gets presents for Thanksgiving! Haha!" - Kimberly
"My favorite part of Thanksgiving with my family is the bacon fest we have the night before. In my family, we still cook Thanksgiving dinner as my great grandmother used to, which means we take all of the bacon grease from the night before and rub it all over the turkey. This makes for amazing flavor! The stuffing also has bits of bacon and is cooked inside of the turkey. We also make giblet gravy, which sounds terrible, but is so delicious!" - Sean
"My family has Thanksgiving dinner for lunch so we can wake up super early to go the reservation to pick out and cut down our Christmas Tree." - Angela
"My family always gets together for dinner as usual with all the turkey trimmings—but a family favorite has to be my homemade noodles. My kids love the noodles for soup, I'll use the turkey broth and add some turkey. They love the left overs! We also draw names for Christmas gifts on Thanksgiving night and we have a different special book that I buy every year for Christmas. I'll buy it ahead of time and wrap it up but they can't open it until December 1st. When we open it it, we all read it by the Christmas tree to set the tone for the holidays as the time of giving. I have tons of books now and my kids love this even as they grow older. It's one of their favorite traditions." - Tammy
