Nice idea.... I like it.."

No, we travel.(turning on announcer bullhorn) THAT'S RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR THE CHRISTMAS..... PARTY .......MAAAAAAARATHON! SEE THE LIGHTS, FEEL THE RUMBLE(stomach), HEAR THE ROAR OF THE CROWD(as they rush to the gift stack). THREE(or 4) FANTASTIC SHOWS, ALL CRAMMED INTO ONE DECEMBER WEEKEND(with a six-hour round-trip thrown in for good measure). LIVE AT THE METRODOME(too bad they aren't)!!!! BEEEEE THEREEEEE!

Anybody want to know how I feel about Christmas parties? ;-0

RVCW, I suspect you're about as enthused about them as I am. I just don't bother going. Bah Humbug!!

Oh, the parties are fine. I just don't like them all crammed into one weekend.

Wouldn't be the holidays without having guests at our house :)

I love parties, whether hosting or guesting. Now, overnight guests are a different story.

Yes, we are having guests (family members) the week of Thanksgiving & grateful to have them since none of our family members live near us. We always enjoy sitting around the dining table after the T.G. meal, laughing & retelling old funny stories about various members in our family. Luckily they are taken in good humor! Our grandson listens & stores them in his memory only to share the goofy stories with friends or else pipe up as we're gathered & request someone to repeat one of his favorites. What a blessing to be able to sit around the table with loved ones & share memories. Photos are great but the vocal "pictures" speak a lot longer since often the identity of the folks in the photos are lost due to passage of time.

My dad comes to stay with me for awhile (depending on what ailment he has-- and how many trips to the hospital we have to make). We drink waaaaay too much eggnog, watch waaaaaay too many movies, and eat everything in sight. Lots of laughter, storytelling, and naps. It's the only way I can make it through what is, for me, a pretty depressing time of year.

No my family who is out of town are living in California and Florida so this time of year in Pennsylvania it's way too cold for them to come in during the holidays - they tend to visit during the summer months. My sisters girls - 13 yr old twins and a 17 year old will come over and have a slumber party though during the holidays and we'll stay up late playing boardgames and watching movies so that's a lot of fun.

Holidays at our house mean lots of family/friends, food, and celebrating. I live in the big old farm house that my grandfather build when he settled here from Germany. Our large family has many, many cherished memories of this place. Each year as we gather to decorate, trim the tree, make cookies/candies, go sleigh ridding and enjoy a weekend together another generation has the opportunity to create their own memories of our family. Our family is blessed in so many ways.

This year we ARE the guests! We hit the road on Saturday to drive down to New Orleans for a relaxing weekend, then we head to Naples for the rest of the week and Thanksgiving with our son, daughter in law and treasured granddaugher! Bliss! I have a sneaking feeling we might also be the cooks, but hey. It's all fun.

Christmas is full of obligations that make things tense for my grown children and my husband. I used to wait in line for the left overs of time and felt upset and they felt guilty. So, I decided to change the equation. They get on with their duties that begin about the 22rd - travel to in laws, be with their dad on his birthday and to celebrate Christmas, husband spends time w his adult daughter, etc. I take my time. We draw names to buy ONE special gift from the person's list that has to be purchased AFTER Christmas. On the 27th I begin my celebrations - breakfast with family; then opening Christmas sale gifts and seeing who gets the prize for "best" (cheapest) buy. We work with some person (friend or a hired expert) to make some amazing ethnic dish to include in our feast that happens late on the 27th of December. It's amazing how my family members have warmed up to the unusual procedure and how they look forward to this creative way to handle family stress. I tend to spend the actual day with some invited female friend who joins in our late celebration on the 27th. This year, it's a former student now finishing her PhD. We'll have a lot to share on the 25th!

Thanksgiving has been a 4 day house party at our house for 20 years. I enjoy making at least one special meal each day (there are pre-made frozen things for other meals) and sharing a relaxed time with my family. (No store ever went into the black from this bunch on Thanksgiving weekend.) One of the things we always do on these extended holidays is play cards in the evening. My MIL took special joy in playing rummy late into the night. When she was in her final illness this summer my son went looking for a deck of cards and took them to her hospital room and played cards with her. It brought back to her the many wonderful weekends we all shared and cheered her up a lot. She passed a few weeks later, at 93, sorry that she would not see another Thanksgiving. We will miss her, but we will have new guests to fill up that guest room and we will offer a toast to her memory with that favorite wine for the rest of us that she never quite liked, but pretended to like.

This is our second Thanksgiving in our new home and thank goodness for 4 bedrooms and sleeper sofa's. Since we've purchased this much larger home we have family and friends from all over for Thanksgiving. We are retired and decided to up-size our home just for occasions like this. Thanksgiving is our big holiday for the year and now I have all of the people I love around me. We have a wonderful time being together.

I'm from Canada and we already celebrated Thanksgiving last month. Our culture is different from south the border, as we don't do it as big as our neighbours. We still have some similarities like visiting family. Normally this is for those who we're more close to, rarely a major family reunion. Sometimes we take the holiday as a long weekend to go out of town (to cottage country etc.).

My husband and I retired from California to North Dakota and are loving it!! The rest of the family lives in California and Arizona so to avoid the stress of traveling during the holidays we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with friends out here and get together with the family in the spring and summer. Our grandchildren are big now, there's no way I could have left when they were little!! We stay in touch with Skype, email, texting and Facebook. So far we haven't persuaded any of them to move out here, but we're still hoping!

I am alone and so I ignore the holidays as entirely as possible.

No one should have to be alone no matter what day it is. I'm sending a cyber hug your way....

No, sadly I don't. The vast majority of relatives I'd love to have at my table have passed on over the years. The one remaining is living far away and is in the later stages of dementia. What I do have visiting me during the holidays are very fond memories when I was a child and we were all sitting at the holiday table. Lots of love, laughter and great food!

There's only the 3 of us now, my hubby and I are both 61 and my daughter is 39 so I cherish each and every day and write in a diary just in case some day I don't remember who they are...unfortunately Alzheimer's runs in my family. Again, a big hug to you and keep thinking of those wonderful memories...

My siblings and their families (and assorted others) have been our Thanksgiving guests for 20 years. 5 years ago we moved to an enormous house that we think of as a "Thanksgiving house," because all of our 20 guests can stay here, and our dining room tables put together seat all of us. It's a three-day family party, with too much food, drink and conversation. Plus a lot of laughter. And, even though there are some difficult personalities among us, everyone generally behaves.

This is my favorite time of year. I always have at least one if my sons and two grandsons to spend the night Christmas Eve. Christmas Day all of them come for dinner. Thanksgiving, I'll have 2 family members spending the night and several for thanksgiving dinner. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

My son & his fiance will be coming for one night. (They live 1 hour away), My sister & her hubby will be here for TG dinner (she lives a mile from me). We put up our Christas tree the day after TG. I so enjoy having my family around me. This is my favorite time of year.

Not this year. I'm taking a break this year. Thank God!

I have 30 people for Thanksgiving. ( only about a dozen actually stay). My sons always manage to bring a college or work friend who has nowhere to go for the holidays. I am usually frazzled the night before, but I LOVE all the noise, camaraderie, and craziness that is my family. I will do this as long as I am able...

No guests coming.
That is... none that i know of :O

DH is a musician & has to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. On Christmas day night we take a train to the NE US to see our youngest, his wife and two granddaughters for a week. Due to the baby's health problems they can't travel this year. Our only other son is on the West Coast along with most of our closest friends. But, as someone said, we do have our memories and are lucky enough to live in the same house (Grandmother's brick, Craftsman style cottage) where I celebrated all the holidays, sometimes I can almost feel the presence of long gone relatives.

I don't have people stay at my house because my house is too small, it's not even functional when people stay.

We don't have anyone stay at our house. 3 bedrooms but one is a TV room and one is an office. My daughter and her family are treated to a hotel. When we downsized we didn't have any grandchildren. Now, I wish for a bigger house. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all Houzz fans.

Yes: we're a university couple with no kids and distant family. Over the years we gather with others who have come to this town for work, as we did, in a part of the country where most don't stray too far from home.

We've had many states & nations represented at our tables; sometimes big groups and sometimes small, but always, a fun, eclectic feast. This year, a friend from Europe studying in the US on the other side of the county will join us again for her week's break. It's always such a warm and happy time with our extended, always-changing, adopted family, and a great holiday for building new and unique traditions!

Unfortunately my sister and brother live to far away to spend Christmas with me. My three children always come home with their partners and my 2 grandsons. They arrive in the early afternoon on the 25th and we open presents (we draw names and each person buys one gift chosen from a list of suggestions) and later after snacks, drinks and lot of laughter we have a traditional French Canadian supper around 16:30. After supper we play games and remember those who are no longer with us. Everyone will spend the night at my house and on the 26th we all take part in preparing a delicious breakfast. They leave for home around 15:00, This to me is the perfect Christmas.

Welll...we are having family come to our house the day after Thanksgiving, having a meal we will pick up, prepared locally by one of the gourmet grocers, with a different cast from last year. My mother and I are still just us, my oldest niece is with her husband, same one, my youngest niece won't be here- has to work, and she is dating a different guy, of the month. My youngest niece is 18, so we are all good with her having a guy of the month. Then we have my brother, the girl's father, and he has a different "family" to bring this year. Sooo.... we all get together, walk on eggshells because we don't want to set off anyone's trigger. Yeah, ahhh, fun times, love the holidays! :-)

instagram:goldendreamhouse

Having guests during the holidays is almost like a tradition. I have, however, gotten wise to those who really travel a distance just to be with us and those who come to use our home as a base for their convenience. I learned the word "NO" a long time ago. Now it is a joy to have family and friends stay with us. The only meal I have ready is breakfast....in the middle of my table I put a large lazy susan with cereal, sugar, milk, juice, fruit, granola, yogurt, coffee, etc. The table is set at night and in the morning I just place breakfast items on the lazy susan. This avoids the "I wants" and enables me to just say "eat what you like, it is on the table". From there we eat out often but do enjoy a nice home cooked dinner....in which everyone participates. I place laundry baskets in every guest room...they can fill them....and they can wash their own clothes. Everyone knows this and it works. Our atmosphere is relaxed and I don't wait on guests. BUT I make sure they are welcome by having their rooms possibly reflecting a holiday or season; there are sets of towels on the bed (all matching) and a basket of toiletries. Also there is a Welcome Note from myself and my husband. Since I learned the word "NO" my life has experienced less "guest" stress.

Last year my Dad came from Missouri and we had a very nice time. This year we are having brunch instead of the whole Thanksgiving Dinner as both my adult children have other obligations...which is fine with me as I will be starting Christmas decorating early this year! We will be having a photo shoot and a video of the decorating on a Design Tip Video we are producing! So be sure to watch for this!

Thankfully no.....liking my peace and quiet this year.

Not this year but I wish I did!
-Angeline, GKB

We have one friend staying over for Christmas; we haven't seen him in a while, so there is some catching up to do. And he really appreciates my potato dishes, so it is nice to cook for an additional person :)

We had relatives stay with us for one night. Oh...and they didn't mention that they were bringing a very loud puppy with them. It wailed all night. We're thinking...next year, we'll suggest a nice hotel. haha

No more guest room=no more possibility of guests. Yeahhhhh!

I am receiving family this year.