Do you sit down at the table and eat with your family? Have it in front of the television?\nWhat sort of table manners do you have and why?
121629
i sit on the couch in front of the TV and notebook computer.  i generally listen to the news while surfing.
333856
My family have hosted people from:\nWales, Northern Ireland, USA, France, Canada, Spain and Finland for anywhere from a few nights to over a month.\nOur Spanish student could have lived with us for ever!\nWe shared a lot of laughs with all of our guests and many continue to stay in contact with the family.\nIt is also nice to have the guest(s) cook a meal from their part of the world.\nHave a great time!
11395
My family is the perfect family.  We all have our setbacks (some still living at home, divorce, children out of wedlock, some out of work for a while, arguements with husbands/ wives, etc.) BUT- We all are close (including children's children) and we love each otherSO MUCH.  We see each other often.  We still are corrected by our parents.  We live pretty close by to each other.  We all go to church.  God is the center of our lives.  We argue for a few seconds.  We laugh.  We are extremely loyal, giving & kind.  There are lots of us.  We help each other out.  Our children are actually friends and not just cousins.  We treat each other's homes as if it is our own home.  We cook for each other.  We voice for each other.  We defend each other.  We cry to each other.  We talk on the phone.  We go out together.  We vacation together.  We do favors for each other.  We help with each other's businesses.  We borrow each other's stuff.  We are loud & noisy.      \nThis is only a small explanation of my perfect family.  I hope that I raise a family exactly like my parents did.  I always pray for this.
519397
We are going to my mother-n-laws house. We are having a Turkey, dressing, and all the good stuff! I can not wait. That night we are going to see my mom sister and her husband and my nephew and niece. I get so hungry just thinking about it. Ohh! Don't forget to take some plastic containers to bring home all the left overs in. I forgot last year and this year I'm going to make sure I do not forget.\nHAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
637118
Okay, so the other day my family and I went out to dinner, and my son (6 years old) and my husband are on one side of a booth and me and my daughter on the other side. All of the sudden, my son is like, "Ew, dad, I heard that!!" My husband is all, "I did too Toby, did you fart?" And my son said no. Turns out it was the dude in the booth just behind them, and he totally heard my son announce it to everyone! Funny stuff.
419478
Well, in my family we have a huge amount of vegetarians, so in order to make something for them we usually do something along the lines of stuffed eggplant or a vegetarian lasagnia.  Both of which turn out excellent and everyone can enjoy them.  Recipes for those can be found at numerous cooking sites.\n\nOr\n\nThe other half of my family doesn't follow the traditional thanksgiving, because none of them like turkey.  So we created our own tradition.  Thanksgiving day, we order a huge amount of chinese food to go, we usually blow about $300-400.  We open up all the boxes on the table and just pass em around.  It's really a lot more fun and less depressing than it sounds.  Best of luck...
668655
It's not wrong. It's impolite. It's very disturbing and annoying to those around you. Not to mention it makes you look as if you've never had a decent meal before. Practicing proper eating habits is simply good manners.
361853
Aussie here :)\n\nI'm planning on a nice potato salad with lots of sliced cold meats. I usually roll up bits of ham and chicken loaf etc and serve it on a platter with bits of nice cheeses.\n\nMerry Christmas! :)
482723
My parents always tell me it's rude to have your elbows on the table while eating, but I also think it's rude to physically push someone's elbows off the table.  If you go out to a nice restauraunt then you should refrain from putting your elbows on the table, but no one gets dirty looks in McDonald's for this offense.
433322
Thanksgiving's at my family's old house used to be crazy.  Family members from all over the US would gather in the small farmhouse, cooking dinner, playing football, and reminicse by the fire.  I remember fondly a Thanksgiving eight years ago.  I was stuffing the turkey and my mom was making pumpkin pie.  We didn't have a mixer, so she took out the blender and said "Yeah, you blend" I told her she was crazy and went back to fixing the turkey. My cousin walked in on my mom trying to make pumpkin pie in the blender and said "Ohh la la", out of suprise.  She looked at me with a serious look on her face "Lets sit in front of the fireplace" she said.  Just then, the lights suddently went out.  The phone rang.  It was my cousins. Due to the massive storm that had hit the area, they wouldn't be able to make it. "Bill Bailey won't you please come home", my mom jokingly told my cousins on the phone.  I heard my aunt screaming from the other room at my six year old cousin " you are not going to watch tv as we eat dinner." He responded by having a temper tantrum because he didn't understand power outage.\n\nDespite the power outage, the stove was gas so we were able to have a beautiful candlelight feast without the tv on or cousins watching tv.
419290
My sister in law didn't show up after saying she would come.  My brother walked in the door without her.  She didn't come because I didn't invite her son from her first marriage his wife and their child (6  years old) and his wife's son from a first marriage (16 years old) and her daughter from that first marriage (18) and that girls boyfriend that she is shacked up with.  I was already cooking for 9 people and my husband is not with me this Thanksgiving because he is overseas.  (He is the big cook in the family)  I didn't feel I could cook for more than 9 people and still keep my sanity.  That was the drama this year.
583725
I have a friend who is manic about this very thing. When we have dinner at her house, we usually sit around the table for a while after the meal chatting. When the first person starts to get up and take their plate with them, she starts repeating, "Please leave all your dishes on the table. I will do them later." and then she starts ushering everybody out of the room and on to the next conversation space. She's real no-nonsense about it and you junst don't feel like you can argue with her.\nJust plan for it to happen next time and be prepared for it. If arm-wrassling starts up, tell them sweetly, "I hid all the soap and sponges because I didn't want you to work your little fingers to the bone!"
347585
Thanks, Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. \nWell, to be honest they don't use to celebrate it where I'm at (another country), but some do. In my home I guess we're not having a thanksgiving dinner, neither a celebration = /  \nBut an aunt of mine does, so hopefully she will invite us to her house haha.\nAnyways Happy Thanksgiving to all. :D
416067
I switch off year to year.\n\nBecause Christmas get togethers are always mandatory FFF (forced family fun), I take a break every other year and stay home with immediate family for Thanksgiving.\n\nThis year is home and we are actually splurging on going out to a nice restaurant this afternoon.\n\nNext year, the dreaded triple F, and it is my turn to host the partial extended family.  Oh joy.
517209
Well after all the fall housekeeping is done, the silver polished and the good stuff brought out and the table is set and the shopping is done...then there is the baking, the peeling, mashing, the stuffing to make.  Next comes cleaning the bird, stuffing and baking it.  All the while you feed people snaks, keep the kids quiet and busy, set the table and call everyone  for the carving of the turkey.  As you have struggled  to get everything on the table hot and all at oncet...the men don't show up because it is the last quarter of the football game and the score is 12-12 and they are in a state of high anxiety and won't move from the set and yell to you ...."wait a minute...it's the last quarter and the score is tied" and you stand there with the done bird on the tray and think ...why do I put myself through this year in and year out?    When it is all done and over with and everyone has stuffed themselves with pumpkin and apple pie, had a walk,  and about to take a nap...you realize the only one that has been kind and thankful for you and all your effort is the faithful family dog.\n\nSo my dear, if you have never done this annual tradition, don't start.  Book a table at a nearby resturant and save yourself a lot of work and enjoy the day off.  Don't forget the doggy bag for the family pet.
515511
My own.\n\ntwo relatives are fighting with ewch other and it boils over at the dinner table.\n\nOne ask the other to pass the potatoes and he picks up and spud and hurls it at him, smacking him in the chest with it
641795
Ask your dad if you can invite them. You dont have to have them eat with you. and if you want to invite your friends go ahead! if they want to invite someone with them tell them i just want you not them. and tell them that i ONLY invited you. so if they bring unwanted guqest kick them OUT!!