Thanksgiving Prep

My Dad called me yesterday to talk about our plans for Thanksgiving. We go to my parents for the turkey holiday and we bring our South African friends. Having friends come to family holidays puts everyone on their best behavior. My friend Elizabeth calls them the buffer guests.
I find that having foreign friends come for a purely American holiday is ideal. First they have no ingrained childhood food memory that makes or breaks the holiday. Friends from other lands never argue over fresh whole cranberry sauce versus jellied canned. They are generally pleased with the giant spread of food. But being thankful is not something that Americans have a monopoly on. Most cultures have some kind of celebration for the harvest where people take a moment for mindfulness.  
Spending time with your loved ones is important. I can say that we see each other less than we should, but with friends at your Thanksgiving table you are much less likely to bring up petty or long held family grudges. 
In my discussion of all things food with my Dad we divided up the cook assignments. Turns out he is making what he usually does and I am making the rest. His big interest was in how much stove/oven time and space I would need for my items. Although I volunteered to make Brussels Sprouts, I might change my mind me make a different green vegetable just so I could have it prepped in advance.
The longest part of our discussion was the question of what time to eat. We settled on 3:00 with the idea that if we eat early enough we could turn the day into a two meal affair, big breakfast and big late lunch. This prompted my father to request that I bring some smoked salmon for snacking, because he felt like he had to feed people something in the first few hours they were visiting.
I am very interested in what time other people eat their thanksgiving meal and what do they eat before or after it. So much emphasis is put on the one main meal, but you can’t just eat once even if it is a giant turkey dinner.
I was talking to my friend Iman whose mother was trying to convince her they should go out for Thanksgiving and Iman was having none of it. “Is it because you want the leftovers?” I asked. Of course it was. The main meal is good, but they turkey sandwich later is the real deal. I suggested that any restaurant who really wanted to do a big Thanksgiving business should offer a meal that comes with leftovers as part of the package. That way people could have their holiday in an easy way, but still get the midnight stuffing fix.
For me, I am hoping for a harmonious holiday and just enough nutrition to propel me into my Christmas decorating weekend. I’ve got Christmas entertaining to get ready for.