My mother always had Thanksgiving for the 7 of us and maybe 4 more making a total of 12 give or take. We always sat down to dinner with proper place settings. She did not grow up with charger plates thank goodness or we would have had those too.
My sister now hosts Thanksgiving and is a stickler for tradition, insists on everyone sitting down with proper place settings for Thanksgiving dinner. We are now a family of 34 and at times more with a couple of friends thrown in. Now the problem. All of her china, stemware and silverware is antique. It all has to be hand washed. By the time we eat dinner and wash those dishes (not to mention all the serving dishes and pot's and pans) hours have passed, we actually have to take 3 or 4 breaks just to get the water to reheat to wash them all. By the time dinner dishes are over it's time for the desert mess. It takes so long to clean up it just ruins the holiday. I do hate to say it but the truth is we do have several shirkers in our family and the same people always end up cleaning up. My DD's are so sick of working for hours they are refusing to attend dinner this year. I also should mention that last year I made a few noises and she did not like it one bit.
So what do you all think? Is there anyway that I can possibly convince her to do otherwise without her being terribly offended? I would be perfectly fine with a buffet but she will not be. Is there any thing you can think of to cut back? How does everyone serve their large families?
One more thing I host Christmas Eve in my much smaller home, with terrible parking, and the same people. We eat finger foods off paper everything and the kids tell me Christmas wouldn't be the same without coming here. Imagine that.
My sister now hosts Thanksgiving and is a stickler for tradition, insists on everyone sitting down with proper place settings for Thanksgiving dinner. We are now a family of 34 and at times more with a couple of friends thrown in. Now the problem. All of her china, stemware and silverware is antique. It all has to be hand washed. By the time we eat dinner and wash those dishes (not to mention all the serving dishes and pot's and pans) hours have passed, we actually have to take 3 or 4 breaks just to get the water to reheat to wash them all. By the time dinner dishes are over it's time for the desert mess. It takes so long to clean up it just ruins the holiday. I do hate to say it but the truth is we do have several shirkers in our family and the same people always end up cleaning up. My DD's are so sick of working for hours they are refusing to attend dinner this year. I also should mention that last year I made a few noises and she did not like it one bit.
So what do you all think? Is there anyway that I can possibly convince her to do otherwise without her being terribly offended? I would be perfectly fine with a buffet but she will not be. Is there any thing you can think of to cut back? How does everyone serve their large families?
One more thing I host Christmas Eve in my much smaller home, with terrible parking, and the same people. We eat finger foods off paper everything and the kids tell me Christmas wouldn't be the same without coming here. Imagine that.