Everyone comes over and we eat massive amounts of food and play wii... (or another video game).  The family used to watch football together, until they started meeting at our house.  We have a TV for movies but it doesn't actually watch TV... no more football (I'm secretly cheering, I love how we interact more now!).  I would love to increase the focus of our gathering to the "purpose" of the holiday, Thanksgiving, but am a bit clueless how to motivate the rest of the family (and hubby) to join me in creating new traditions.

Kim, what does your family do?

We do the food thing, starting with lots of fun snack-type things.  We usually host at our home, (usually between 25-30 family members) so we do a lot of decorating and like to pass out gift bags to everyone when they leave.

Kim, I have the BEST EVER Sweet Potato Casserole recipe.  I know it sometimes gets a bad rap, but I've never had anyone not like this one.  Kids included.  Here it is:

Football! Even my dad, who never watches sports likes to take in an afternoon football game :)

I keep Thanksgiving really basic. For the past few years, my husband has hunted on Thanksgiving, so that is a big part of the day.
We do the typical Thanksgiving dishes, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Stuffing, Rolls, Corn, Green Beans and lots of desserts!
We almost always celebrate with friends since live so far from family. This year we will be celebrating with 3 other families so we divide up the food. It works out great!
Toni

Thanksgivings in our families is a really hectic day. Dinner is normally around 1 or 2 at one house then 2 or 3 at the other due to people have to work Thursday night/afternoon. We end up going to both families then go back to the first one later. The day is based around the food. Usually people eat then leave. The only tradition in my family is I go back to my parents house and we decide if we are going out early Friday morning and where we want to go by looking at the ads.

Joe and I are newlyweds, so last Thanksgiving we were honeymooning in Disney World.  At the time, we decided that we'd go there every year but the **guilt** set in and now we're traveling to my mom's on Thanksgiving.  So, we don't really have any of our own yet. 

At my moms, though, they do an all-out Thanksgiving with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, appetizers, dessert, homemade bread...you name it, they do it.  But on Christmas, they keep it simple - good appetizers, soups, sandwiches, and desserts.  So, it's a nice balance.

Tara - Thanks for the recipe, it sounds wonderful.

I love our Thankful Tree tradition and so do the kids. You can even start it now and make November Thanksgiving Month. If you have people over for a gathering you can give them leaves when they arrive. Then after dinner they can read off what they are thankful for and add them to your family Thankful Tree.

If you are interested this is our post last year about the Thankful Tree.

I always cook big on Thanksgiving, not sure why, because the last few years, it turns out only to be immediate family (5), this year, I hope to invite a few people though. Because, well it's a nice thing to do, and honestly, why spend all that time cooking and baking if you can't share it.

My DH's family is all out of state, so we probably won't be seeing them.