How do you serve Thanksgiving meal?

I do buffet style.  There is usually anywhere between 9- 15 people and it's easier than passing everything around.

we're usually just a small group 3-6 people so I always set the table with china and a tablecloth and candles and put the dishes on the table to be passed around. I have a nice sideboard - maybe I'll try setting the dishes up there instead as a buffet and see if we like that?

We're a small group, at least 7, sometimes to about 12. We set a table up and eat family style and pass around. Once the first eating session is done it's moved to the kitchen and people snack buffet style.

As for clean up, we do that after people are done eating. I help my parents. Once the area and food is cleaned up we offer dessert. Then after everyone leaves we stick around and help my parents clean up more.

Buffet style. 

We usually don't have more than 10 - if all my kids/grandkids are with us.  So the 8 adults sit around the dining room table and the two grandkids eat at the breakfast bar which is just on the other side of the island that holds all the plates of food.  That island separates the kitchen from the dining room so it works great to keep all of the serving plates there until we are ready to pass around the table.  Once passed they go back on the island and everyone just helps themselves to seconds.  

I also enjoy setting a decorative table with my china & stemware with some sort of center piece.  It makes me happy!  My kids on the other hand gripe a bit because that means hand washing after dinner.  But they are all troopers and pitch in with the clean up.  

We set the table and all food is placed on the table and/or on a sideboard table.

It is only 4 of us, so most times, I try to fit everything on the table. The kitchen counter is right behind my spot at the table, so sometimes I will put a couple things there.

We use Chinet platters or divided plates usually. Holiday meals cause enough dishes, so we dont use regular plates and I dont have China

We usually do buffet style. It's just easier that way.

We have a fairly large island. I set everything up so people grab their plate and walk all the way around to fill it. I find it easier and it keeps the table roomier than having all those dishes all over the place. People can just get up and go get a refill when they want one without bothering someone to pass something.

We have always hosted but are a small group. I did a buffet in the kitchen and then dishes that I only used for Thanksgiving. This year it will just be the three of us. It will probably still be buffet style but I won’t be keeping the food hot for as long so it won’t be as fancy a set up not that it was really fancy but there will be less serving containers to wash.

We serve regular meals family style at my parents' house, and my mother does use her china.

We have more food on holidays than will fit on the table so everything is set up buffet style. My mother loves a good seasonally-coordinated paper plate & napkin combo so we use those on holidays.

We only have 8-9 adults, a toddler, an elementary school student, and a teenager in attendance.

We set the table pretty with a table cloth and I try to get fresh flowers on sale and arrange them. I have some really short glass flower holders and I get some floral foam to put them in then. you can easily see over them when they are on the table. I also add real taper candles to make it really fancy!

THEN, we use PAPER PLATES! hahhaaaa!! We serve the food buffet style from the island in the kitchen. There are already enough dishes from cooking that we don't wanna have even more! ;-)

We just have too much food to set it up on the table, even when it is just DH and I. We have a 9-ft built-in in the dining room so we set the food up there using our china and crystal serving pieces save for the food that’s kept in the baking dish. Unfortunately, those are the french white classic Corelle while our china is ivory. But once the food is in everything it still looks nice and I’m just not willing to pay hundreds of dollars to replace what we’d need right now. 

Usually appetizers are set up on our bar height counter. It’s done nicely as well, and we use our small china plates for serving. We don’t have small linen napkins yet so I just get some nice bar napkins out. 

And I love a beautifully set table. For Thanksgiving we typically use our wedding china, crystal, and silverware, glass chargers, Granma’s silver salt & pepper shakers, linen napkins with a few decorative crystal/china pieces here and there like small floral arrangements, votive candles, etc. Google Thanksgiving table and there are tons of great ideas. Have fun with it!

Usually I will get both of these set out the night before, including any floral arrangements all the way down to serving utensils and unobtrusive hot pads. Just makes it more relaxed and enjoyable the day of. I start washing and polishing a week or two prior, and do the floral arrangements a couple of nights before. 

eta: We have only had it here a handful of times because we live at least 2 hours from everyone. When we go to his family’s celebrations it’s usually very casual with buffet style set up in the kitchen and paper napkins/plates. If it’s his mom I’ll help her set the table(s) with tablecloth(s), silverware and glasses but everything else is buffet style in the kitchen in the dishes they were cooked in. 

My family now eats out. But we used to always have it at Granma’s everything was served buffet style on her dining room table because that was the only place with enough room. It was set up beautifully using her best serving pieces. And then we’d all plonk ourselves down in the living room to eat, often on the floor