I remember the Thanksgiving extravagances when I was growing up. My father had 10 brothers and sisters and there were a multitude of cousins that came with them. We would go to my grandparents house which was not large and we would have to turn off the heat because the house became unbearably warm simply because of all of the people inside. We would eat 2 turkeys and pounds of mashed potatoes. My grandparents have been gone for decades and all of the aunts and uncles are now gone too. The cousins are scattered all over the world, the ones that are still alive, and for the most part have lost contact with each other. The last Thanksgiving I spent with my mother was 3 years ago and that was not much of a celebration since she was on home hospice and in a hospital bed in the living room she never got out of.
I have spent the last 2 Thanksgivings alone. This year my brother is living with me so I will not be alone and we will share a large ham steak served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable yet to be decided upon. We will watch football on a large screen TV until we get tired of football and then we will watch a movie streamed from Netflix or Amazon via Roku. My sister will call us from Houston where she will be spending the day with her only daughter and her only grandchild. The one cousin I am still in contact with will invite us over for the holiday but we will decline since in my old age I have a low tolerance for crowds especially when children are involved.
Enjoy your families while you can and a happy Thanksgiving.