I'm with you...the Sandwiches are what it's all about...(along with a piece of pie, of course). The

actual dinner (at about 1 for us), was more hectic , but by sandwich time, everyone was relaxed

and enjoyed the rest of the day leisurely.

Oh, and give me a little dish of cranberries (fresh cooked) with my sandwich, please.

Had to come back to add...and, of course, work within any big Football games that the "diehards"

had to see, or at least hear. ;)

Always at 6 p.m. Sandwiches for lunch the next day, but you could go back for seconds of pie any time.

Thats a great quote.

We have our Thanksgiving & Christmas meal at noon, its allover by 3-4 pm.

I think it must be a cultural thing. Where I grew up, no one eats a big meal at midday, regardless if it is a holiday or not. Heck, almost no one I know eats more than a snack or a very light lunch at midday and many don't eat anything between breakfast and dinner. Breakfast, if anything more than a yogurt or a slice of toast, fills you up enough that a big meal at midday is just unnecessary, unappealing and wasted.

In my circle, holiday dinners are eaten at dinner time or slightly earlier....even 4 pm is pushing it. Sandwiches are saved for a next day treat or a midnight raid on the kitchen for the diehard gluttons in the family :-)

When I was a kid, holiday dinners that included people not living at our house, like aunts and uncles and cousins from across town or friends from more distant suburbs, were early, like 2 PM because people had to travel home afterwards. For just nuclear family, dinner would be about 6 PM, No travel necessary.

My "big meal of the day" has always been mid day, and holiday dinners are no different. We shoot for 1-ish on holidays.

When I was growing up, we would often have Sunday Dinner at about 1 on Sunday. After DH and I got married and had a baby, one day Mom invited us for Sunday dinner. I was getting ready to go and asked DH when he’d be ready. It was noon. He had no idea what i was talking about.

Holiday meals were often midday because there were a lot of us little children who had to get home to bed by 7 or 8. As we grew up, the holiday meal shifted later.

I like serving T’giving dinner about 5, so we can linger, and after cleaning up there’s still time for one more cup of decaf and a slice of pie.

My family does a big Christmas Eve dinner, and Christmas Day is more intimate, has become a midday brunch, and a supper, usually beef stew, around 6.

Easter is defnitely midday.

Large extended family holiday meals are usually planned for 3 p.m.-ish. That allows plenty of prep and cooking time without losing sleep and makes it easy for guests to get home in time to put small children to bed. Leftover turkey? What's that?

I do not get up early to cook. The meal is served whenever I get it done which is usually 1-2 pm. Some years, we eat it for the later meal. I try to make extra mashed potatoes and certain sides so leftovers are good for a few meals. Turkey sandwiches have never been our thing.

What faftris and others said. Even a medium-size turkey takes a minimum of 5 hours from fridge to table. I'm not getting up early and working all morning to have a meal ready at lunchtime. 4-5pm or so is more like it. For family gatherings, beverages, hors d'oeuvres and finger food are available through the afternoon.

A large meal at lunchtime must be a regional thing. I've done it at times in Europe but never here. Lighter fare is more typical, no matter whether it's a work day, a weekend, or a holiday.

We always eat around 2 pm. Even when I was growing up, that's just when everything happened to get done.

Both my husband and I grew up in farming families. Sundays and holidays the big meal was around 12:30 or 1 PM. We continued that tradition.

For us it would start sometime shortly after the parade was over. Trays of snacks and appitizers would come out first, which was grazing material for a couple hours. Then at some point the turkey and heartier sides for the real sit down would come out. Then we would all be stuffed full, and the hearty stuff got put away.... but the snacks and more appitizers, and also the pies and sweets would fill the sideboard back up again, and we would graze well into the evening.

As we all became adults out of the house, it could vary between 1-2ish to 4-5ish depending on whos house was hosting and what the travelers timing plans were.

Then some of the family moved in with me, and it went back to more of grazing with the big sitdown at a later dinner time. Not really any after dinner grazing other than pie.

Now for the last few years it's just been the two of us- I haven't had to host, and we have all kind of seperated back out on the holidays again. So I don't worry about timing at all. I still like to pick up a bird or two when they are on sale for a goodly year of turkey eating.

Personally, and without knowing the full context, I would interpret that statement to mean "It ain't gonna happen!". I also interpret 'noon' to mean 12:00, sharp.

Around here, in this house, holiday and/or big family dinners usually happen somewhere between 2:00 and 5:00. Depending on the holiday, football games had quite a bit to do with the timing. But that timing gave me plenty of time to prepare the meal without having to get up at an ungodly hour, it also gives plenty of time for relaxing, visiting, and just 'letting it settle' after the meal. And made for some time for late evening noshing on leftovers and dessert seconds.

Rusty

From the beginning of our 40+ year marriage, Thanksgiving has always been a casual "friends" holiday, not centered on family (that's reserved for Christmas). We have never traveled on Thanksgiving, and the many different people we've gathered with have been in the same boat. We eat whenever the turkey is done, and that varies depending on many factors. No set rules.

we aim for 1:00 because of family travelers. However, it is usually closer to 2 p.m.

We've been making high-heat turkeys for years now, always perfect. No long slow cooking.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/the-simplest-roast-turkey-232985

My family in Texas always had Thanksgiving dinner at noon. The evening meals were called supper and were lighter than the meals at noon. Our large meals were always at noon.

If you do have your large meal in the middle of the day, you might want to take a siesta between 2 and 4 pm, and I'm down with that also. It Italy, it is called risposo.

In California, I have not followed the tradition of the large meal in the middle of the day, and so here I have lunch at noon and dinner around 7 or 8. This is mainly due to work schedules, and I have generally had more time (before I retired) to make a large meal at the end of the day rather than at noon.

In Texas we had Sunday Dinner at noon; in California we have Sunday Brunch at noon, unless we go out for dim sum at 11 am. Monterey Park is the best place for dim sum, which is an hour from here, and so we have to leave at 10 am to get there. Fortunately, traffic is not bad on Sunday morning. Chinatown is closer, but the dim sum there is not as good.

Donald Westlake books are so good! I haven't read any in awhile, tho. He can be so funny and clever.

We've always had our holiday meals at typical 'dinner time'. Early meals for us are between 5 & 6 pm. Nobody wants to get up super early to make all that food!

I've always presumed a lot of early Thanksgiving meals were because of football games, and our family was never into football.

We always try to eat at halftime of the first football game. I usually smoke the turkey which requires getting it on pretty early.

Seems odd now thinking of it, we were never a family that had a big breakfast or lunch. Holidays? We would tentatively plan for 1 PM with everyone sitting down to eat closer to 2 PM most years. Exceptions were high school years for my sister and me. Our community had a sister city rival football game on Thanksgiving Day that was socially important ;0) Often dates, mum corsages, the works. Game at noon. Not only were we gone (the years we were allowed to go), we weren't home to help prep food and not home to eat until close to 4 PM. Definitely threw off my Mom's ideal holiday. It's still called the 'Thanksgiving Day Game' even now, but no longer takes place on Thanksgiving.

An interesting topic. As I've thought about it more, I recall that during my adult years, I've probably had as many Thanksgivings with friends or only my own immediate family as WITH extended members. And without turkey as often as with turkey. But no meal earlier than 4 and usually later.

Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday -- so much prep & cooking (more than the day-of) and then all the clean-up after the big meal was consumed (seemingly in 15 minutes flat). Growing up in a family of 7, the time of the meal was usually 1-2 pm, so later grazing happened as desired. As eldest of the five kids, a lot of prep etc was within my management. It got tiresome! But I do love the food.

Fast forward to the first Thanksgiving of married life, 53 years ago. So accustomed to making "enough" side dishes for the family, I prepared pretty much the same amount for DH and me alone. HAH! We were eating leftovers for days. And days. Not including a turkey of any size, as DH was/is vegetarian. So I treated myself to a lovely Cornish Game Hen!

Christmas, on the other hand is definitely feast time! Usually around 1 pm...

WAYYY back in the day, my mom was up at like 5 in the morning to get turkey in the oven. But now thinking, maybe it was because she did all the work so she had to be up early to get it all done.

Early afternoon was our general dinnertime on holidays because of the reasons already stated - extended family coming and going. The thought of a leftover turkey sandwich with swiss cheese, toasted in the oven, later than night, is making my mouth water just thinking about it!!! Thanks for the memories.

We always had/have our holiday meals around noon. We get up to get the food going, sit down to eat, enjoy the leftovers that evening, and do not feel stuffed by the time we go to bed. We often took a walk afterwards, too.

When i married DH I was stunned to find out that they had their holiday meals around 6:00 pm. There are 2 big difference to consider. My family NEVER had appetizers nor did we ever have” drinks ”. We had water, tea, or coffee. The meal itself was so looked forward to that we would not consider spoiling our appetites!

My DH’s family are very nice people who drink way too much. They do not eat much of the main meal, but instead, the cheese, nuts, crackers, etc. come out……with plenty of booze!

I do not drink alcohol and spent very little time around people who do.

Differences abound.

There is a large population of people who responsibly enjoy a variety of beverages and treat most of their "alcoholic beverage" consumption as food that goes with other food. I'm thinking of beer and wine enjoyed just before and then when eating. Spirits, a bit less so, but they can be enjoyed responsibly in moderation too.

And there are of course far too many people with the addiction of drinking alcohol too regularly and to excess, act irresponsibly, and cause other people harm and problems.

I hope you don't combine people in these two groups together in the same pot, they're very different. Most everyone I know is in the first mentioned group and no one I know is in the second.

Noon Turkey here. We need time to work off the calories. :0) And yes...I get up VERY early to get it in the oven.

When I was a kid, Sunday dinner was at noon or thereabouts, and Thanksgiving and Christmas were both family affairs at around 2 in the afternoon. No football (Canada isn't as football - mad). In the very early years Dad would offer a glass of whisky; later on, as wine became more of a thing, there'd be a bottle to be shared by four or six adults. No one got hammered.

Nowadays, living in Australia, there's no Thanksgiving, and since Christmas is in the middle of summer, no turkey. We usually have a mango salad with fish or seafood grilled on the bbq, and some sort of fresh fruit dessert. And a decent bottle of wine. At 2 pm.

@sushipup1, Do you experience the smoke and spattering that some reviewers mentioned with the high heat method?

My relative who lives in Australia has a Thanksgiving party for Aussie friends on the weekend that follows the US holiday. I was there one year for the party, it was fun.

They're able to advance-order a turkey at certain meat markets. That really isn't different from what we do here. When we wish to get a particular size and type from a specific poultry farm, we need to order it in advance too.

Noon so travelers are not in the dark going home, If you eat at "dinner" time then the busy busy busy cook has to figure out a noon meal-not happening. Totally agree eat at noon, play cards all afternoon then hit the left overs--serve yourself as you get hungry...It was YEARS since we did holidays with my extended family--kids coming different directions from college--distance etc. Two years ago we thought we would give it a try. I said we would make it if they ate early so we weren't driving in the dark. They told us no problem..then changed the time and we were driving in the dark with winter weather threatening. NEVER AGAIN.

About 3 or 4 pm - early enough that visitors aren't going home too late, but not so early that someone has to wake up at 6 or 7 am to start prepping to cook.

I say it doesnt really matter as long as it is convenient for the cook, the people who are coming and everyone enjoys the meal.

Most of the time now ours is sometime around 2 or even later in the afternoon if i am hosting. I refuse to get up at 3 am to start cooking. I will cook two smaller turkeys to make sure they are done if i must. If I say 2, there is one kid and his family that is almost always late anyway.

Elmer - some Aussies (certainly not all) do have turkey at Christmas. All the supermarkets sell them, and of course you can order them via the butchers. I just find it too heavy a meal in an Aussie summer. Who wants to be cooking a big bird for hours in 80-90F heat? We occasionally have turkey breast stir fries or schnitzels but turkey isn't top of our list for special occasion meals.

As for Thanksgiving, I haven't encountered that personally in Oz: it seems a bit counter-intuitive- the wrong time of year for a harvest, and the same heat issue applies.

I think it was their second November in Oz when I was there. They'd found the preceding year (with no advance planning) that turkeys were not yet stocked in the markets. I get the weather part but as you know, in hot weather parts of the US, a day in November can be every bit as hot or hotter as might be a late December day in many of the major Australian population centers in the southern part of the country.

The intent of the party is of course the festivity and silly traditions of the holiday rather than appropriateness of the food for the time of year weather-wise. The house has AC anyway, cooking caused no discomfort indoors and we ate outdoors.

As with so many holidays these days, I'm pretty comfortable in saying that quaint origins and sentiments of particular celebrations are not front of mind for most people. Many go no further with Thanksgiving than to express thanks (the name of the holiday is the reminder many need) and offer a toast for what they have, good health included, without any tie in to harvests. Which, to be honest, are something most people rarely ever hear about, know much about, think about, or talk about.

It depends. For some reason, my mother always insisted it be at 2 or 3, with no rhyme or reason. Then, one of my sisters became one of "those" mothers, who insisted that every event be scheduled around her childrens eating or napping schedules, which irritated me to my very core. So it was moved to noon or one. Last year, I had to have the Thanksgiving for 2 ready before I left for work, so it was done around 4 ish, just in time for me to make a plate and leave. So I guess I am not accustomed to a specific time for it.

I do not mind getting up early or staying up late to cook the food. Its a once a year event after all. I would, however, get annoyed when I was living at home, and my mother would insist I had the food ready at noon to accommodate my sister, and when I was in the kitchen attempting to do that, people would be in and out, snacking, cooking breakfast for themselves and their kids, stirring things and making suggestions and comments. Ruined my holiday every year. Its SOOOOO much more pleasant a ritual now that I do most of the cooking in my own kitchen, and finish it there, on the years she hosts it.

I have been leaving the turkey for someone else to deal with the last few years. My brother likes to deep fry it, and so he does. Does not take as long as in the oven, and it keeps the fellows occupied and out of my way.....

And last year when it was just me and SO, I did some bacon wrapped turkey tenderloins, took no time at all almost.

Our Thanksgiving meal times varied over the years. It depended on who could make it when. Presently it is between 4-5. My son and his family goes to his in-laws for a mid day Thanksgiving meal and then comes to our house for the evening meal. Our daughter and her girls can come anytime. She has her girls for every holiday. The ex visits the girls the day before or after. Christmas day dinner is a little earlier, about 3. Son's in-laws celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve.

At halftime.

Like Lars said 12:00 noon in the country in Texas. The main meal at home everyday was DINNER served at noon. At school it was lunch at noon. We went home from school to have SUPPER about 6:00PM

I want our turkey dinner to be served at 1:00 p.m. but reality and that includes not getting up early enough for the turkey to have happen that early steps in every year. For which my daughter is thankful. She likes to have the turkey dinner at around 4:00 p.m. which we've always done because of the above reason.

I was visiting friends in Mexico City one year around Thanksgiving, and so they decided to have a Thanksgiving turkey meal for me, which was served around 2 PM, I think. It was fun and was different. One friend was from Puerto Rico, and she had moved to New York, where she met her husband from Mexico City, but then after they married in NY, they moved to Mexico City. So they had already had some experience with American Thanksgivings.

I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving, partly because the weather is nice in Texas at that time of year, but I also enjoy preparing the food for it, especially the desserts. I haven't done this since my parents died in 2012, and I've only been back to Texas once since then. That was in March, which is my favorite month in Texas. I'm glad to stay away from the family drama now.

In my family, we were always eating TG meal at noon! Any big holiday meal was served at noon. When I met my husband, they eat their holiday meals in the evening...I hate that! I guess it was a Texas thing in my family because everyone I know served their meals for lunch time...but now I'm up North, it's different here!

The comment about scheduling around children's nap times etc. got me thinking about life when my in-laws were alive. One of DHs brother's had in laws in the same small small Iowa town. They would go there early and stay until dinner time each holiday. This left us and my MIL with NO CLUE when they would return and she could serve her holiday meal. Could be anytime between 6-7:30pm. It always frustrated me because of my own kid's hunger. No one wanted the kiddos to "ruin" their appetite but the adults were snacking/drinking away. No one likes a dictator but I think everyone can learn to appreciate a firm time line so they can plan accordingly. My in laws NEVER served left overs. No Turkey sandwiches the next day, a fresh pie for each meal and always noon lunch before a holiday evening meal. She was also crabby and exhausted as she didn't accept help, give up control easily. Can't say I miss that part of what was............

Well, in our case, this is not an issue. We say "food served at this time" and that's when we serve it. We do not wait for anyone. Feel free to reheat whatever. That also adds to the irritation, as more often than not, the sister that made such a big deal about having it at noon to cater to her children was ALWAYS late and then blamed it on having to get the aforementioned children ready.

I found it annoying because all of my other siblings have children and had no problem instilling in their children that on that one day, things might be different and that we all needed to adapt and relax. Their children never whined about it. I got a few "auntie amy, when is the food gonna be ready?" inquiries. But no whining, meltdowns, tantrums, or anything like that. It was more excitement for the special food. Come to think of it, the dictator sisters children never did either. They were all too busy wrapped up in excitement. It was purely HER. Luckily, they are all older now and there is no more back and forth tug of war. It is when it is. Show up or don't.

Texan here. Thanksgiving meals were scheduled to finish before the Cowboy game. ALWAYS.