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40 Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch With Your Family After Turkey Dinner

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Looking for the best movie to watch while having your turkey dinner? Here are the best Thanksgiving movies that your whole family will want to watch!

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A Vegetarian Thanksgiving is a group of recipes collected by the editors of NYT Cooking

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America's Best Cities for Winter Travel | Travel + Leisure

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America's Best Cities for Winter Travel | Travel + Leisure

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This Sunbelt city is at its best during winter, with highs in the 50s or 60s-just the right temp for ice skating outdoors, open-air concerts, or, come early March, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (the world's biggest). This is also the ideal time of year to enjoy the city's well-regarded museums and classical music, as well as its decadent burgers.

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Thanksgiving, With College Students: Fantasy, Reality, and Getting It Right - The New York Times

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Thanksgiving, With College Students: Fantasy, Reality, and Getting It Right - The New York Times

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Here is the fantasy: After months of missing our college kids we eagerly await their return for Thanksgiving. In our dreams we spend cozy hours in the kitchen listening to them recount their experiences and marveling at the newly mature teen who sits before us. Our kids have looked forward to these days of rest and reunion and are thrilled to come home to the embrace of their families. Food will be abundant and family time sacred.

Here is the reality: One of my college sons gets a ride home for Thanksgiving. He steps just far enough into our home to drop his dirty laundry in a large unkempt pile on the floor. He is barely across the threshold when his high school friends pull into our driveway. Before my husband and I have laid eyes on our son, he shouts "I'll be back, see you later. It will probably be really late." and walks back through the door he entered, let's call it, 45 seconds earlier.

The collision course of parent expectations and college student reality is one that plays out over each holiday break and summer vacation. Battle lines are drawn soon after our kids arrive home and despite the best intentions we begin to argue. They sleep when we are awake and vice versa. They forget that family members work or go to school as they and their friends wander in and out of our house at all hours. They spread debris over every horizontal surface, leaving our homes looking much like their dorms.

Despite months of missing my college kids, it took only minutes for my frustration to surface last year. I held fast to our fantasy weekend as our real one unfolded. This year, I hope to do better.

Tom Dingman, Dean of Freshmen at Harvard College, often hears from parents who look forward to college breaks but are disappointed when the easy intimacy of their family is marred by stress and conflict. He suggests that parents prepare themselves for the changes they may find in their students and urges them to speak openly about any sources of conflict early in the vacation.

Dingman cautions parents that their kids may be "trying out of different postures, different viewpoints and that is part of developing your individuality and figuring out who you are apart from your family." He acknowledges that these transformations can be confusing or frustrating for parents but notes that our kids "need our support and to know that we still believe in them."

Julie Lythcott-Haims, former Dean of Freshman at Stanford and author of "How to Raise An Adult" explains, "We are so connected to our kids, in ways that bring us all joy but leave us expecting to be a high priority in our kid's life. Yet they come home and have competing priorities for their time." Lythcott-Haims suggests parents channel their "inner 18 year old" and try to remember how life felt at that age.

Lythcott-Haims also urges parents to engage in an early and deliberate conversation with their kids about making time for family. "We don't want to guilt them into hanging out with us. We don't want to be angry with them for not. We need to try and clearly express our need and ask them to respect it," Lythcott-Haims explains. "We are so close to them that when they go away we experience a loss. But one of the upsides of our closeness is that our kids love us, they look at us as heroes and role models, they are not trying to disappoint us."

At the end of Thanksgiving weekend, Dingman and his wife overheard their freshman daughter talking on the phone with her roommate making plans to meet back on campus Sunday evening. He knew something had fundamentally changed when his daughter said to her roommate, "What time are you going to get back home?" Dingman and his wife looked at each other stunned. Home was the place they had raised their daughter. Dingman recalls, "That moment encapsulated so much. She was moving on, as we wanted her to do, yet it stung."

Lythcott-Haims notes that this is a moment that will come to almost every parent with a student away in college and that it is a sign that kids have sense of belonging in their new community. She says, "When you hear that resist the urge to argue the point. Your eyes will well with tears, but just hug them and say, 'I am so glad that place is feeling like home to you.'"

Last Thanksgiving I tangled with my sons in just the ways Dingman and Lythcott-Haims suggest are avoidable.

I complained that they were never around and they told me they had not seen their high school friends since August. I noted the pile of laundry still stationed by the front door and they promised to move it. Every day, they promised. I said we were not going to leave everything that needed to be done over their break until the very last minute and make mad dash to catch their trains back to school. But, of course we were.

I felt as though there were only a few grains of sand left to slide through the hourglass of their childhood and I grabbed this late opportunity to lecture about things clearly I had either failed to teach or they to learn.

Yet at some point in the middle of the long weekend, perhaps softened up by turkey, stuffing and family time, it all began to look a bit different to me.

Two of my sons were kicking a soccer ball in their bedroom and shattered one of their bedroom lamps. They fell all over themselves to apologize and acknowledge that I had mentioned the rule banning indoor sports a thousand times. I gathered up the broken pieces, marched out to the garbage and flung them in. And then I paused for a moment.

A college kid who runs off with his high school friends has formed real enduring relationships. My kids slept late because they were young and had worked hard (and I suspect played hard) during the semester. They were truly happy to be home with their parents and younger brother and this left me beyond grateful.

Living with them was chaos, but hadn't it always been?

I had been a parent for nearly 20 years. If I learned only one thing it was to pick my battles. Yet here I was haranguing the two people I missed most in the world. Sure, I had the right to ask of from them the same things I would ask of any adult staying in my home. But they weren't just any adults and this would be, hopefully, one of hundreds of visits they would make to this home. We had time to get it right.

For me, the "my house, my rules" axiom doesn't work, because I wanted this to be, now and forever, our house.

I want our family home to always be just that, all of our home. I want to it be a stress free zone in a stressful world, a place they look forward to returning to. And if I open my mouth, if I give voice to some of my thoughts (is it possible that you are 19 years old and have not yet learned to wipe a kitchen counter?) then it will be anything but that.

My mistake was in viewing this visit as the lingering days of their childhood. Instead, this was the first moments of adulthood.

We were taking the initial unsteady steps to establish the most enduring relationship I would have with each of them, that between two adults. In time we would learn to compromise. I would converse and reason with them, but I would stop making demands. I wasn't sure if I could have an adult relationship with someone who ate bagel bites at 2:00 am and left the wrappers on the floor next to his bed, but I was going to try.

This trip marked the beginning of a new stage, the one where they have someplace else to live, the one where being home is a choice. Our life as a family, my job as a parent, would go on. But the kind of parenting where I lay down the rules they are expected to follow, that was over.

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Thanksgiving, With College Students: Fantasy, Reality, and Getting It Right

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Here is the fantasy: After months of missing our college kids we eagerly await their return for Thanksgiving. In our dreams we spend cozy hours in the kitchen listening to them recount their experiences and marveling at the newly mature teen who sits before us.

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hello, Wonderful - CUTE BUTTERNUT SQUASH TURKEY CRAFT

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hello, Wonderful - CUTE BUTTERNUT SQUASH TURKEY CRAFT

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Fun for kids!

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The end of Halloween left us with some leftover gourds and butternut squashes so we decided to turn one into a cute and easy turkey to get in the spirit of the next holiday - Thanksgiving of course!

Let the kids go outside and collect leaves to make this feathered turkey that would also make an adorable centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table.
Butternut Squash Turkey - Materials:
- Butternut squash (or long necked shaped gourd)

- Leaves

- Googley eyes

- Yellow and red paper

- Scissors, glue, tape
Instructions:
It's pretty simple and as you see it. Tape or glue leaves on the back of the squash to form "feathers." Glue on the eyes, a small yellow triangle and red, long tear-drop shape for the wattle. You're done!

What are your favorite turkey crafts for kids? Let us know in the comments!

Check out more fall and Thanksgiving crafts here.

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The end of Halloween left us with some leftover gourds and butternut squashes so we decided to turn one into a cute and easy turkey to get in the spirit of the next holiday - Thanksgiving of course! Let the kids go outside and collect leaves to make this feathered turkey that would also make an adorable centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table.

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How to Pregame Thanksgiving Dinner (It's Important!) - Bon Appétit

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How to Pregame Thanksgiving Dinner (It's Important!) - Bon Appétit

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The most celebrated meal of the year shouldn't also be the most nerve-racking. Prepare to be prepared with updated classics, no-bake desserts, and more in our Thanksgiving 2015 guide.
The hours between when your guests arrive and when the turkey hits the table might just be everyone's favorite part of the day. Here are 20 smart ways to kick-start your meal.

1. Don't Even Think About Skipping Breakfast

How many times have you starved yourself before Thanksgiving only to find that you eat way too much when the actual feast rolls around? (Not to mention that you're grouchier and more susceptible to those predinner cocktails.) Skip lunch if you like, but do everyone a favor and make yourself some cheesy scrambled eggs with bacon, avocado toast, or oatmeal the morning of. We promise you won't run out of room.

2. Give Everyone a Job...Even the Kids

Kitchen prep can be all yours, but don't forget to delegate other tasks. Ask the kids to draw place cards for the table. (That way they won't sneak pie before dinner.) Everyone helps, everyone wins.

3. Destroy Your Family Fair and Square

Charades, gin rummy, touch football, Scrabble, Balderdash, soccer, kick the can, Catch Phrase (there's an app for that!), Cards Against Humanity (or Apples to Apples if Grandma can't handle it): There's nothing like some good old-fashioned competitiveness to stimulate the appetite.

4. I Dip, You Dip, We All Dip

Can it be a party without dip? No! But for this special meal, ranch or blue cheese ain't going to cut it. Try our Lemony Smoked Trout Dip and serve it with our favorite crackers (see #5).

5. The Cracker of Crackers

You know what you absolutely don't have time to think about right now? Which of the 10,000 varieties of crackers at the store are going in your
cart. Fortunately, we've made the choice for you: Carr's Table Water Crackers. Delicately crispy, plain without being bland, they're a good platform for just about anything on your hors d'oeuvres board-and aren't compelling enough solo to risk snacking on their own (looking at you, Ritz and Triscuits).

6. The Only Time It's Okay to Talk Politics Is Before the Meal

You remember the opening Thanksgiving scene in Hannah and Her Sisters? Take it from Woody Allen: A big family meal is no place for challenging your in-law who doesn't believe in climate change or rehashing the juicy details of your hot date last Saturday. Get all that stuff out in one-on-one conversations beforehand, and restrict the dinner-table topics to your last vacation, the weather, and how Mom's sweet potatoes really are the best on the planet (even if they are not!).

7. Drink Like An Adult

You want a drink in hand and perhaps a slight buzz, but getting blitzed before the meal is just bad form. Our Sherry-Tonic Punch is flavorful but low-octane, guaranteeing hours of easy-breezy sipping.

8. Always Have Champagne on Hand

Because when all else fails, nothing says party like a bottle of bubbly.

9. Your Fridge Is Off-Limits

By now your fridge looks like a round of Tetris-perfectly, precariously organized, without a millimeter of space to spare. Which is why you need to put all of your drinks in a separate fridge or a cooler filled with ice. Because if your thirsty mother-in-law spills your turkey stock looking for cold Pinot Grigio, things could get really ugly really fast.

10. Spread 'Em

Can't find your uncles? They're over by the cheese plate. Always. So be strategic about your nosh placement. Don't want people crowding the kitchen? Then don't put the nuts there! Spreading out snacks in a few places both encourages movement and keeps your guests right where you want them-and not where you don't.

11. If you have a fireplace or wood stove-or Radiant Fireplace 2 DVD-it should be going.

12. Skip the Bread (Kinda)

It's not who starts, it's who finishes. In other words, keep your eyes on the prize-stuffing!-and don't overload company with carbs before the main event. On this day, they are the enemy. Forgo the baguette and the pigs in blankets but do try one (okay, two) of our Seeded Buckwheat Grissini with Parmesan, a.k.a. killer breadsticks.

13. Make a Playroom for the Kids (and the Big Kids, Too)

You can discipline the kids all day, or you can create an oasis for them, a place where they can build with Legos, watch cartoons, color, or, you know, just be kids. As for the adults, you may hate football, but someone coming over will definitely need to watch the game, so put it on someplace where the sports fans can gather.

14. Go for a Walk or Run-Just Get Outside!

Not only does a little cardio exercise make you feel better about the quantity of mashed potatoes you'll inevitably consume, but it's the best way to connect with dear old Dad and get a breather from the crazy full-on family situation.

15. The Case for a Better Nut

You could open a can of store-bought mixed nuts and the world would not come to an end. Or you could show everyone you care by making these Sweet-and-Spicy Mixed Nuts.

16. Dust It Off, Then Do It Up

It's not just about the food. Set the table the night before. (Never wait until the last minute.) Wash china and wine glasses. Pull down all of the serving platters and bowls and decide what food goes where. Figure out the perfect locations for your candlesticks. It's probably the most dressed-up
your table will get all year, so really turn it out.

17. The Only Way to Crudités

Eat your veggies. Not the kind you'd pack in a fourth-grader's lunch (no baby carrots, thank you very much), but rather these Pickled Vegetable Lettuce Cups.

Get the Recipe: Pickled Vegetable Lettuce Cups

18. Pick a time that you are going to sit down for dinner and stick with it!

19. Bubbles for All

Give the kids something fun to drink-San Pellegrino sodas or some fruit-juice spritzers. It makes them feel special, too.

20. Cheese Boards Are for Amateurs

By arranging eight nubbins of fatty dairy on a plate, you're inviting your guests to (yeah, you guessed it) try all eight and then-oh, why not?-have another piece of that one, and that one.... You get the picture. It's an appetite deathtrap. So serve cheese, but follow these rules. Buy one small, whole wheel of cheese (3-4 pounds should do it), because whole anything says festive. Something hard, salty, bold-the kind you nibble, not the kind you schmear. And make it American because, well, they don't celebrate Turkey Day in Savoie. Our pick? The nutty Manchego-esque San Andreas from Bellwether Farms in California ($33 per lb.).

Andrew Knowlton's guide to holiday drinking with dignity:
Get our November issue delivered in time for Thanksgiving by subscribing today!

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How to Pregame Thanksgiving Dinner (It's Important!)

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The most celebrated meal of the year shouldn't also be the most nerve-racking. Prepare to be prepared with updated classics, no-bake desserts, and more in our Thanksgiving 2015 guide. The hours between when your guests arrive and when the turkey hits the table might just be everyone's favorite part of the day.

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How to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner Without a Recipe - Food52

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How to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner Without a Recipe - Food52

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Throw away your notes and take the pressure off-here's how to do Thanksgiving without a recipe.

If you're anything like us, you spend the month leading up to Thanksgiving in research-mode: How will I make this Thanksgiving better than the last? Are the mashed potatoes of my dreams on page 10 of my Google search results? What is the secret to my aunt's secret (and legendary) stuffing recipe?

It's time to stop the madness and call off the dogs. Thanksgiving doesn't have to be so hard; it doesn't have to feel this complicated. In fact, most of the dishes you're making this week can be prepared without a recipe at all. So take the pressure off and trust your instincts-we're revisiting these 10 spectacularly easy ways to throw together your favorite holiday's fare, no notes required. (You can even go rogue with our favorite technique for the bird, by adding your own spices and herbs to the dry brine.)
Mashed Potatoes Macaroni and Cheese Potato Gratin Roasted Vegetables Cranberry Sauce Fruit Crisp (or Crumble) Galette (or Crostata) This article orginally appeared on November 23, 2015. We're re-running it in honor on Thanksgiving (which is in about 3 weeks!). Tell us: Which Thanksgiving dishes will you be winging this year?

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10 Thanksgiving Dishes You Can Make Without a Recipe

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Throw away your notes and take the pressure off-here's how to do Thanksgiving without a recipe. If you're anything like us, you spend the month leading up to Thanksgiving in research-mode: How will I make this Thanksgiving better than the last? Are the mashed potatoes of my dreams on page 10 of my Google search results?

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How the Best Chefs in the Country Cook Their Thanksgiving Turkey - Bon Appétit

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How the Best Chefs in the Country Cook Their Thanksgiving Turkey - Bon Appétit

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This Thanksgiving, you could pull out the same old turkey recipe your family has been making for years (decades! millennia!). Or you could take cues from some of the best chefs in the country and treat the bird like they do. Besides excellent taste in poultry, what these chefs have in common are spots on our America's Best New Restaurants 2015 list. If you're not going to take advice from the culinary minds behind the best new restaurants in the country, who are you going to look to for inspiration? Without further adieu, turkey tips from the #BAhot10 gang.

"Here's something I learned as a saucier at L'Astrance in Paris. On Thanksgiving day, I let the turkey sit out for three hours before roasting it, so the entire bird comes to room temperature first. That allows the bones to hold heat like little cinder blocks, cooking the turkey from the inside-out, making it super juicy and flavorful." -Aaron London, AL's Place (San Francisco, no. 1)

"Start with a rad, well-sourced 6- to 8-pound bird. If you're hosting lots of people, get two. Don't go with a massive turkey; they're dry. I cut out the spine and butterfly the bird. Brine it overnight, then rinse and let it dry, uncovered, in the fridge for another night. Take it out early in the day and rub it all over with herb-laced sea salt and olive oil. Place the turkey on a bed of large mirepoix along with the butchered spine and giblets. Dump a bottle of white wine in the pan, with an equal amount of water or homemade turkey or chicken stock. Roast at 425° until nicely browned, with crispy skin all over. Let the bird rest for 30 to 40 minutes before carving!" - Travis Lett, Gjusta (Los Angeles, no. 2)

"I always massage the turkey with cream and salt the night before cooking it. Let it rest overnight in the refrigerator so the mixture can penetrate the bird, and cook it like a chicken: High temperature at first to make it crispy, and then reduced temperature to keep it juicy. It is all about basting, basting, basting. NEVER leave your turkey alone. She needs love every 10 minutes. I love stuffing, but I add dried fruit and meats, like Italian sausage and foie gras. It becomes a stand-alone dish at the table." - Ludo Lefevbre, Petit Trois (Los Angeles, no. 3)

"A 24-hour brine of soy, citrus, parsley, thyme, sage, white wine, water, sugar, garlic, ginger. Butter under the skin and more herbs in the cavity, plus a seasoning of salt and pepper inside and out." - Beverly Clark, Parachute (Chicago, no. 5)

"Here's how we roll with our turkey: It gets a 12-hour brine bath and dries overnight on a sheet tray in the cooler. We then smoke it on a Weber Performer, packed with my wife's stuffing and seasoned with salt and pepper. We keep a little tray underneath to collect drippings, which we use to make a smoked gravy." -Joe Kindred, Kindred (Davidson, NC, no. 7)

"[Once], two days before the big day, I removed the breasts and legs. I cured and confited the legs in orange, Scotch, and aromatics, then brined and pan-roasted the breasts as 'steaks.' Best turkey we ever had. - Jonathan Brooks, Milktooth (Indianapolis, no. 10)

More Turkey Day Advice from Folks Who Know What's Up

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How the Best Chefs in the Country Cook Their Thanksgiving Turkey

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This Thanksgiving, you could pull out the same old turkey recipe your family has been making for years (decades! millennia!). Or you could take cues from some of the best chefs in the country and treat the bird like they do.