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chiff you know you are one of my favorite people here, goes without saying.
I too am guilty of taking in the strays because I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine someone just being alone on a major holiday, it is to me a grievous thing.
I used to say to people, "You are coming to my house!" It was an offer but it was not a question, LOL. I startled many a person who was a bit overwhelmed by my approach. 99% of people bullied into coming to my home (even when it was my parents home) for a holiday meal showed up.
One of them, my dear friend Dave, is still my very good friend some 24 years later. This year he will be at his new girlfriend's parents home and his place at our table will be empty. I will bully them into coming for New Years. We will raise a glass to him (probably several).
When I asked Dave 24 years ago what he was doing for thanksgiving he said Swanson TV dinner and I said the infamous line, You are coming to my house! The rest is history.

I've had my eyes and ears open for strays at work and church. I'm planning to make enough for substantial leftovers, so that if I do happen upon someone without somewhere to go I won't internally debate if there will be enough food.

I know there are plenty of restaurants offering beautiful T-Giving fare but to me, it's not T-Giving unless you can waddle over to the sofa after dinner and sit there with your pants undone until someone says "dessert" and everyone returns to the table.

I've had T-Givings where I invited people I didn't know! A friend in Brooklyn told me about holidays at her aunt and uncle's house. "If he thought you took too much broccoli, he'd take it off your plate." I invited her for T-Giving and she giggled. As we got closer to the big day, I asked, "So you're coming to my house for T-Giving, right?" She said, "No, I'm afraid not." I asked why and she said, "Because I'll have my sister with me." "BRING HER!!" I said, "What the heck is one more plate, and there will be plenty of food!"

Sharon and her sister came for T-Giving and her sister spent most of her time bug-eyed at the fact that there was a) Plenty of food, b) She was welcome to as many trips to the buffet as she liked and c) She was offered leftovers to take home.

This year, my daughter is bringing 2 friends, only one of whom I've met. Regardless of the eventual outcome, the original Thanksgiving dinner was supposed to promote community - where better to keep that tradition than at your own table?

I, too, have fed plenty of orphans of one sort or another at my holiday tables. And as a divorced mom, I've sent the kids off to their father's and spent holidays alone, so I know both sides of this. Let me just point one thing out. If your invitation is declined, sometimes there are some of us who just like to be alone. I spent one Christmas morning making a cake to take in to the hospital where I worked that afternoon. The peace and quiet can be very welcome for some folks that aren't "just saying that, they don't really mean it".

My BFF, who was a divorced mom, too, was just the opposite, was miserable on holidays, even smaller ones like Memorial Day, when the kids were away, and that's fine, it's the way she is. (I couldn't always help out; this is the first time in 35 years we've lived within 45 minutes of each other, and sometimes it was as much as 12 hours.) So I do understand.

As for ex-spouses - oh, yeah. One Thanksgiving Sunday I fed 7 a.m. breakfast to my daughter, son, son's girlfriend, ex-husband, his son from a later marriage, ex's girlfriend and her child from a previous relationship, as he dropped my daughter off en route back from visiting his extended family. All very civil (despite the hour). We were lucky we remained more than civil to each other.