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It's not completely clear whether you're looking for the things people traditionally eat on Thanksgiving, or if you're hoping for some "fresh" ideas... but...

A traditional "Norman Rockwell" spread almost always includes stuffing, yams, a vegetable or two (green beans, succotash, brussels sprouts, glazed carrots, green peas), cranberry sauce, hot buttered yeast rolls.

There are a lot of others that tend to be popular regional variations (e.g., slaw, dumplings, greens and biscuits in the south).

It's good that I type my menus and store them in a special "menus" folder. I even still have my shopping list:-). So last year it was:

Mixed greens salad with walnuts and gorgonzola dolce, balsamic vinaigrette
Red and yellow tomato salad with basil and pine nuts, olive oil and lemon juice dressing
Cucumber salad (thinly sliced, with rice vinegar and toasted sesame seeds)
2 types of coleslaw - oil & vinegar and mayo

Bourbon-Maple glazed turkey stuffed with herbs (sage, thyme, rosemary), apples, oranges and and lemon

Braised turkey legs in Madeira sauce

Cranberry-orange sauce with Grand Marnier
Sage turkey gravy
Stuffing with turkey sausage, onions and peppers
Sweet & Yukon Gold Potato Mash with roasted garlic
Brussels sprouts with pancetta and garlic
Roasted cauliflower with lemon pepper and sunflower seeds
Teriyaki green beans with cashew nuts
Collard greens with toasted garlic and bacon
Sauteed wild mushrooms with thyme, garlic and sherry

Apple strudel with vanilla ice cream
Sweet potato mousse pie

Mulled wine

This year I'm thinking of not making the whole turkey. Instead, I may go for brined smoked turkey breast (I have already test-smoked one several weeks ago, and it was simply brilliant) and drumstick & thigh braise with prunes and calvados.

We are doing Thanksgiving with my boss again this year and that means she will make the turkey, I will make the mashed potatoes and gravy, and other sides will include:
Green beans with tomatoes, garlic & white wine (Giada's recipe)
Pumpkin bread
Pecan tarts
Braised celery
Candied yams with coconut and pecans
Pumpkin pie
Cranberries

We're having the inlaws over, so it limits the options.
Green salad (maybe)

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
A vat of mushroom gravy
Buns
Cranberry sauce from the NPR website
Green beans because it is the ONLY green veg FIL will eat and this menu needs some green. Otherwise, I'd probably do brussels sprouts or maybe broccoli.

Sometimes I'll throw in something that DH and I will like, even if I'm not sure the inlaws will eat it, like a squash dish or some other veggie or side.

dessert will be a pie, probably, with an accompanying home made ice cream.

Maybe some kind of appetizer, or maybe some interesting cookies or something extra at dessert.

"Simple" and "Thanksgiving" are not two words I'd use in close proximity because it's a holiday and I'm expecting to spend a little more time in the kitchen than I would any given Thursday but here goes:

Corn Pudding
Carrot Souffle
Sweet Potato Gratin-ish dish I made up a couple of years ago
Bread Stuffing
Maple Brined Turkey
Bread Stuffing
Homemade Gravy
Biscuits or bread (depending on available time)

Usually:
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate offering of some type

Made for the first time in 2006, T-Giving Twofer Pie - a combination of pumpkin and pecan that turns wonderfully into something not resembling either of its parents.

I gave up on offering a green salad because not a leaf is ever touched. I don't like the green bean casserole but may offer a cooked green veg if something really moves me.

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy are a given here.
Two or three veggies: we have corn, green bean casserole & one more.
Two cranberry sauces .. the one in the can and a raw relish.
A relish plate with assorted olives, pickles, celery & carrrot sticks. This
doesn't usually get touched but it's great with sandwiches later.
Assorted rolls, biscuits, mini corn muffins
Pies .. apple, pumpkin, Vermont Maple and whipped cream.
I can't wait!!!!!

I'll make some dips with crackers for guests to munch on while they gather.
Chicken liver pate, mushroom dip, and artichoke dip.

We always start with soup, this year it's going to be butternut squash.

Roast capon
Dressing
Gravy
Brussels sprouts some way, I love them
Roasted beets, love them too
Taters of some sort
Maybe parsnip puree
Whatever other veggie grabs my fancy

Dark chocolate tart (Dorie Greenspan)
Apple galette
Homemade ice cream

My favorite day of the year is fast approaching!

My dads mother always had hired help, so they always cooked all our meals for us. The same family has worked in my grandmothers house for 40 years. In the main dining room, under the rug at the head of the table there is a button on the floor you push with your toes to ring the help in the kitchen. I remember one christmas I came in and there was a GIANT pile of fresh tamales on the table. I didnt complain. But on my mothers side we always have..

Lobster Bisque with lump crab while everyone comes in. first course kinda style.
Smoked Oyster Dressing/Stuffing
Roasted Green Bean bundles wrapped in bacon
a sweet potato dish where layered sweet potatoes and such are shoved in individual ramekins, and baked off.
Bread Pudding with bourbon sauce.

So how many people are eating at the tables of those who gave the long, long menus? Just curious. They sound wonderful, and I'm impressed by the effort, but I can't imagine having enough room to store everything! Some of these sound like 20-people dinners. I'd love to do that if I had enough room - and I live in a fairly good-sized house, I think.

Shrimp Cocktail with Homemade Cocktail Sauce
Pate and Cheeses with Crackers
Mixed Olives

Roast Turkey with Stuffing (in the bird)
Pan Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Souffle with Brown Sugar and Pecans on top
Creamed Pearl Onions
Haricots Verts with Shallots and Butter

Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Somtimes we do a Butternut squash soup as a first course, sometimes a salad of Mache, roasted beets, hazelnuts, and chevre (with a lemon juice and shallot dressing).

I'm feeling pretty pedestrian, but after a game of football and a bloody mary chaser, we eat
turkey with fresh herbs under the skin
baked sweet potatos
mashed pot

Brooke29 and/or hungryinhouston, can I come for supper? :)

We're fairly boring here:

3 Smoked Turkey Breasts (usually about 5 lbs each) from the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse (this is a family tradition.....their turkey tastes like MAGIC)
Mashed Potatoes
Candied Mashed Sweet Potatoes (yes, we add the tiny marshmallows *gasp*)
Cubed Butternut Squash Bake with brown sugar, maple and pecans
Fresh Steamed Green Beans with a garlic butter sauce
Stuffing
Standard Homemade Cranberry sauce
Buttered Peas
Homemade Soft White Yeast Rolls
Homemade Honey Wheat Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

and usually another dessert....last year it was it was a caramel apple cobbler, this year I'm thinking a bread pudding with whiskey cream sauce.

The following is the menu for four to eight (other dishes will be added if other people are coming and insist upon bringing something.)

Marinated olives
Assorted minipickles (purchased)
Charcuterie/Cheese board
Cheese straws (if a larger group)
Champagne

Scalloped oysters in individual gratins (Damon Fowler's recipe)
Cream of shiitake mushroom soup, with truffle salt
Sauv blanc, chard, rousanne, marsanne, or a good blend.

Crown roast of pork (yes, with pants on it)
Calvados gravy
Cornbread-apple stuffing (I will take recipe suggestions for a moist cornbread non-seafood stuffing, DH and I still do not think we have this perfect)
Sweet potatoes with almond streusel
Broccoli gratin with mustard-cheese streusel (we like streusel and everyone LOVES this one)
Mashed potatoes with lemon-thyme compound butter (I am open to other suggestions for mashed potatoes, but this is the best we have found to date, especially because it allows advance prep of the compound butter . . . let me know what you suggest!)
Corn spoonbread (perhaps we will try chestnut this year)
Homemade Parker House rolls (this is my first try at them, pray for me)
Maple walnut cranberry sauce
Choice of pinot noir or zinfandel (I like the Turley zins with Thanksgiving)

Intermission (Cowboys football game, plus belching and belt-loosening). Short naps on the sofa for the non-football fans.

Pear crumble with crystallized ginger, homemade cinnamon ice cream
Cranberry gingerbread, brown sugar whipped cream
Cocoa meringue cookies
Port (tawny or ruby) or sauternes
Cordials

Day after Thanksgiving:

Breakfast - Hot or cold caffeine, cranberry gingerbread

Supper - Cuban sandwiches (it's what to do with leftover crown roast)!
Leftover sides
More crumble and ice cream!!

We have the holiday down to a science. We have the recipes in cooking software and start the food shopping two weeks ahead of time on the non-perishables. We start cooking on Tuesday (bread crumbs for gratin, cranberry sauce, compound butter, marinating olives) and do most of our prep on Wednesday afternoon and evening (bake cornbread, blanch broccoli, cook sweet potatoes, rub crown roast, prep soup, cook custard for ice cream). All the desserts are done the night before.

Thanksgiving actually is relatively relaxing. We are not big turkey fans, so doing the crown roast is both tasty and a huge time-saver (we can roast it in under 90 minutes, as opposed to most of a morning for a turkey). We have had double ovens and six-burner stove for the last two years, which has made things much easier. Throwing the Parker House rolls into the mix may complicate things a bit, but I feel up to the task (DH does not bake). And I can hardly wait for my new Bosch dishwasher to arrive so that this year I do not have to hand wash china!!!!!!!!!

@lemons: Like Brooke, we have about 14-16. Organization is definitely key, as is delegation! Mom and dad bring over at least two of the main meats (mom's chicken, dad's brisket), the shrimp and oyster dressing, and maybe one other side. And I don't bake, so my sister makes almost all the desserts. If I get pressed for fridge space, I also have my other sister's empty fridge (she can cook, but chooses not to) as backup.

@tatianak: Of course! Come hungry!

And everyone in our family knows it's all about the leftovers! My siblings shamelessly come with their own plastic containers to take stuff away.

@tatianak - now you're invited for two suppers:-)

@hungryinhouston - I'm quite certain leftovers are the main reason my OH loves Thanksgiving so much!

We start with a sliced red onion/sliced orange/romaine salad with olive oil and lemon juice vinegarette.
Turkey and gravy, of course.
Mashed potatoes left a bit lumpy.
Broccoli with lemon butter.
Creamed tiny white onions with a bit of paprika.
A homemade cranberry relish with celery and tangerine peel.
Sweet potato pie, because we like it better than pumpkin.
Wine for adults and sparkling wine in wine glasses for the little ones.
Good plain food. Hasn't changed much for years and years.

for me, it's not thanksgiving without ham. i bake mine with a mango pineapple glaze. it makes the kitchen smell so good :)

Olives and gherkins
Cheddar-Onion Poppyseed Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Fried Turkey
Roast Turkey
Gravy made with extra parts I buy and roast because there is no gravy with a fried turkey
Chestnut Stuffing with loads of sage
Stuffing with Italian Sweet Sausage
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Green "Kitchen Sink" Salad with Vinagrette
Canned Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry Port Relish
Candied Sweet Potatoes- no marshmallows
Coleslaw
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Fresh Whipped Cream
3 hours later return to the kitchen to start on the leftovers

My sides tend to be candies sweet potatoes, a challah bread with corn and celery dressing, steamed green beans tossed with minced garlic, corn on the cob and to serve with the turkey, I make a cranberry relish.

2 packages of berry jello
1 can of whole cranberries
1 can of crushed pineapple or tidbits with the liquid.

Make the jello as per box directions. Let it set halfway. Then mix in the cranberries and pineapples, liquid and all.

Serve with the turkey (works with chicken and beef too). Also great on sponge or angle food cake and vanilla ice cream.

I smell something fishy. There is a noticeable lack of Jello dishes appearing on these menus. Are you ashamed??? *laughing my *ss off*

I'll admit it. My family always has to have a red jello mold
(cherry, strawberry, strawberry-banana) with fruit cocktail and bananas, covered with whipped cream. This does not get served with the fabulous desserts, but is on the table with the fixin's. I think most, if not all, have been mentioned above. There are little bowls for this jello and the kids love it and so do some of the adults.

We try to eat early, so there is time for everyone to get our T-Day sandwich before they leave or go to bed. Might have to cook an extra turkey and stuffing just for this purpose. If someone else hosts, I'll cook one at home. The leftovers are the best part, after being with family.

In addition to the absolutely necessary jello mold are, turkey, gravy, stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (not sweet), mashed rutabagas, green bean casserole, corn souffle, glazed carrots,
cranberry sauce, homemade rolls. Desserts are many, including pies galore (could be pumpkin, apple, lemon meringue, banana cream) and brownies and cookies. Ice cream and whipped cream are offered. There is always an extra dish or three brought by guests, but the above are pretty standard. We keep snowflake rolls for turkey/dressing/cranberry sauce sandwiches later.

*Brined Turkey (Alton Brown's recipe is perfection)
*Bread stuffing with onions, green and red peppers, and chestnuts
*Mashed potatoes with homemade gravy
*Roasted asparagus and tomatoes with evoo and garlic
*Arugula and endive salad with pecans, dried cranberries, goat cheese and a maple balsamic vinegarette
*Pecan, Apple and Pumpkin Pie

I love brussel sprouts too so some years I will serve roasted brussel sprouts and onions with real maple syrup or port wine reduction

We've never had brussell sprouts as many of you have. We have what I consider a traditional southern Thanksgiving, which means lots of carbs.

Turkey and sometimes ham too
cornbread dressing
mashed potatoes made with "pet" milk
coleslaw(hand grated)
macaroni and cheese( homemade with velveeta)
sweet potato casserole
green beans seasoned with ham or bacon and cooked down low
cranberry sauce
Giblet Gravy
Homemade yeast rolls
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Roll
Various Pies and Cakes (Banana Cake, Coconut pie,etc...
Sweet tea and Coffee

In recent years dishes such as corn pudding have made their way to the table. In the past when my grandmother was able to cook, we often had fried okra, and dumplings made from the broth of the turkey.