Our family’s Thanksgiving tradition is an all-out, 30-plus people affair, hosted every year at our parents’ house. Up until a few years ago, though, it wasn’t as easy for me to get home for Thanksgiving, so I’ve celebrated the holiday in a number of ways over the years, from going out to dinner with friends, to tagging along to another family’s meal, to taking the train up to Montreal for a solo weekend away. What the holiday boils down to, for most people, is eating food (usually lots of it) while sitting next to people they love. Or at least tolerate.

This week, let’s write something set on Thanksgiving Day. Will your protagonist enjoy the usual ’round-the-table feast? Here are three fairly traditional activities to get those gears turning: food prep, table setting, and after-dinner games. Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandma Moses, Catching the Turkey, 1940. Oil on wood.

Ann Toebbe, Red Plastic Plates, 2008. Handpainted cut paper on cardboard. The West Collection. www.anntoebbe.com

Susan Lichtman, Cards, 2003. Oil on linen. www.susanlichtman.com