Wait, wait. We have always had a "kids' table", even at non-holiday meals. It's a card table surrounded with whatever old folding chairs we can find.

Kinda forgot one: Do not ask the cooks “what they are cooking for dinner” for the 2 days after thanksgiving. You will be eating leftovers and saying “thank you” for their hard work.

Last year we hosted a friend from overseas and it was the highlight of my culinary life that she gushed about how our Thanksgiving celebration was just like what she'd seen depicted in movies/tv. That's it. I can die a happy woman now 😂😂😂

An aunt waaaay down the family line decided to tell my Nana that her banana pudding didn’t taste the same a few thanksgivings ago. My Nana slowly lifted her head from whatever she was preparing in the kitchen, turned around bright red and I haven’t seen that aunt since. More banana pudding for the rest of us 😋

Y'all don't be experimenting on the holiday!

Here’s another unofficial commandment Matt. Thou shall not interrupt the post-feast nap. Because those who live a ways away from Grandmothers house need that energy to stay awake on the drive home, especially the driver.

11. Thou shalt not hang Christmas decorations until black Friday. No sooner

I’m a Southerner, and I approve this message.

"A good cornbread dressing is piece of art and a labor of love" Preach Matt!!! AMEN!!!

My MIL taught me how to make a proper Southern Thanksgiving meal, including corn bread dressing and collards, before she passed away. No written recipes, you just have to remember it.

When I worked at a grocery store bakery, I loved the Thanksgiving shift. It was hilarious. People buying 20 lb frozen turkeys for 3:00 pm dinner and looking for long-gone pies and fresh baked rolls (actually baked the day before), and the lost souls asking- “How do you make mashed potatoes?”- while holding up a 10 lb bag of reds. Such fun.

Yes! The table sitting is non existent😂 patio furniture, hoods of vehicles, steps outside, borrowed chairs from the church…..that’s a good Thanksgiving ❤️

My sister once deviated from the accepted sweet potato casserole recipe AND the potato salad recipe on the same Thanksgiving. My Mama never let her forget it - for 20 years! I'm the designated macaroni 'n cheese cooker (so proud) and when that same sister volunteered to make it 1 yr because I'd had surgery, Mama said "No. Your sister can sit down while she makes it. She makes the mac 'n cheese like me. I'm not taking any chances!" Um, thanks?! (My husband helped, bless him.) My Mama's been gone 5 years and I'd give anything to hear her praise my cooking...and fuss at my sister, hahaha! Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

As a person from the Pacific North West who has family in the south that I have visited for Thanksgiving... all of this was accurate. Especially that Granny does whatever she wants... no questions asked lol

Number 10 is actually a hard rule at our house, but we say, "Whoever shows up gets fed!" We've hosted Marines who couldn't get back home for Thanksgiving, friends and relatives of friends and relatives, and people I still don't know. But everyone is welcome, and everyone gets fed. A lot. Like multiple turkeys, a ham or 2, and a duck.

I have to share my “Country Crock” story! Back in the 1990’s my household went through a massive amount of County Crock margarine and of course we saved the empty containers. One of those I used to store random screws, nuts and bolts etc. One day I was replacing the mini blinds in the kitchen and had the country crock screw container out on the kitchen counter. Later that evening after dinner I put some leftover corn in an identical container. I got distracted by the kids and when I came back into the kitchen I quickly grabbed one container that I thought was corn and put it in the fridge, the other went in the junk drawer. A few days later I started to smell something funky in the kitchen. I looked and looked for where that smell was coming from. I finally traced it to the junk drawer. Thinking it was a dead mouse, I carefully opened the drawer only to find the country crock container that I thought held the screws bulging! I immediately realized what I had done and looked in the fridge. Sure enough the screws were in the fridge and the corn was in the junk drawer! Every time I see a country crock container I think of that corn….. Happy Thanksgiving in advance ya’ll!

I want to take a moment to say a thank you for the communities who share their thanksgivings with those around them. Be it victims of natural weather, the kind old man next door, or whoever you decide. Southern Hospitality is, in my opinion, one of those commandments that is ingrained in us, and we're always happy to share.

I grew up in Tampa where every Thanksgiving the British Navy assigns a one-week stopover for one of their naval vessels doing a tour of duty in the Caribbean/Bahamas. Every year the various ship crews would wait for the yearly schedule announcement to see who got the assignment. Locally the radio stations and newspapers would announce how to sign up to host 1 or more sailors/officers for Thanksgiving dinner and the sign-up list would fill up quickly. After a few years with a week of shore leave some of the men with families would arrange for them to fly over to spend the week so you might end of hosting a British family instead of just a sailor. Some of the sailors and families took the tradition of Thanksgiving home with them. Other days young women would hang out at places frequented by the sailors and try to talk them out of the caps...until the Royal Navy cracked down on penalties for "losing" their caps.

"Granny does what she wants" No truer words have been spoken.

My grandmom insisted the family come to her place for Thanksgiving. She lived a simple life, and lived in a small mobile home. So nobody could eat at the kitchen table, because it was loaded with food and most any flat surface available. There were people eating in the living room, the front and back porch, and a bed room. Those were the best Thanksgivings of my youth, because we were together and it made my grandmom happy.

If you bring something to my family’s house with raisins in it on Thanksgiving, you can just leave!😂

The hierarchy chairs is exactly the thing that I've gone through every year I've had family Thanksgiving.

This video should go big time viral. "Honor thy Dressing, and not call it stuffing" Amen. Alleluia.

God bless you, Matt Mitchell. This is spot on. The sad thing about the chair hierarchy? The only way to move up is...death in the family. Memories of Thanksgivings past make every year even more special. Thanksgiving mornings spent watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, staying out of the way of the kitchen work, that's a commandment addition.

I am physically disabled making me unable to prepare a large dinner from scratch. Last year I was thrilled to host my nephew and his family. They came all the way from my home state of Alabama to have Thanksgiving with us in Texas. So, for the first time I used Cracker Barrel’s catering service. It was all a very good experience, but I had forgotten to order dressing.😱 It was already Thursday morning and of course absolutely no time to make any dressing myself. So, I wondered if the stuffing mix could be converted to dressing. I googled my question and VOILA! There was a recipe for the conversion. I tried it and it turned out acceptable. I hope I don’t have to repeat that experience of forgotten dressing again, but accidents do happen. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, remember this conversion trick and remember: the moisture level of the batter will determine the moisture texture of the dressing-make sure you add enough broth, but not too much. Anyway, the disaster was averted, we had dressing and a wonderful thanksgiving! I thoroughly enjoyed this segment! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! THANK GOD!! AND ROLL TIDE!!🙏✝️🕊️🐘❤️‼️

We saw you in the Little Debbie bakery store today stocking up on merch. We should have said hello but didn’t want to bother you with your family. My wife and I both work at Little Debbie and enjoy your content. Take care!

As the traditional bringer of thanksgiving collard greens (I tried to quit one year and the whole family text message yelled at me at once😂) I always look forward to meeting all the nice older ladies in the produce aisle to fill up my cart - they’re good cooking role models ❤

In my family it is also not considered bad form to bring your own containers expecting to take home leftovers. It is almost expected.

Spot on! I have received the honor of making the dressing each year, using my grandmothers recipe. It calls for THREE different kinds of cornmeal, which can only be found at IGA or Piggly Wiggly in Alabama or Georgia, just for the cornbread!

The last commandment touched my heart. I teared up. Thank you. Bless you.

You forgot the couch rule! Elders get the seats first pick The Adults get what’s left The pets sit in whatever spot is open And the kids get the floor or pull out the camping chairs and sit around the couch

That was a good one. The dressing commandment…amen! I was born, raised, and live in the West but my family, both sides are from the South so I was raised like a misplaced Southerner, lol. I never trust anyone with the dressing because most of these people never ate cornbread dressing until they come to my house.

I would love to see Matt's place on Thanksgiving. That would be entertainment.

I love how mat looks like hes riding in the buggy at 1:09 !

Thank you for all the reminders about cooking and entertaining. Unfortunately, I do this now without my husband who died the day before Thanksgiving 6 years ago. It has been a solemn occasion for more than 50 years since my grandfather's passing as well. Thanks to this Southern group of people who keep me cheered up. I know I can laugh when I watch your videos.

“Kicked an ant hill” 😂☠️ I’m absolutely rolling right now

Don't forget the elders with the new joints get the chairs with the arms, or else we are stuck at the table and will never be able to leave it again for any reason.

As a true member of the south these are facts 😆

Preach, Matt, Preach! Went to Thanksgiving at my aunt's house in Mississippi one year. My mother followed protocol and brought what she said she would, but my cousin tried to upstage my big mama(grandma) by not only making the turkey but baking a sweet potato pie. Ain't seen her since.

My grandparents and my parents both had a really big dining room table with matching chairs. Our family Thanksgiving when I was a kid actually did look like a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving.

As a Kroger employee, I definitely agree with number 3. I have heard many horror stories from my coworkers about customers coming in at last minute and complaining about us not having enough Stove Top stuffing mix (1. That's not real dressing. And 2. Our location isn't the only location in Little Rock. )

Every year I (jokingly) suggest to my husband that I try a different way of doing the turkey. Every year he looks at me with the biggest, saddest, eyes and says "Well. If you want to. I think your normal one is great though......" My dressing recipe will never change, though. That's Grandma's recipe. We had to translate it from German, and then decipher what she really meant. It gets baked in a giant turkey bag, in a turkey roasting pan. Because there's no other dish that it can fit in.

Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard at this. It’s like you have been to my family’s dinner. We have a past thanksgiving that we call “dressingate!” The step grandmother (which no one liked) said that she would make the dressin. I show up and no dressin. Our thanksgiving revolves around Turkey and dressin. She said she didn’t like the way it came out and threw it out. I am not going to lie, I was about to cry. lol and with each family member we had to have the “nope, no dressin” conversation. We blessed her heart a lot that day. Lol After that, we only let her bring the store bought pumpkin pie. Lol

Having a full-on Thanksgiving at our Egg Bowl tailgate this year for about 13 people so we'll all be sitting in camp chairs: Smoked ham, oyster dressing, regular dressing, green bean casserole, baked beans, fried okra, corn, peas, potato salad, rolls and who knows what else. Doing shrimp and grits the night before while the prep work is ongoing. It'll probably take a week to clean up the kitchen after this. But, it'll be worth it!

I get to make the cornbread dressing this year! ... and a pumpkin pie!

Full of beans and probably stained from spaghetti sauce or chilli. 😂

I love your last commandment. My sister and I used to do Thanksgiving at my house and invite all our friends who didn't have another place to go that day. One year I was talking with a friend who had a bit of an ego problem, and the problem wasn't that his ego was too small. He was saying he didn't have a place to go on Thanksgiving because his mother was doing something and his sister was traveling, so I invited him to join us. He immediately asked, "Who's going to be there?" After I stopped laughing at what a jerk he was, I told him he probably wouldn't like the guest list.

Nailed it!!! I added a chocolate bourbon pecan pie in one year…ten years ago! Haven’t heard the end of that yet. I just remind my husband that I’m the cook and if he doesn’t like it, he can cook. That’ll NEVER happen! But I haven’t made one since. Too bad, it was awesome.

"Those things are too dang small" That's why we have large wooden plates/trenchers we use for thanksgiving instead. they're like 2.5 times the size of a normal place and they look real nice. A real pain to clean up afterwards, but when everyone is able to plate up all the greenbean casserole, potato salad, and fruit salad they want on top of a slab of turkey meat AND salmon, everyone agrees its worth it.

Matt you are the best! Making me laugh with 1-9 then tear up on Commandment 10. And yes, we Southerners do like to hug!!!!! Love this😍😍😍

Preach, brother! 😂 On the dressing, my mom usually made three. One for stuffing the turkey, and two (one with oysters, one without) as sides dishes. Then there was the home made cranberry chutney with orange peel & pecans, spiced (or pickled) peaches, green beans, etc..! Then there were the years we had ham too-she’d make this sweet mustard sauce that definitely made you use your roll to sop the extra up! 😋

True. A family holiday gathering is NOT the place for arguments, fights, or ANY type of drama. Behave yourself, and help others do the same!

I’m thankful for the constant joy I get watching your videos, Matt. These are 100% spot on - Granny (or Mammaw in my family) makes her own rules!

I’m sending this to my kids. Do not mess with Grandmother 😊 especially on Thanksgiving Day

Matt,spoken like a true Southerner. Every thing you said is absolutely 💯 true and a fact. I do believe these are actually laws in southern state 😅.

Hahaha! I make the dressing for 80 people so… I’m gonna start baking and freezing cornbread tomorrow!

Happy Friday Matt. Another possible commandment when dipping the turkey in the deep fryer stay far away when it is dipped or be prepared for a hospital stay when you receive 3rd degree burns from the splatter oil.

I've spent most of my life eating my Thanksgiving din on the arm of the couch as my table and now as an adult, I still sit on the couch. This spares me the need to answer nosey people's questions at the adult table and I get to watch tv instead of chit-chat about crap I don't care about...

I've lived in Alabama my entire life, and every year after Thanksgiving, my Mom would have 3 or 4 of the big empty tubs of butter that she used as bowls to put leftovers in. How many containers of butter do you have to open before you find the butter?

Growing up all we had was canned cranberry sauce, and I could stand it. But my uncle married a Cajun, and she introduced me to homemade cranberry sauce. Buddy it’s so good!

My cousin and my mom got into it one Thanksgiving and within about 3 seconds Grandma had already come from the other side of the house with a "NOT IN MY HOUSE, NOT ON THANKSGIVING. FIGURE IT OUT OR GET OUT." I had never seen grandma yell before that and never want to again. And the last rule is definitely true, every year we have someone be it a veteran friend of my grandpas who talks to nobody and sits in his room with him all day then disappears or the psuedo family that just shows up every year because they have nowhere else to go. Its Thanksgiving and grandmas door is always open on thanksgiving.

You are so right about the Cornbread dressing. It’s taken my wife 40 years to perfect the Cornbread dressing…and yes it’s more important than the Turkey !!!

The Moment you mentioned the Country Crock container I said "there's baked beans in there"

STANDING OVATION! I'M STILL CLAPPING!!!!🙌

Thank you for this advice. My family and I just moved to the south a few months ago. Things are very different from where we came from. Although nobody has invited us to Thanksgiving, nor do we have family to go be with, I'll be sure to remember this list should we suddenly find ourselves at somebody else's Thanksgiving.

Chinet plates should at minimum be doubled due the psi load stress levels placed. And don't bother using those silly generic paper plaes!! And specially if there's no second's "and I'm not mentioning any names". Thanks Matt and everyone for another wonderful Thanksgiving.

YUP! My Mom starts prepping on Tuesday and cooking on Wednesday Night. On Thanksgiving morning, the dishes go in the oven or the fridge. Luckily, my parents have a double oven so she can get everything done. Tradition!

Loved the video, but I am curious as to why you didn't mention anything about deviled eggs.

I sat on a piano stool many times, sitting at the card table.

Lol, that Country Crock container. You know he's right. ☺️

I wish this was a part of my studies for my bachelors degree. It’s important knowledge everyone should know! So thank you!!🙏🏻👏🏻👍🏻💜

Whoever likes the dish the most, makes it. If you can't cook, you're learning. I demolish a full loaf of monkey bread every year, somewhere around 15-16 my granny asked me to make two, she couldn't move her hands like she used to for the prep, and she wanted me to have a full loaf to myself that year, for my birthday. So i did. I ain't never seen my granny prouder than when everyone complimented that monkey bread, said it was the best they'd had, and she got to tell them i made it.

I would kill to eat Thanksgiving dinner at 2pm. My wife's family eats around 6 even though everybody arrives around 1 oclock. I'm ready to start eating my arm by 3 o'clock.

Oh, Matt. This was spot on. On every single talking point. Thanks, and we love you! ❤

I honestly didn't think you could outdo your football clips, but this is awesome and perfect!! ❤

If you have any grandmas, great aunts, or other elderly relatives that make special dishes for holidays, MAKE SURE YOU ASK THEM FOR THE RECIPES!!!!! Many delicious and irreplaceable recipes have been lost because everyone thought the maker would be around forever 😢.

No lie every Thanksgiving I have family that will borderline fight each other for that homemade Apple Butter and Jelly which is always funny to watch despite there being like 3-4 mason jars of that stuff. Though after my grand ma died a few years back I ended up having to be the one that makes it since me and one of my cousins are the only ones she taught how to make it.

This is the absolute facts 💯😂😂. Absolutely love your videos 😍

I had the honor of getting a southern thanksgiving once, I couldn’t move I was so full, so much damn good food and good people, I was in heaven man

The 11th Commandment of Southern Thanksgiving: Dinner will be over by 3:15 Central Time to provide Granny a chance to start the dishwasher before the Cowboys game... and you'd better not take her recliner. She earned it just like she earned her nap during the 2nd Quarter. But you'd better wake her up for the Halftime Show... especially this year- It's Dolly!

Breach any of the 10 Commandments and prepare to have your heart blessed to braking point.

You nailed it! My Aunt Lou and Uncle Billy (siblings) had an annual argument about how much sage goes in the cornbread dressing. We looked forward to it.

Several years ago, my niece decided to get married, outdoors, in the mountains, on thanksgiving Friday. Thanksgiving, itself, to be celebrated on location. We both catered the reception and we also made thanksgiving meal for 120. While camping. Outside, camping, thanksgiving meal for 120. We deep fried 15 turkeys. Cast iron Dutch ovens everywhere. It was quite a spread, and an impressive achievement.

The one thing I looked forward to every year, for as long as I can remember, was my Gami's cornbread dressing. The best tasting food I've ever eaten. This'll be our 2nd thanksgiving without her and even though my aunt's comes close, it's just not the same.

Perfect commandments. Happy Thanksgiving!! 🍂🦃

Dude! The Egg Bowl is no joke. Nobody...I mean NOBODY hates each other like Miss State and Ole Miss come Thanksgiving time

Well kids, I am the official Granny that cooks for 30 family members every year from scratch. Every word is true, but in my home (was raised Old World Southern!) we wouldn't be caught dead using paper products at Thanksgiving! To this day, I would set fine china, crystal, and silver out with a floral arrangement and candles in the. I have a full set of china for every holiday! I cooked for a solid week in prep. but this year, I am ill and not able to do it. Everyone said they wanted to go to someone else's house so this year, I am not cooking. Just doesn't feel right. But your video made me smile. Happy Thanksgiving Yall.

This one is spot on. Especially the dressing/stuffing debate. My bf is from Alaska. He was used to STUFFING, in the bird. This Southern girl doesn't play that unless I have no choice (meaning I am helping cook in someone else's house). No, we'd be having DRESSING, I explained. He wasn't sure about that, he said, but he'd try it. One taste of my mom's dressing and he was converted. Now that we have been guests at a couple of other Southern homes, he is a changed man. He often does the big grocery trip for holidays (he is actually quite helpful and pretty good at the grocery shopping). Now he always reminds me to put down the ingredients for dressing.

For me ... the honor is for the one making the fresh gravy. That is my favorite by far. I may be the only one that tries to use a straw at the table and it is for the gravy. MMMmmm ... good stuff.

Last year, I had to endure a thanksgiving dinner which was only seasoned with garlic salt. Gluten free stuffing was used as well as I was denied making my homemade cornbread dressing. This was at my now ex fiancé’s mothers house AND SHE’S FROM OKLAHOMA!!!!

Matt takes me back to a childhood memory so many times🙌

We have similar rules for Cheusok (Korean thanksgiving), but you are observing this holiday for three days. If you aren’t cooking, helping with prep, or bussing food to whatever space is available, you stay out of the cooking area or you will be trampled and shoved around. Your plate or bowl will never be empty for more than 5 seconds before another mountain of food is plopped on. You will have enough butane canisters and charcoal to run an army for several months or you will run out and may god help you if you run out. Depending on the size of the gathering you will consume at least one large animal or a quarter of a large farm. Either way you will eat very well for three days straight.

This is incredibly accurate as usual 😂

In charge of the solo cups!! 😂

Marvelous vid, Matt. My family includes a child who grew up on packaged stuffing, so they still get a bowl of it, right next to the cornbread dressing.

"They just called it stuff" 😂

Laughing because this was not only true, but also funny (maybe that's the same thing?)! I would add that you better find out whether Granny thinks the green bean casserole should or shouldn't have the crunchy onion stuff on top, or whether (not if!) the marshmallows atop the sweet potato casserole should be the mini size or the regular size. You don't want to make Granny angry....

They named it "stuff". Cracked. Me. Up.

Matt, you forgot. . .YA GOTTA HAVE GOOD GRAVY TO GO OVER THE DRESSING!!!! One year my sister invited us to her house for Tday. She cooked a turkey but had some jars of store bought gravy sitting there ready to be microwaved… and I almost fainted. She had loads of pan drippings and I offered to make gravy for her. She ended up racing to her bedroom in tears because I had insulted “her cooking.” Good grief, we had some drama but we also had some delicious homemade gravy to cover that dressing and dry white meat. Good gravy can fix a Chinet platter full of miscues. Happy Turkey Day!

You better get that sage and poultry seasoning in the first week of November!