Growing up we would do family style at my grandma's house - about 18 people. 6 of us kids at one table, 12 at the grownup table. Everything was served on the good china and silver from the China cabinet, and the food was loaded into bowls and platters and passed around. There was even gravy boats and butter dishes for each table lol
Then the family started to grow....my mom is the oldest of 7, so once her siblings and my sisters and i started to grow up and get married/have kids - (all my sister's and I have kids older than my youngest two aunts and uncles' kids), we blossomed into 25...30...40....45 people, so we switched to buffet style with paper plates.
I really miss being at my grandmas house when i was a little kid. There was just something about being there that was so comforting. Now my own mother refuses to spend holidays with us, so my sisters and I plan our own holidays together. My kids look super forward to them, so I'm glad about that since they really dont' have grandparents willing to spend time with them. And my MIL's favorite holiday dinner conversation topics revolve around either disgusting bodily fluids/functon stories, which relative's boyfriend is in jail, or the ("thank the lord for providing") minimum wage job the latest 19 year old baby daddy is working, so we really don't take our kids to her house ever, much less the holidays.