On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 23:12:59 -0500, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>That doesn't really work well with a festive occasion. It is a shame to go to all the work to
>set a nice table and prepare a scrumptious looking roast with a fine presentation and then
>have to nuke it because on son and his family are always, always, always inexcusably late.

If your son and his family aren't the only guests, why wait? You know
they'll be late, because that's their MO - so don't try to change his
habits, change your own. QYB and eat. You can have dessert together,
if you don't insist on serving it as soon as your guests finish the
main meal.

OR you could plan to eat later.

Personally, we have relatives that are permanently off of and
invitation list that involves more than appetisers, because they
always called at the last minute to say someone was ill. It was the
old "my grandmother just died" ploy and there are only so many times
you can buy it. We finally made the decision that we didn't want to
deal with the aggravation of their last minute cancellations and what
amounted to over buying of food.