My favorite Thanksgiving tradition from childhood might not be to everyone's taste. Instead of the parade, we'd watch monster movies. Channel 9 out of Jersey and channel 11 out of NYC went head to head in a monster movie triple feature. One played King Kong, Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young every year, the other countered with three more or less random Godzilla movies. The challenge was deciding what to watch. The second two hour block always went to Godzilla, 'cause Son of Kong sucks. But King Kong and Mighty Joe Young are powerful good movies, no matter how many times you see them. But some of the Godzilla movies might be things you hadn't seen in years. The pressure would occasionally just melt my poor little brain. And if King Kong vs. Godzilla was up against Mighty Joe Young, all bets were off. We'd wear out the remote changing back and forth. Good times, good times.
As for actual, you know, meal related advice, your three dinner idea sounds like a great time, but my advice is not to kill yourself. Too often I've seen the hosts go overboard with this sort of thing to the point that they can't actually enjoy the day themselves. My favorite Thanksgivings have always been the ones that had plenty of good food - doesn't much matter what kind - that I could spend with family and friends. No pomp and circumstance or fancy stuff needed.