I tried both assigned seating and open seating at Thanksgiving, one was chaos

Last year we let everyone sit wherever and my uncle ended up next to my mom who brought up his divorce settlement in front of his new girlfriend. It was brutal, three hours of passive aggressive comments and people hiding in the kitchen. This year I made a seating chart on a napkin the night before, put the loud talkers at opposite ends and sat the kids between the two feuding cousins. Total difference, dinner lasted 45 minutes longer and nobody stormed out. I even labeled place cards with sharpie on paper plates, cost me nothing. My aunt said it felt like a wedding reception but in a good way. Has anyone else fixed a family dinner just by controlling who sits where, or is my family uniquely broken?

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