Back in September, Minnesota's bachelor governor described some sad Thanksgiving plans.

Just him, his dogs, and a microwave, he said, just like every night. Dayton said with a smile that would make no exceptions for Thanksgiving, "unless someone wants to invite me somewhere, which happens rarely, but we will see."

But Dayton's plans have become a lot warmer.

"I'm having Thanksgiving dinner at the Governor's Residence with an extended family of my sons, Eric and Andrew, and Alida Messinger and her husband Bill and Bill's daughter and two of his grandchildren. So, they'll be nine of us in all," Dayton told the Star Tribune Friday.

Messinger is Dayton's ex-wife and a considerable donor to philanthropic and political causes. She and the governor have remained close since their 1986 divorce.