I like to visualize the holiday celebration before it happens. That way I know what I need to do to prepare. The Thanksgiving holiday this year will be similar and different than years past. What's similar is that my home will be filled with family members and friends. We'll have the traditional turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, squash, mashed potatoes, green beans, and pie dinner, and we will also have our traditional post-Thanksgiving hike and leftovers. Similarly, we'll take down the Christmas decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving, choose a tree, decorate the house, and celebrate a family member's birthday with a nice lunch in Boston.
What's different will be the make-up of the crowd. While our home will welcome friends and family, the exact friends and family members who will come will differ somewhat due to many varying reasons.
What do I need to do to prepare?
Set up
I'll set a big, long table and likely an extra table too. So far, we have a group of 14 with a likely 6-8 more. Our extended table sits about 14 so I'll likely set up a card table as well to seat the remaining people. At the start of November, I'll reach out to those who haven't responded to the invitation yet to see if they are coming or not.
I'll make place cards for the table so that everyone has a seat. I debate the use of place cards every year, but in general, I find it helpful to know where you are sitting. I also like to give family members who require a special kind of seating, a good place to sit at the Thanksgiving table. I also like to be in ready distance to the kitchen so I can manage the meal.
We have a few holiday decorations that we'll place around the house, and I'll have gifts wrapped and ready to go for family members that we don't see over Christmas due mostly to distance.
As my mother-in-law always did, I'll organize the dishes, silverware, place settings and more the week before Thanksgiving so we're ready to go. I also have to iron the napkins and decide on table cloths.
Food prep
Prior to the holiday, I'll make some pie crusts. I'll purchase a couple frozen turkeys the weekend before the holiday, and allow those turkeys to defrost in the fridge until Thanksgiving. I'll buy the fixings for the green bean casserole, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, apple pie, pumpkin pie or pumpkin chiffon pie, ice cream, and stuffing too. As the date gets closer I'll review my cooking post from Thanksgiving past to get a good timeline for preparation. The day before, I will cook one turkey and prepare the gravy the day before. I will also make an apple crumble pie and pumpkin chiffon pie. I'll prepare the squash too. The next day I'll cook another turkey and prepare mashed potatoes and place them in a crock pot. I'll also prepare a sweet potato dish, the stuffing, and green bean casserole.
Hike and leftovers
We'll consider the many hiking trails near our home and choose one. I already have good plates for leftovers.
I'll update this list in the days to come.
