Note: Thanksgiving 2025 was marked with many personal and extended family blessings. Sadly, on the national level, there is great inhumanity and terror promoted by our President, his administrative team, and his supporters in Congress and The Supreme Court. However, for this update, I want to focus on the Thanksgiving celebration with a review of what worked and what I'd like to improve on next time.
Thanksgiving is a week-and-a-half away, and there's lots to do in order to host a warm and tasty celebration. Planning ahead is recommended!
Here's the list:
Monday: pick up necessary items, continue house clean-up/organization
Tuesday: prep yard
Wednesday-Friday: More clean-up/organization, prep gifts including photos for guests, make cranberry breads. Groceries:
- buy ice cream, crackers, milk, spices
- buy ground coffee
- buy items for Charcuterie board
Saturday: Take turkeys out of the freezer, pick up bread at Stearns Farm (The sourdough bread I bought from Grace Bread made great stuffing!)
Sunday: more clean-up/organization
Monday: set table
Tuesday: Review list, make sure you have all the items needed
- Make Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cheesecake and pies - desserts in general were not as popular as the meal itself, however having 5 desserts including a savory cake, pumpkin cheesecake and three pies: pecan, apple, and pumpkin was just right for the meal and leftovers.
- Make pumpkin pie
- Make apple pie
- Prep veggies for
- Prep squash by cutting it up
- Prep beets
- Prep stuffing ingredients
- Prep coffee pot - using good coffee is important - I didn't think the coffee I used this year was the best.
Preparing what you can ahead of time definitely helps!
Wednesday: pick up a guest in the morning, buy breads, and cook/prep the following:
- pick up bread, drop off breads - the breads from Darby's were great for leftover sandwiches
- Cook turkey one, slice, put slices in refrigerator - Cooking one turkey ahead of time and making the gravy worked very well. Without the rush, I could concentrate on making good gravy and cooking the turkey just-right. I used the Fanny Farmer cookbook method of cooking the turkey with breast down for the first 1.5 hours, then continuing at 15 min a pound until the bird was 157 degrees--then I let the turkey rest about 45 minutes before carving. It was super moist. I also basted every 20 minutes beginning with a butter/water mixture. I filled the cavity with a homemade poultry spice mix, onions, celery, and parsley and cooked in a nice, large pan. I trussed the turkey with string before cooking to make a compact bird for cooking.
- Make gravy, put in refrigerator I made a part-giblet gravy by boiling, then simmering the neck, heart, and gizzards of the turkey for about 45 minutes and using that stock, in part, for the gravy. I made a roux with about 3tbs of flour to 4 tbs of oily drippings and butter together. Then I added the equivalent of 4 cups of stock including the giblet broth and stirred for about 3 minutes, then simmered for another 10 or so until the gravy was just right. I added salt and pepper taste.
- Make chocolate-caramel topping for pumpkin cheese cake - This was a bit time consuming, but came out as expected.
- I made the sweet potato casserole a day early and it was very nice. I sliced 1/4 inch rounds with skin, layered in pan like scalloped potatoes and covered with an orange juice, orange zest, butter, salt and pepper mix, then cooked covered with tin foil for 30 minutes and uncovered for another 30. I added a layer of butter, brown sugar and crushed pecans, cooked a bit more then covered with tin foil and stored in fridge.
Thursday
- Placed cut-up squash and potatoes in the crock pot on high very early in the morning - starting at 6am for a 4pm dinner would work fine (I started earlier). When soft, I got rid of most of the water for the squash and all of the water for the mashed potatoes. I mashed the squash with a bit of butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and petter. I mashed the potatoes with a cup or so of warm milk, butter, salt and pepper. I left the potatoes a bit wet because they were staying in the crock pot for a while and I didn't want them to dry out. I cooked a bit more than one potato per person and two average size butternut squashes. I had lots of squash leftovers and a bit of potato leftovers. I did this early and by the time we had dinner at 3:30, all were just right.
- Make stuffing, cook early covered with tin foil at first, then opened up to brown under the broiler on low for a bit--this worked well. I put in fridge covered in tinfoil.
- Make green bean casserole, cook early in tinfoil, then open up, cover with more onions and broil on low, then put in fridge.
- Put gravy in small crock pot and keep warm - this worked well.
- 7:00 cook turkey 2, slice when done - put turkey slices in fridge, make more gravy.
- set serving table: olives, mustards, butter, beets, cream cheese. . . .I didn't buy quality olives and I have to throw them away since no one really liked them.
- prep onions - I could have done a better job here
- Make whipped cream
- 1ish I placed stuffing, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, then lowered the oven to warm where they cooked for another 2 hours and 10 minutes--they were warm and delicious by serving time. Next time I'd add about 1/2 the meat at the last hour or so to warm up.
- Start coffee - I started the coffee too early, I wish I started it one hour before company came.
- 1:15 Put together appetizer platter - people enjoyed the variety of cheeses, good crackers, and nuts--sone of the other appetizers were less eaten.
- 2:00 put apps out, put nuts out. . . .
- 3:30 put foods on table, put pies in oven to warm and any pies that should be warm. Put ice cream in fridge to soften a bit. At first, I forgot to bring the cranberry relish a family member made. We passed it around -- there are so many foods that you have to stay focused to include all. The meal included the following very good and traditional assortment:
- Turkey
- Sour dough celery stuffing
- Squash (some from my garden)
- Mashed potatoes
- Gravy
- Boiled onions
- Homemade cranberry relish
- Green bean casserole with beens from my garden (I froze them during the summer months)
- Candied, scalloped sweet potatoes in an orange juice-butter-orange zest sauce with sugared, cinnamon pecans on top
- sweet bread assortment including pumpkin, cranberry, and corn bread
- delicious salad with homemade croutons
- olives/pickles
- butter
- all kinds of drinks including soft drinks, water, wine, and a signature cranberry cocktail
- 4ish toast, grace, eat - relax. One young family member made each person a cute turkey name card and added a Thanksgiving joke/riddle card for each person. During the dinner we read all the riddles--that was lots of fun.
- clean-up, put foods in easy to store dishes in fridge - everyone helped with clean-up and because much of the preparation was done ahead, the clean-up mostly included people's plates, glasses, silverware, and serving dishes.
- Serve desserts/coffee by way of a dessert buffet
- Play games, talk, watch football. . . . . I simply ran out of steam by the after-dinner frivolity--I got up too early. I could have accomplished this without getting up so early. I was also in charge of an elderly family member who needed a great deal of support. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't volunteer to both host the dinner and care for the elderly person the same time. Instead I would do one or the other, yet my family member, overall, was happy to be here and was well-received by all.
Friday
- Put gifts in family room so I don't forget to give them out.
- Put out sweet breads, breads, cereal, fruits, and make fresh coffee for guests
- Family hike in beautiful location. Bring leftovers to family member who could not come to Thanksgiving dinner
- Leftovers - put out leftovers, let people make sandwiches, plates for lunch
- Gifts for those we won't see at Christmas
- Relax, clean up house
Saturday
- Perhaps buy Christmas tree, decorate for Christmas
Sunday
- Birthday lunch out for family member - holiday lights
Post from Thanksgiving past: https://parentpassion.blogspot.com/2022/11/thanksgiving-2022-recipes-and-prep.html
Toast:
Mike and I are grateful that you could all be here to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.
We are grateful for Thanksgivings past, and the love and traditions so many past and present have given to us. We remember those who are no longer with us especially our parents, siblings, and children who have passed away. Despite the challenges that exist, there are so many blessings in our midst including new babies, new schools and jobs, great relationships, beautiful homes, wonderful travels, and so many more gifts that we enjoy now and will enjoy in the year ahead. So with gratitude, let's raise our glasses to a wonderful Thanksgiving Celebration 2025 and many good days ahead.
And a traditional prayer for those who wish to participate:
