Thanksgiving on the Brain

Our Thanksgiving hat - worn by whoever chooses to, and whenever - very flattering

 This time of year I have miscellaneous thoughts regarding Thanksgiving running through my head, like 97% of the women I know.

Here's what's on my mind:

I bought a little book a few years ago - Thanksgiving by Sam Sifton.  A sweet little book on how to cook everything the meal entails. Answers absolutely any question you might have on putting together the meal, from thawing the bird to setting the table. Small enough to tuck away with the good tablecloth and electric knife and pull out this time every year. Highly recommend it.

We have the frozen hard as a rock turkey in the garage freezer. I read recently to allow one day per 4 lbs of bird to thaw it, unlike whatever they put on the outside of the turkey. If you don't want to have to stick the turkey in the bathtub - which has always seemed bothersome to me, to thaw the bird where backsides and feet were a mere 24 hours earlier - then follow this rule. Our rules for turkey are that it has to have a pop up timer, and it must start with the number 2 regarding weight, so at 20 lbs + we need to move him from the freezer to the fridge by this Sunday, at the latest. Unlike the 2-3 days they recommend. 

I have memories of many holidays with a turkey in the bathtub the day before Thanksgiving, then waking up on Thanksgiving morning to a house filled with that roasting smell. My mother had already been up for hours, getting the bird in.

Side thought: My word, how tired my mother must have always been. Six kids in seven years, four of them hooligan boys, laundry out the wazoo and nothing was permanent press back then. I so wish I could go back and thank her for all her hard work and continual lack of sleep. 

Does anyone smoke their turkey? Fry it? I'm intrigued by this as it would get the men involved in the cooking and clear the oven out for all those other dishes. 

One of my daughters told me her oldest son HATES to be stuck at the kid table. Does anyone else do a 'kid table'? We have three leaves that can be aded to our 60" table, each at 12" so each leaf would seat two more people - one on each side. Since we have 6 grandkids here in Idaho, I'm thinking we can put all 12 of us around the table. 

HOW FUN WOULD THAT BE?! I can somewhat envision mashed potatoes flying, but it would be fun. And memorable. And together, which is what Thanksgiving is all about.

If we didn't do that, shove them all around it, I'm thinking the rule of 'if you have your driver's license you can sit at the big table'. That seems fair to me.

But all of us around the same one would be more fun. 

Then there's the question of do we invite anyone? We've invited non-family a few times, and the family overall didn't love it, but we have fun memories of those holidays. This year we're going family only, but I hate knowing there are people new to our church, or our neighborhood who don't have family living by them. Not that everyone would want to jump into the middle of our crazy day. 

We've got a cultural dilemma regarding stuffing, or dressing. I was raised with cornbread dressing, and my husband grew up with bread dressing. Inside the bird. Has anyone heard of half and half dressing? A mixture of each thrown together? Or do I just make a pan of each? It's hard to cook something your heart isn't into. 

Which is why I don't EVER cook liver. It's hard enough to make it edible when you do like it, so I don't even try. 

Maybe, just maybe I need to up my game on the cornbread dressing. Throw a lb of sausage in it and make it so wonderful he'll be won over.....

There's also the question of giblets - yes or no. Anyone who really takes a look at them would vote no, and there's no disguising them. The gravy has lumps if you add them. But men seem to prefer to include them. I used to throw them away immediately, but have included them in recent years, just not taking a close look at them until they're cooked, then mincing them up into teensy little pieces so they're unrecognizable.

But the haters can still feel the bumps. 

Also, those jars of gravy fly off the shelves, so somebody is buying them. Anyone admit to that? My father taught me to make gravy when I was about 13, but it's a lost art these days.

Costco has pumpkin pies about as big as the hubcap on a F-150 truck for $12.00. Is it worth actually cooking one? I'm leaning towards Costco. Covered with cool whip, nobody will know the difference.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade may be one of my top five favorite events to watch on television every year. Only topped by watching the ball drop in Time's Square and the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's Day. I know who truly loves me by seeing who shows up at our house to watch the parade with me. Not many. 

Thanksgiving mornings are made better by homemade cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole. It also keeps everyone filled up until dinner is ready. We tend to eat mid-afternoon, and I can make the rolls and casserole the day before. Easy peasy. 

I've only shopped one on Black Friday. How about anyone else? Yes to Black Friday or no? And do you go out Thanksgiving afternoon, when the sales actually begin? The day after Thanksgiving, home in my pajamas, is one of my favorites. To get up and leave the day after, while it's still dark, and stand in line with people feverish over sales - that sounds about as much fun as volunteering to go through childbirth again. 

Does anyone else do activities? Make everyone around the table say what they're most thankful for? (A tradition I love but many don't). I saw this game mentioned on Facebook, as being specifically to counteract today's society where everyone is 'friends' on social media but doesn't talk face to face. This 'game' was designed to counteract it. $20.00 on Amazon. 

We do have a little navy blue book from when the kids were little, that we kept up through their teenage years. Everyone had to write in it, and while they hated it at the time, I treasure the words written there. Even if my husband's answer was beyond inappropriate one year. The kids really like that one now that they all know what he meant. 

Back to food - our menu will be finalized this weekend, when our two girls come to our house for our annual slumber party. So far we've got:

Turkey

Dressing (which kind is undecided)

Mashed potatoes - 10 lbs worth

Sweet potato casserole - not sure if it's marshmallow or pecans as I don't make it

Broccoli casserole, a relatively new addition to our menu but we eat every bite

Gravy - homemade

Cranberry sauce - our family does the wiggly out-of-the-can kind

Rolls - usually store bought

At least two pies and another dessert probably

What are we forgetting? 

Green bean casserole. Can't have Thanksgiving without it at our house. 

That's what's on my mind these days. Thanksgiving is 8 days away, time to get shopping and chopping.