Sorry I’ve been missing in action the past week – lots going on – work stuff, church stuff, fun stuff – but anyway, I’m back! And October is almost over! Which means Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
I’m kind of a Thanksgiving veteran at this point. It’s been “my” holiday for a long time, and I love it! That being said, I realize many people are hosting dinner for the first time or the first time in a long time and are probably starting to freak out a little bit thinking about it. Here are some of my best tips and tricks for making sure you feel thankful and not just stressed!
First, plan and invite whoever you want to have for dinner. Don’t assume people know they’re invited – we made that mistake once with my brother-in-law and his family. We figured they’d know we were having it and they were invited, but when we called at about dinner time to see if they were stuck in traffic, we found out that they didn’t know they were invited and decided to do their own thing. OOPS!
Once you have an idea how many people you’re having, it’s time to start thinking about food. I assume you know what you like and what your family normally has for Thanksgiving dinner, but especially if this is your first time doing Thanksgiving because you’re in a new relationship, check what your partner’s family always did. You may think “of course we’re having sweet potatoes”, but there are lots of ways to make sweet potatoes – mashed (with or without marshmallows), baked with butter and brown sugar, sweet potato pie, baked, and so on! They may always have a ham with (or instead of ) the turkey. You may well end up with two kinds of sweet potatoes or green beans or something for the first year or two, but that’s better than disappointing people.
Also, if you’re people are bringing guests, check what they eat. You don’t want to make a pecan pie as your only dessert if your daughter’s boyfriend has a nut allergy, and if your friend-of-a-friend-with-nowhere-to-go is a vegetarian, it would only be nice to have something besides turkey, turkey gravy, sausage stuffing, and brussels sprouts with bacon!
Once you have those basic things out of the way, planning Thanksgiving dinner is much like planning any other dinner, just more of it! You’ll need something for people to nibble on when they get there, an appetizer or first course of some type (if your family does that or you just feel like it), the main course, which in this case is usually turkey, some kind of starch (stuffing/dressing, potato, and/or sweet potato) potato, vegetable, and dessert. Where you go from there is up to you, the number of people you’re having, and the size of your kitchen and oven! Seriously, think about that, especially when you’re deciding how large a turkey to get – it has to fit in your fridge and in your oven!
When talking about turkeys, I strongly recommend getting a fresh turkey rather than a frozen one. I find they cook better and you don’t have to try to figure out how to defrost it, which is never a fun process. Also, if you’re having a large crowd, I’d suggest making a turkey breast earlier in the week to supplement a normal-size turkey instead of trying to cook a 20+ pounder. The first year I did Thanksgiving, I read something, probably printed by the Large Turkey Farmers of America (ha ha), that said to allow a pound and a half of meat per person. I was having 18 people, and you should have seen me driving to every store on Long Island looking for a 27-pound turkey! I think the biggest one I found was 25 pounds, but it took forever to cook and once it was in the oven, there was no room for anything else!
Speaking of ovens, don’t get too worried if you have a small oven – I’ve done Thanksgiving in apartment-size ovens (and apartment-size kitchens) and it is possible! Get up early, prepare your vegetables on the stove top, and put them in oven-safe dishes (even if that’s not what you’re planning to serve them in). Cover them with foil and once the turkey comes out, you can pop them in to heat up (you can stack them dishes with cookie sheets in-between if necessary). Keep your bird covered in foil after it comes out of the oven and serve with hot gravy and everyone will be happy.
Two other things that will help save your time and sanity: doing as much as possible in advance and asking people to bring things! People always want to bring something when they visit someone’s house, and if your new partner says it’s not Thanksgiving without apple pie, which you’ve never made in your life, this is a good chance to get in good with your mother-in-law by asking her to make her “famous” apple pie. If people ask “what can I bring” and you have the food under control, there’s always flowers (one less thing to think about) or wine/liquor (one less thing to buy, especially when someone drinks something you don’t and you’re going to be stuck with Uncle Bob’s gin until next Thanksgiving). As far as doing as much as possible in advance, while obviously there are things you have to wait to do, if your desserts are done by Wednesday night, that’s a whole course you don’t have to worry about on Thursday morning.
Also, except for the bathrooms, which you’ll want to do day-of after everyone’s showered, try to make sure your house is clean before Thursday morning. Is it possible to wait? Sure it is, but do you really want to be either vacuuming or yelling at someone to vacuum a half-hour before your guests are scheduled to arrive? And even if you don’t want help in the kitchen before dinner, always accept offers to clean up! By the time dinner is over, you’ll be tired and the last thing you want to do is deal with a pile of dirty dishes! I try to clean as I go Thanksgiving morning, which is helpful, but there are always dishes to be done, even if you have a dishwasher, so let people help. You should keep an eye on where they’re putting things away though – I’ve thought I lost things and then realized the “kitchen crew” put them where they thought they should go, which was not where I would ever look for them. You don’t have to correct them at the time, but awareness helps. 🙂
Hopefully these tips have you a little less stressed thinking about the Big Day! Coming soon…recipes for some of my family’s Thanksgiving favorites!
