Top Ten Tips for Turkey Day

Hey Friends!

Today begins our friend-to-friend holiday recipe share-a-thon! My sweet P31 sisters will be sharing their recipes, holiday ideas, decorating and other tips from now until Christmas. And… as a special bonus, they will be sharing a few holiday disaster stories too. Hehehehehehe

Today I am thrilled to introduce you to my friend Marybeth. She is one cool momma! She has six children… yes… SIX children, and yet I rarely see her frazzled. Her house is always neat and organized (I haven’t looked inside the closets so I like to think she just shoves everything in there before my arrival… it makes me feel better about the condition of my closets!), and she always decorates perfectly. Her home is warm and inviting.

Oh… and she is the author of an amazing novel, The Mailbox. Truly… I couldn’t put it down! It’s a MUST read. Not just sayin’ that. It really is a MUST read. Really. Buy it now. Well… read her Top Ten Tips for Turkey Day first. Then buy her book. You will be very tired after cooking your Thanksgiving turkey. You will want to hunker down with a good book. This is that book. You will thank me.

A few weeks ago Marybeth shared her Top Ten Tips for Turkey Day on her blog, Cheaper by the Half Dozen. Today she is allowing me to share them with you. But… pop over to her site too. I know that Marybeth will have more to share with you on her home turf!

Top Ten Tips for Turkey Day

By Marybeth Whalen

1. Start planning your menu. There are lots of cooking magazines out right now which feature enticing Thanksgiving spreads. Why not pick one up for some inspiration and maybe even some new recipes that will become family traditions? I keep a “holiday” section in my recipe notebook, so that’s what I will be pulling out as I plan my menu. This is also the time to start working on your timing so that everything will be ready at the same time. Not as easy as it sounds! If you’re not cooking, maybe think of one thing you could make to contribute to wherever you are going.

2. Start your shopping. Our Thanksgiving meal is $100 in groceries easy. Why not break that up into little bits here and there when you make grocery runs? Using your menu you are planning, jot down nonperishable things you can buy ahead of time. You might want to go ahead and get your bird and tuck him away in the freezer!

3. A 14 pound turkey will need approximately 3.5 days to thaw in the fridge so go ahead and circle on the calendar the day you need to move Mr. Turkey from the freezer to the fridge. The rule of thumb is 24 hours for every 4 pounds. You also might want to check out the turkey producers’ websites for tips on cooking a turkey.

4. Start thinking about your table. How will you set it? Do you need a centerpiece? Extra utensils or plates? If you’re using your fine china, is it clean/polished/accounted for? Is there anything fun you want to do like the five kernels of corn or candles in clips on the plates? (This is featured in my ebook A Recipe For Christmas Joy.) I have special candle holders that clip onto the plates. We go around and light the candles and say what we’re thankful for. Everyone groans but I think they secretly like it.

5. You can even go ahead and set your table, laying the glasses down. Then gently cover the table with a bedsheet (clean) to protect everything.

6. Think of what you can make before and freeze– breads, some desserts, side dishes, etc. Saves time later!

7. Do you need a turkey roaster? A turkey baster? A meat thermometer? Extra serving pieces or storage containers for all those leftovers? Now’s the time to think through that and go ahead and purchase those things so you won’t be panicking and dashing around on the big day. (Though try as I may, there always seems to be something I send Curt out for that morning. I am always thankful to the grocery store for being open on Thanksgiving morning!!)

8. If you have guests coming, assign them what they need to bring enough in advance that they too can be purchasing and preparing ahead of time. Also think of anything fun you might want to do the day of. (I mean, other than watching the parades and football and perusing the sale ads…) Is there a parade in your area? Do you want to organize a football game in your neighborhood? Dads vs kids? Moms vs dads? We host a dessert open house on Thanksgiving night every year and invite friends to drop in. It’s way fun and has turned into a tradition we all enjoy.

9. Start looking through your recipes so you will know what to do with all those leftovers! Turkey burritos? Turkey soup? Turkey Tetrazzini?

10. With all of that done, you have more time to devote in November to being truly thankful. Maybe this week you will want to come up with a focused, intentional way to remember to be thankful all month long as you prepare your heart for Thanksgiving. One year we made a tree trunk from a paper grocery bag and I used a stencil to cut out different colored leaves. I told the children that all month long we were going to take a leaf and write what we were thankful for and put it on the tree. I called it our Tree of Thankfulness. That was a fun little activity and a great visual for the kids. Of course now they are teens and would scoff at such a display– but even just a pretty fall colored bowl with slips of paper that you add to all month, then read on Thanksgiving, is a good idea.

Sweetest Blessings,
LeAnn