Monthly Musings: Thanksgiving Prep

 It's the last Thursday of the month and time to link up with Holly and Patty for their Monthly Musing series.  I'm sure at least a few of these questions overlap other Q&A type posts I've done through the years but I hope you don't mind.  


1. I do host Thanksgiving and only can remember about 3 or 4 years where I haven't ever since my husband and I bought our first house while still in college.  It's a lot of work but I just love Thanksgiving. 

2. I make ALL the dishes!  Typically I make a turkey,  mashed potatoes, stuffing, butternut squash, a green veggie like green beans or broccoli, rolls/bread, possibly a tossed salad, usually a pumpkin pie, an apple pie, a chocolate chip pecan pie and then I buy ice cream, caramel, whipped cream, cranberry sauce, and gravy.   This year I'm thinking of making up some cookies too.. but we'll see. 

3. I have so many favorite Thanksgiving dishes and I have shared just about all of them on my blog through the years-- mashed potatoes (here), chocolate chip pecan pie (here), my mom's apple pie recipe (here), my favorite bread stuffing (here)... but my husband and mine's all time favorite is actually a dish we make with the leftovers for the day AFTER thanksgiving ingeniously called "leftover pie" (here)







4. Most of our traditions have fallen by the wayside now that all my boys are getting older but one thing remains the same-- after Thanksgiving dinner when we're all cleaned up and ready to relax the whole family sits down to watch Elf together and that kind of finishes up our fall and starts our Christmas celebration. 



5. I had to google to find out the difference between stuffing and dressing!  And while we have always called it "stuffing" we don't stuff anything in our house so I guess we make bread dressing?! 

I do, however, always quarter an apple, halve a lemon, and quarter an onion and stuff all of that along with a few sprigs of rosemary inside the cavity of the bird. It smells amazing and I feel like those flavors to leak into the meat of the bird a bit.  

6. We have all 3 pies at our table but I only eat the pecan and the apple.  

7. This is one holiday where I do set the table and we eat a bit more formally but it's easy to do when we only invite 3 or 4 others to join us and we can all fit around the dining room table easily.  I like to set my table a day or two in advance so it's one less thing to do on the actual day. 

I can tell this table photo is an old one since the boys have plastic cups! 

We still use these same Pier One imports place settings/ napkin rings and our old cloth napkins I bought in college (though I am on the hunt for a replacement pair for this year!)

8. Gosh, I don't even think of beverages! LOL.  Usually me and my boys all drink water and I make sure I have coffee on hand for the grandparents (though my mom usually provides that).  We're a pretty boring family drink-wise.

9. I do not shop Black Friday and avoid going anywhere near the stores the entire weekend.  We use Friday to put up our tree and our decorations instead.

10.  We don't watch any sports games of any kind any time of the year but as you've already heard Thanksgiving night does kick off our holiday movie season!.. and I just realized my last "favorite holiday movie" post was back in 2016 and includes so many cartoons and kids shows we no longer watch so I'll have to do an updated list soon!!  

Linking up with: Thinking Out Loud, 












Comments

  1. Thanks for joining us today. I would love to see an updated holiday movie list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll definitely put one together within the next month!

      Delete
  2. All of your food looks delish! I love your Elf tradition to cap off Fall and start the Christmas holidays.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok I think when I said pecan pie as a choice I was thinking of one of Alec's pies- ha! I definitely need to try that pecan chocolate chip one- looks and sounds amazing! We watch Christmas Vacation Thanksgiving Night- that's our newish little tradition BUT as you may have read, we start decorating at the end of October now ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We watch Christmas Vacation the next night while we decorate our tree.

      Delete
  4. Your post is making me hungry! It sounds like you've got hosting down to a science. We usually do Thanksgiving with hubby's family so it's a big crowd 20-30 people so it's daunting to host it. We might be hosting this year though so I need to get ready. Luckily we don't have to make it all. I like that everyone has a seat at the table so I hope it's not a huge crowd this year. I love your Elf tradition too. We start the holiday season after Thanksgiving too and I usually have a tree or two up but not decorated, just the lights are on for Thanksgiving. Then we start decorating the next day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to host huge holidays like that for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Christmas day when my kids were little and I reached my breaking point a few years back when we were homeschooling too... it just got to be too much and I quit hosting anything at all for a few years then we slowly began hosting again but only inviting small groups over. I feel like I get to actually visit and see people and enjoy it now.

      Delete
  5. This is such fun. My big on TG is using my Johnson Brothers "His Majesty" turkey dishes. I'm much more into them than the food! But it's a mellow holiday and I like that a lot. I never know where we'll be till right before -- and somehow that works!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do like that it's a more laid back holiday that really is just about good food and family.

      Delete
  6. I love Thanksgiving food. We call it stuffing too but don't make it stuffed into anything!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do remember not liking much of anything as a kid but now I love ALL the Thanksgiving dishes.

      Delete
  7. I am getting excited for all the festive foods!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the idea of the Leftover Turkey Pie!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is SO good! I seriously look more forward to that than the actual meal on Thanksgiving. Everything is hot ready at the exact same time. LOL

      Delete
  9. Everything looks delicious Joanne! I always cooked Thanksgiving through the years and sometimes had 30- people over --both sides of our families! It's a big job but I loved it. Our daughter's birthday was close to Thanksgiving so we always celebrated her birthday that day too, with an ice cream cake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to have a huge crowd like that too (with mostly just my side of the family!). It was a big job. How fun to celebrate her birthday on Thanksgiving!

      Delete
  10. I love the idea of Thanksgiving but it's not a holiday over her in the UK. Hmmf. The food looks and sounds amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really is a day to just pig out and relax with family... I mean I know it has more meaning than that but it's basically what everyone does. LOL

      Delete
  11. This was fun to read Joanne. We are going to have TDay at our house this year, but I think it'll be more of a potluck. As for shopping, I don't like the crowds, but we LOVE to support the small businesses on Small Business Saturday. This year we are going to visit some thrift stores that we've never been to.
    XOXO
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I very rarely leave the house at all that whole Thanksgiving weekend... we're usually pretty busy decorating!

      Delete
  12. That menu sounds so good! Sounds like a great way to spend the holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can't believe you make all of that yourself, Joanne! Wow!! The last few years, we have ordered a smoked turkey. That makes it so much easier on everyone. And, since I'm the only one who likes dressing (that's what we've always had though my MIL made true stuffing), it doesn't get made. Would you believe I've never had pecan pie? It's my husband's favorite so I always get one. I just don't need to discover I really like it! And, I love Black Friday shopping. I've done it every year except the Covid years. It's one tradition we've kept since my kids were in strollers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I went Black Friday shopping once... and really it was late Thanksgiving day back when Cricut products were new and Michael's had them all 1/2 price or maybe it was B1G1... I went and bought one of every single one they had in stock (for myself!). LOL

      Delete
  14. Your food looks delicious and the table setting is lovely. We have little kids at our table, so it is never fancy. We also watch Elf every year!

    ReplyDelete
  15. My mom makes a turkey pot pie (and a veggie one for me) out of our Christmas turkey dinner and it is so good!!! Lots of gravy is the key!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That does sound delicious and I agree lots of gravy is key (funny enough that's the only way I ever event eat turkey-- in a pot pie).

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Share Our Lives: 5 Items I Can't Live Without

Prime Purchases in February 2023

Let's Look At... Our Grocery haul