I find that cleaning and chopping vegetables always takes more time than I plan for so I do as much as I can the day before. I totally assemble the veg casserole the day before and put the topping on just before it goes in the oven. I have a recipe for make-ahead mashed potatoes that I like even better than freshly made! Cranberry sauce is tastier if made a few days early and allowed to sit. Even though I don't assemble the dressing until that day I have all of the veggies chopped (and this year I am adding sausage to the dressing and will pre-cook the sausage). Same thing with the salad - components all prepped and ready to assemble that day. I'm making a pumpkin trifle this year and will probably make the cake on Tuesday, assemble on Thursday. Butternut Squash Chowder will probably be prepared on Tuesday and reheated in a crock pot on Thursday. The bottom line is that if there is anything that can be made or prepped ahead of time, it should be. I find I do a lot more cooking the day before than actually on the holiday. Thanksgiving day I mostly throw stuff in the oven and make the turkey. The week before gather all of your serving pieces and label them with post-it notes as to which dish goes with what food. Set your table Tuesday. You can arrange the bar on Tuesday as well, except for ice. Skewer olives on plastic swords and place in a bowl, cover with water, refrigerate. Make lemon twists, dump in a glass and cover with a damp paper towel, refrigerate. I'll say it again - anything that can be done ahead of time should be! Lists are your best helper on days like these. Make them and use them! Also, I am not one to turn down an offer if someone likes to bring a dish. If your SIL wants to know what she can bring, tell her to do the sweet potatoes (or whatever). If you need table linens pressed or purchased, do it now! Plan your decorations and centerpiece this week as well. Candles? Candlesticks? Plan or order your flowers. Guest towels. Music. Kids games. Arrange or plan for house cleaning as well. All of this can be done in the next few days. Oh, and I love the turkey gravy base from Williams-Sonoma. It is a huge time-saver and the gravy always comes out perfect. Be sure to add the turkey drippings to the pan while you are heating it up! Nicole

We just got home and what a wonderful ending to a beautiful day. Of course we had a great time with family. The joy of going to the center and seeing their beautiful faces and smiles gives us so much joy. Had lots of food , have enough to feed everyone lunch again tomorrow. Thanks for you nice words, you all would have done the very same as our family. We are so blessed. There is one lady that is always there. She is the same age as myself. In her seventies and always a smile on her face thanking people for her dinner. It brought such joy to our hearts just talking to everyone. Sometimes they just want someone to talk with them. After we put all the food away for tomorrow and washed all the dishes it felt a little sad saying goodnight to them. In the end, the good guys won. The evil deed brought out more than a hundred loving hearts to help in a time of need. Hope all of you had a wonderful day.

When all of our family (that lives here in town) always got together we would set up 3 or 4 tables and play pitch. Some would go through the paper to see what items they were going to head out for on Black Friday. and others would just sit and talk. But now each family has grown and we kind of just stayed with our own family. After losing 4 family members last year it went that way. I'm not liking it...I miss getting together with them all. My daughters are going to their spouses side of the family this year so it will be just our son and his girl friend with us tomorrow. One daughter will be coming later and we will have a game night Then on Saturday we will have another Thanksgiving day with the girls and Jeff if he wants. lol....aren't you sorry you ask. patti

We moved 1200 miles last week, so still unpacking, I spent an hour today searching for the good silver, which I had cryptically labeled for the move and then forgot the label. However, I made the dressing earlier because it freezes well and it made the move still frozen solid in DH's Yeti. DD lives next door and made a carrot soufflé and two pies last night and will make the green beans and Mom's rolls (I'm a pretty fair cook, but that particular skill skipped a generation and besides I haven't located my cookie sheets yet). I made the cranberry orange sauce tonight, along with spiced tea and an asparagus casserole. Tomorrow will be the turkey, ambrosia, mashed potatoes and boiled custard --all easy -- and I'll set the table (just realized the napkins are still MIA). I might also cook a ham to have with leftovers. It still should be manageable because we aren't planning on eating until 2 o'clock. There will only be six or eight of us, plus the baby.