Well, this year the DH and I are celebrating a Canadian Thanksgiving a little late (this coming weekend.) We decided to start celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving, well because we like the way we cook Thanksgiving! His sister always cooks the American Thanksgiving on the third thursday of November. Then, a friend of ours cooks a vagabond Thanksgiving on Black Friday. So by the time the weekend comes, we're tired of turkey! Traditional for my Thanksgiving meal is roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (or dressing since I don't cook mine in the bird. My stuffing is a mixture of bread & sausage stuffing,) mushroom gravy, and homemade cranberry relish. New this year will be green bean almondine. I'm also going to be making an Autumn Harvest Sweet Potato Spice Flan Cake (from Louisiana Cookin' October magazine.) Usually traditional with the meal, but I'm not doing it this year, is that green bean casserole, a typical salad of greens, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and a pumpkin or apple pie. Sorry about your Mom. I'm sure she was smiling down on you when she saw you made the turnip puff!

I lay out a loaf of white bread to dry over night. Note: I have no pets to mess this up for me. :0)

Well, it is at my house. Play the CD every year while waiting for the turkey.

Yes, my stress level went way down when I started viewing Thanksgiving as just "time off work" and the gathering as whatever it was or I wanted it to be, not what society markets it as. And my meals became way more fun. If it's just hubs and Dad and I, keep it as simple as possible, a roast bird, mashed potatoes, plain ol' dressing and salad and whatever vegetable I'm in the mood for and looks good at the store. We actually like the frozen mixed vegetables, kind of covers all bases. I like cranberry sauce but I wait until after the holiday to buy cranberries fresh, the price goes way down, so I'm likely to serve an old canned sauce on the actual day of. Tastes just like mine anyway and can be doctored. Hubs makes pumpkin cheesecake. Bam, done. Very occasionally, if we have guests over and I'm still cooking before dinner, I might serve an appetizer like guacamole or spinach artichoke dip and I don't feel guilty about buying it pre-made in the store if I have the money. I don't even bother making mulled wine like I used to, just buy it already made which you can get now. Cider for the tea totalers. I've had the big fancy Thanksgivings with all kinds of dishes and appetizers and all day partying over food, and frankly they just leave me mostly with indigestion. One exception is cherry cranberry crumble I made one year, that has both fresh and dried berries and cherries. It is fab and worth the trouble making. I don't make it for Thanksgiving though, because hubs insists on the cheesecake and one dessert is enough. Again, i used to do two plus cookies, but who needs all that sweet stuff and the left overs? Not us. I'd rather savor one nice dessert at a time. Double the topping if you're wanting something more traditional and aren't as concerned about the "low fat." That's how it manages the "light" moniker, by skimping on the topping. https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-cherry-crumble