We had a small group this year, 9 of us, and it went very well. Too much food as usual so we all shared leftovers. My brother took plates to some friends who had a setback this year with his health and an injury and were home-bound. They texted me later they really appreciated the meal.

Every single dish was excellent as everyone in our family are great cooks, but I especially enjoyed my DD’s creme brûlée and brother’s pumpkin cheesecake. Had a small portion of each as DD and I split one of the creme brûlée’s.

Nice!

Around 10 we went to see Mom who had enjoyed being out and about the day before with my oldest brother. He took her to his house which had about a dozen steps into the house. She hates steps, can't navigate them. But she did and was proud of herself. She had a good time and told us all about it. Then, she showed me pictures of how she wanted her hair cut and fixed. Oddly enough (being silly here), I hadn't bought hair shears with me to fix it. I did text my sister to bring that along when she came. We went back to the house then to heat up the make ahead mashed potatoes I promised to bring to Dad's.

While they were heating up, the boy wanted to show me how he's been making Starbucks copycat mochas at school. I'd found a recipe online, and had the actual drink in front of us. We went toe to toe on the taste test, and we drank lots of coffee! I also made cornbread for the dressing I wanted for our meal later on. Went to Dad's.

All of the kids came this year. First time in forever. It was a houseful! Loads of food. I should've taken a picture, but the food kept getting rearranged until time to eat. Let's see if i can remember it all. Pancit, turkey, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, ham, lumpia (though it was a much less loaded plate when it officially started as we steal those like you would deviled eggs), some Filipino fruit salad identical to US southern ambrosia salad (coconut, mandarin oranges, pineapple), pecan pie, cheesecake, cookies, and I'm sure I'm forgetting the rest. Anthony fiddled with playing guitar. Dad's and Lola fiddled with the cam corder.

When I was getting ready at home earlier in the day, I wondered what the adopted siblings' biological father was like. I never told anyone. They've never talked about the Philippines until yesterday. It was an incredibly abusive situation. Horrible. Daily abuses. A child lowered into a well. Burned by cigarettes. A truly starving existence. Finally, Lola got up and said enough in Tagalog and went out to get a drink off the back porch. When she came back in Tony said he was going to tell one more story. A happy story. He spoke of how his Mom came home with this man dressed all in white with gold all down him, covered in ribbons, and WAS their angel. He came and swooped them all away and was their angel. Guess he saw Daddy like I did too.

Went back to see Mom and found all of my youngest sister's children there with my sister who'd left the party early to meet her son coming home from Canada after three years. He brought his husband this time. My boy and went back to the house and he showed me the end of the game he wants me to play with him.

Ended the day happy I was full of loads of family and food.

Ours (Husband and I) turned out ok. We were invited to daughters, but declined due to her small place and 14 human guests and 2 large drooling all over the place dogs. (They were part of the guest list) Had enough drool last Thanksgiving to last me a lifetime.

We planned to go to Cracker Barrell. Got there at 2:15, no place to park, so went to Denny's nearby. We were seated right away and the traditional Thanksgiving meal there was good. We came home stuffed and happy.

I think we are getting our new holiday normal down to a system. We brought the table, chairs, and tabletop items to mom’s memory care suite on Wednesday. She has a bedroom and sitting room. Everyone prepared their food the day before, except the turkey, so just had to be heated before driving over, and then we put them right on the hot tray. The first two to arrive around 11:30 set up and set the table. The tablescape included battery-operated tea lights in clear holders, and we closed the blind just a tad to let them glow but still have light. The centerpiece looked nice, incorporating a couple of porcelain pheasants from my mom’s house, I hope she recognized them.

As we sat down and said grace, I lamented that I hadn’t thought to bring music, and my son reached for his phone and pulled up A Charlie Brown Christmas, nice jazz for our dinner! even on the tinny phone speaker lol.

We had one short-lived foray into politics. I started to get pulled in then announced “no politics!” and turned the conversation to someone’s Friendsgiving food from last weekend. (Oven-cooked honey buttered tri-color carrots and brown sugar asparagus, I think we’ll ask him to bring that to the next dinner!)

Throughout the afternoon we had the opportunity to thank most of the staff, especially for working on Thanksgiving. We were careful to not make any extra work for them!

After dessert we scooped everything up, packed out our own trash, (we had used Solo plates, cups, and flatware to save on the weight and just make things easier), took Mom to the activity in the parlor, and headed home.

So, we had people working together, but not on top of each other. It was a quick set-up and clean-up, because we’d mostly done the cooking the day before. No dirty dishes in our line of vision, no one jumping up to start cleaning up. We kept with mom’s schedule of lunch at 12:30, and then ready for the afternoon activity at 3:30. Simple, delicious, and good company.

Just the three of us, so just our usual Sunday dinner arrangement except with roast turkey and I got out Mom's good china and silver. I like Thanksgivings best when I don't travel, so this was great. The food was pretty good. Stuffing was the worst part, I used old bread and it gave it a stale taste. Made a new recipe for cranberry chutney that was cooked and had red onions, pears, apples and golden raisins along with cinnamon, cloves and ginger. And while it was good, I didn't think it was all that great or worth the trouble. I think I like the fresh stuff best, chopped with sugar and maybe an apple. Dad made the turkey in a bag. Was OK. I like roasted better, but this is what Dad wanted to do, so no harm no foul. The best foods were the sides of maple roasted root vegetables and green beans almondine. Both dishes I have made before but this time they turned out particularly good. Hubs made his traditional pumpkin cheesecake. We already had an apple crumb pie cheesecake given to us by friends, so we are cheesecake blessed this weekend! The best part was splurging and getting out Mom's teapot and china cups and gold sugar and creamer, to have Constant Comment tea with dessert. All Mom's favorite things that i don't have an opportunity to use very often. She was missed, a lot.

Ours was very nice. I made an embarrassing amount of food so we gave most to our guests as they are having a second Thanksgiving with their friends. Next year I really need to be better at planning a reasonable amount.

Chi, DH bought a not-quite-6# bone-in breast for 8 people, mostly men. I didn’t think it would be enough, but it turned out we sent a small container home with our son, and have a little for us 3 at home tonight if we mix it with something. On the other hand, I made waaaay to much mashed potatoes, thinking that there wouldn’t be enough turkey. Good thing I love mashed potatoes. Don’t suggest I freeze it, DH doesn’t believe in freezing leftovers. Crazy.

Here's what I made, and this photo doesn't include half of it. We had a whole turkey and ham, and I made 10 lbs of mashed potatoes, a savory bread pudding, 2 kinds of stuffing, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, baked spinach, butternut squash puree, candied sweet potatoes, chipotle sweet potatoes, corn casserole, roasted root vegetables, cranberry sauce and 2 dozen homemade yeast rolls.

We had 5 people. I just get so excited and want to make everything but it was pretty ridiculous. Oh well, we will eat for a week!

We were on the road yesterday between L.A. and Palm Springs, and it rained the entire way. Naturally there were several wrecks along the way, which caused some delays. About half-way through we decided to take a break in Redlands and have a snack, but almost nothing was open. However, we did find a Coffee Bean store that was open and went there. When we tried to get back on the freeway at Pearl St, the on-ramp was closed because of a mudslide, and the GPS on my phone was not working, and so it was difficult to find an alternate ramp. Later we found out that a sinkhole on I10 had caused two lanes to be closed, but we had gotten off the freeway just before we got there, partly because of the traffic jam. When we were able to get back on the freeway, we had gone past the sinkhole, which was fortunate for us.

I had made dressing and a mushroom sauce the day before, and we had that in the evening, but our Thanksgiving lunch was sandwiches at The Coffee Bean. I think I will want to go back to Redlands, as it looked like an interesting town, and the downtown area looked very old and gentrified, with lots of interesting looking restaurants and shops - all of which were closed yesterday.

We saw snow on the mountains along the way, and I can see even more snow on Mount San Jacinto this morning.

Other than having to taekwond’oh a big, slippery bird into a pan, everything else went without a hitch.

The family gobbled up their traditional turkey dinner, while I enjoyed puerco asado (not a fan of turkey).

Practically a Walton Thanksgiving, with a side of crazy and plenty of sarcasm. Well, maybe not like the Waltons. Still, a wonderful day.

Sol

"I did get myself into a raging tizzy, as expected whenever i cook with family around. At one point I was so mad I was shaking and I was struggling to do things because my hands were so unsteady"

This is unfortunate but also perplexing and ridiculous - it's as if it's one of your holiday traditions. If you know you have this tendency, it's on your To-Do list to do something about it. Someone once commented to a person with a short temper some words like "Other people don't make you mad, YOU make you mad".

Try harder next time to go with the flow. Whatever someone says or does doesn't matter. I can't imagine not proactively acting to to avoid such problems.

Good luck.

Ours was nice but low key. My dad is in an assisted living facility, and five of us joined him for his lunch. The food was very good, very traditional. People from the independent living apartments had volunteered to serve, helping out the regular staff. Wish my dad could remember it, but oh well.

Well, I can assure you that other people do make me mad. I hate pickers. I hate people who are underfoot for no reason other than to be a pest. I hate people coming in and getting in the way with suggestions while I am trying to pull it all together. I resent that even though this is well known and understood, a certain member of my family, namely my father, seems to make every effort to tick me off. Then look at me in shock like "what did I do?" When I finally snap. It's not that hard to NOT irritate me. You do need to make an effort. Stay your behind out of the kitchen and out of the way. How is that not doable? Ever?

I asked my sister to carve the turkey yesterday. He stood next to her and directed her every move as if she doesn't cook and carve turkeys all year for her large family. Then picked at the carcass while she was still trying to carve it. Then picked at the meat she carved off of it. I asked her how she managed not to go off. She is far more prone to losing her patience than I. Her answer was that she took her anxiety meds before coming because she knew she would need them to deal with such. She knew it was coming. I don't have anxiety meds. I have SO to calm me down. So I called him and he did. Usually if there are other family members there they can intervene,but not this time. I think I am going to decline to go to the Christmas gathering,unless I can make absolutely everything ahead of time, or if my sister hosts it. She does not allow anyone in her kitchen while I am cooking for her.

Anyway elmer, you didnt answer me. How was your Thanksgiving? Lovely, I hope.

Great, thanks.

Give it some thought amylou. Don't point fingers until you're alone and looking in a mirror. Really. Or find a professional to talk about it with. Unless you enjoy suffering from this recurring "problem" that you could avoid or control if you wanted to.

Good luck.

We had a nice day. Ate way too much. I made Julia Child's pumpkin pie. My gang didn't like it. The spices were too strong.

Amylou, can you make an ironclad rule that no one, no one at all is allowed into the kitchen while you're cooking? Maybe get another family member to keep that dickens busy.

We went to our friend's house this year--the first time for her in this (smallish) house. Our families have known and celebrated with each other for 30 years now, even after divorce, which pleases me immensely. The ex-husband and his longtime gf were there, along with two each of our daughters (we each have 1 living in the East Coast,) and their families. I did realize I was getting achy from standing on her cement floors, but we weren't there long enough for it to really kick in. the food was delish; it makes me a little sad that I can't eat like I used to! Wasn't even able to finish pie.

We had a really nice day with 12 coming over. We ate around 1:30 and I try very hard to be organized with lists. We sat around and talked and laughed. Football was on and games were played (LCR and Chicken Dominoes). In the evening me and my dds went to Old Navy, BestBuy and Ulta. We had fun and bought a few things.

Chi, your spread would have filled our folding dinner table, and then some! We were limited to a card table (it’s really nice, wood with black vinyl inset on top). The hit tray takes up almost half the table, so it was turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy on the hot tray, with the rolls and vegetables and room to serve in front. The vegetables were in plastic so they couldn’t go on the hot tray, but they stayed covered and warm. Cranberries on the table. We repurposed the nightstand for the wine.

I’m glad I grabbed a half dozen of the big square dishtowels, they serve a multitude of purposes!

Amylou, I know what you mean. I tend to keep it all inside and if people get in my way, I just scram until they are OUT of my way. If that means something boils over, well, they have pushed their way in so they can manage it. When we used to have the big Christmas Eve dinner, people insisted on bringing things. I learned early on to tell them to bring it in the serving dish, no cooking In my kitchen! But still, before the party started I’d feel so in control with a clean kitchen, then people arrive with hampers and Saran Wrap and foil and candy and...I don’t miss that part!

On Wednesday I was making the potatoes. DH likes to back-seat drive, and at one point he was (lucky for him) standing across the kitchen when he asked “are you putting all that cream cheese in?” I turned, glared, said “yes I am” and, smart guy that he is, he left the room. Elmer, you can’t shut people up.

I always make that an ironclad rule, and it always gets ignored. I do not like being disrespected so blatantly,especially as more often than not, I have worked the night before, cooked all the food when i get home, then schlepped it over there the next day. All i ask is for space and peace to finish things up. That's it. Just leave me alone. Its not hard. Just stay out of the kitchen. But now that i make mostly everything beforehand at my house, i thought it might cut down on the stress,and it has, but I feel that he (and others) have intensified their efforts in response to having less time to annoy me. Then they ask why I always leave first, as if they don't know. I enjoy cooking for other people. When I am cooking at home for whatever gathering we are having, I am happy and in my element. When i get there, my mom always announces that "We are going to stay out of her way, and out of the kitchen!" Yeah, you really cannot enforce that, except maybe with the children. And the children do NOT bother me when THEY come in the kitchen or ask for nibbles of things. At least they are cute. I worry sometimes for their safety if i am getting something out of the oven or carrying something hot that they will run through and get hurt, but that hasn't happened yet. I enjoy cooking for parties at my sisters house. I do not have to make anything beforehand. I can show up early, and can make everything that day at her house, before any of the offenders arrive. Its so peaceful and nice. She gets it.

ETA: Bpath, I think that is why i enjoy making things ahead at my home. SO does not bother me. He leaves me alone to do what i want. He respects that I don't like being pestered when I am cooking. Early on, he DID make the mistake of grabbing a spoon out of my hand and saying "let me show you how to do this." He only made that mistake once. I don't mind if someone is in the kitchen just chatting or keeping me company. But sseriously, leave me alone, food wise. Don't pick. Don't suggest, stir, or comment. and seriously, stay over there out of the way.

Ours went well. The only other family member in attendance was my sister who lives locally. But we were a total of 9 which mostly fit at our dining table that seats 8. I made the turkey (22 lbs), starting it at noon. And made a twist on the traditional, much maligned green bean casserole that started from this recipe:

https://www.chrislovesjulia.com/scratch-made-green-bean-casserole/

with asparagus, instead of green beans. Although I left out the bacon and changed it up somewhat. It was good but I think I left it in the oven too long.

I also made a roasted sweet potato recipe, that started as a different recipe from the above site, but after trying that recipe on Monday, I made major, on-the-fly, changes for yesterday. (descried below)

Another guest made the mashed potatoes, which turned out better then mine would have been. Others, a family of three and their friend from Africa, brought the stuffing/dressing and a green salad.

The only conversational sinkhole(?) that occurred started after one guest was describing artworks his mother created and when asked if she was still alive he said she had passed away due to pancreatic cancer, which started a swirl of stories from others at the table about cancer and death, and someone spoke up to say let's change to a better topic.

The sweet potato dish started with 4 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes, and tossed with cinnamon and nutmeg and olive oil, and roasted at 350 until lightly browned and soft. Then I made a sauce with one diced sweet onion, one large jalapeno diced fine, and a purchased pineapple/pepper jelly plus a little Madeira to thin the sauce. I mixed the sauce with the sweet potatoes and heated it further in a low oven. I was worried that it might end up too spicy for others, but it was a big hit.

The only food snafu's were the dinner rolls were nearly forgotten, the smoked salmon was never even brought out with the appetizers, and the gravy was too dark and too thick.

There were 9 of us. Way too much food as usual. All was good. I would just like to do a deli tray for Christmas. But I know that won't happen. I had to put on my bigger pants today. TG & Christmas are just too close together!

The food was great if I do say so myself. Thanksgiving was my father’s favorite. It reminds me of him. Of my childhood memories, all that involve him are good. I’ve been doing entirely too much reminiscing lately and it’s frankly “bumming me out”.

It was just the six of us and my mother and brother.

There is so much going on in the next few months. I feel a bit overwhelmed.

Going to take a walk. Cold out there but that always seems to help.

Politics came up. Not too much. Thank goodness. It’s tiresome.

Chi, your spread looks wonderfully delicious and I can't imagine that your guests didn't appreciate all of the time and effort you put in to give them such a beautiful variety of choices for their Thanksgiving meal. I always say, "better too much than not enough" as it's an embarrassing thing to run out of food when guests are present. So you made too much, you got to try out all those recipes and it sounds like you had fun doing it. I think you're a lovely hostess.

Amy, I get what you mean. No one knows how to push our buttons like family. Your story about your dad reminds me of my dad only he did get his just reward. He'd tease the cat (who was a saint for keeping her cool as long as she did) by playing with her tail and tickling her belly. She gave him plenty of warning, but he'd keep going until she bit him hard and gave him several bloody scratches. Only then would he quit and he always seemed shocked and surprised when it happened. He got no sympathy from the rest of the family. Unfortunately, you can't bite and scratch your father!

We had a terrific day.

My sister was alone in Florida and we spent much of the day messaging back and forth and sending each other pictures of our food, our yards (snow here, her loaded orange tree there) and whatever else struck our fancy. I think she enjoyed it very much and it helped her feel like she was part of our celebration.

Just the two of us here, we made a scaled down dinner of roast chicken, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans and cranberry sauce. Dessert was a blackberry cobbler and I also bought myself a mini pumpkin pie (hubby hates pumpkin pie, but I love it). We had vanilla ice cream to go with our cobbler and everything was just delicious. Despite scaling back, we have a ton of leftovers in the fridge, but we both love Thanksgiving leftovers, so we will be happily eating that food for the next couple of days.

Neither of us are big fans of a brothy chicken soup (unless sick) so I think I'm going to make a chicken/corn chowder out of the carcass in a couple of days. It's cold and snowy here and some sort of soup sounds good.

After dinner, we walked over to the neighborhood pub, where we found quite a few people we knew taking a break from too much family togetherness. Everyone was in good cheer, we had a couple of beers and chatted with people we know. After that, we came home and had dessert.

It was an easy, fun filled, no stress at all day and I really, really enjoyed it. Before we went to bed last night, hubby said "what a great day" and that right there made me happy too.

Amylou why not just say no?

Thank you so much, Dawn! What a sweet thing to say.

No to what? Cooking? I feel that would be petulant. Everyone else has so much going on, I take on the cooking so no one else feels burdened by it. In fact,my sister agreed to make the sweet potatoes and some sort of corn casserole for yesterday. She forgot to sweet potatoes at home,even though she did cook them, and didn't even make the corn thing. My mom hates cooking,even though she likes baking. And no one would eat if my father did the cooking.

Also, I do enjoy cooking. I hate that people try to ruin that for me, and often succeed.

It was lovely. No unexpected surprises or problems. One person was sick and couldn't attend but her daughter brought her a nice plate full. We had 10 people, friends and neighbors. We cooked the whole meal, one person bought green bean casserole and a Broccoli dish. Others brought homemade pies. The smoked turkey was delicious and perfect. The ham was delicious also. We ate and talked and laughed and prayed for a friend who was just diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She is usually with us for Thanksgiving.

Well, my DD got some kind of a bug, so we (it will just be her, her boyfriend and I) are cooking tomorrow instead. I am used to flexing holiday meals from all my years of having to work on the day, so it's no big deal. I am roasting a duck that I dry brined - never have cooked duck, and am hoping that holding it for an extra 2 days doesn't spoil it.

I'm also nursing a bit of tendonitis so I had to skip my usual Thanksgiving run - thought about trying a hike in our beautiful local metropark, but decided to just keep resting it. With it being gray and gloomy all day, I enjoyed curling up and reading & doing puzzles most of the afternoon. I (sort of) watched the Macy's parade for the first time in years -- disliked NBC's one-long-promo version, and found CBS's to be more palatable.

Good luck. It wasn't more than mizzling while I was carrying the rest of the food. The roads were clear for all of us. The food was good, even with a couple of errors. The tsimis was too tart, so then I made it too sweet, and by the time I'd gotten it back to right it the sweet potatoes kind of dissolved. It was fine, since no one knew what I was trying for. ;). It had a kind of thick mashed potatoes consistency, but full of treasures. The spiced pecans and the chestnuts in it wer hits, and the journey to get the baby limas was worth it. The real mishap was the turkey. It was still not 100% defrosted, the hot water was out because of the storm so I didn't want to pollute the sink, so I figured I'd just cook it at [FIXED] 350 rather than 325. And then forgot to check the internal temperature at the second basting. It was a breast, so the skin wasn't sealed. It was a little over and a little dry. It still tasted good, and there was plenty of gravy, but I didn't pay enough attention to it and it wasn't perfect.

OTOH, Even without lettuce (none to be had without scouring the earth given the romain recall and demand for other lettuces), the salad was great. I used TJ's organic Power to the Greens and wild arugula, and they were very flavorful on their own, and just needed a little dressing to soften them. Topped with sliced cocktail (itty bitty) cucumbers, baby scallions and firm (excellent) avocado. I made a huge amount of tiny, literally matchstick asparagus. I was worried about overcooking it. Slightly bigger, and I'd steam roast. Instead, I set the oven up with a huge stuffing casserole low, on convection-bake, and a rack high, so away from most of the heat. Tossed the asparagus with a little oil, and a tiny drizzle of fig balsamic (thanks to someone here who brought it up in another context and reminded me that I had it). Perfect! I let a couple of the others deal with the Brussels sprouts. They're the kind who beg to help even though I don't have anything for them to do. They got to feel helpful, and I didn't have to touch them!

I used to have the hardest time with stuffing. I had my mother's directions but it never worked. Last year, I figured out that the bread had to be even dryer, and I needed a lot more stock. She'd always say "enough to moisten" and in my childhood I saw how much she used. I'd either get yucky dry, or soppy wet. My stock, yesterday, wasn't completely defrosted, either (small containers, which is why I was so worried about the icy turkey). Rather than making more mess with hot water only from the kettle, I just poured off "enough to moisten" from the containers as it melted, which gave the bread--3/4 Tuscan white, 1/4 whole wheat pretzel challah--a chance to absorb it without wallowing in it and going soupy. I also did the veg early and left them in the pan in the residual heat. Technically, they were overcooked, but the flavors married properly and for the first time I made stuffing as giid as my mother's. I decided to bake it with just a loose piece of foil over it, so it could let out steam and get crunchy on top, while remaing nice and soft/moist/stuffingish beliw, and that worked perfectly. Best stuffing ever!

I don't understand Ricky's pumpkin pie recipe. More than half cream, only one agg, and amazingly fluffy and light. Aeration by the food processor, but still. If I remember right, it's an early 20th century recipe. So good! So pumpkiny. I used my whole wheat crust with sone cinnamon and nutmeg in it. I abused that poor pie, including going over bumps too fast in the car when it wasn't even fully cool. It cracked, natch, but it didn't fall or weep or do anything else bad. The apple pie was the recipe my mother learned as a girl, much less sugar than most use, macerated rather than cooked filling, tapioca to thicken. I added an extra, unsoake, apple because they'd wept so much. I also did the blueberries (something I'd invented some years ago). Just a halfpint of blueberries thrown in on top. They enhance the flavor when the apples aren't very fragrant. Since this was an extra pie, and I was out of time, I didn't have time to chill before baking, and I had to patch a couple of edges because my deep 9“ is an Anchor with no rim. (Grr.). So it was slumped and lumpy, but who cares? It's pie! Everybody kept asking for pumpkin, until the last who is well travelled and eats uglier things. Once people saw how good it was they wanted it too, and the traveller's daughter took home two large pieces.

The saffron ic ecream stayed fluffy in the freezer. Given six (!) egg yolks in a standard sized batch, I'm not surprised, like I was with the single egg fluffy pie, but it's so nice not to have the ice cream go hard and icy. It was delicious! A bit sweet for me, but it was a hit. And when the spiced pecan recipe said half an eggwhite, I was dismayed...until I remebered I had a whole jar of eggwhites left from the ice cream, and could just weigh out the right amount. (By Google, half an eggwhite, stanard, is 40g. It worked, so close enough.)

Christmas Day dinner is my job, and it's also Hanukkah (fried things) but I'm thinking lasagna. Something make ahead and easy... ;)

Amy, hon, if I was as stressed out as you describe in your description I think I would rethink it. Is there any way that you could convince the whole bunch to all go out to a restaurant? I mean, it's stressful for you and it doesn't look like the other members are going to change their ways. It doesn't sound like any of them really are into preparing a big holiday meal. Oh well, hopefully you can figure it out and not have to endure such stress at Thanksgiving. I think we all tend to expect too much of holidays and we have this image in our heads due to traditions or habit of the perfect way to do it and I have a feeling some of our expectations should be pitched out and started anew. I hope your Christmas celebration turns out better for you.

You're welcome, Chi. I've been meaning to mention that your sweet potato/chipotle casserole sounds delish. I've got a thing for sweet/spicy foods. Also, how did freezing the stuffing and the gravy work out? I remember you asking about doing that in another thread.

Dawn, the frozen stuffing and gravy worked fine! The stuffing seemed a little dry so next year I will add a little broth before baking it. It certainly saved a lot of time, especially the gravy.

I really liked the sweet potatoes. I love the smokiness of chipotle and the maple syrup was a nice touch. Here's the recipe if you are interested. I think I added a bit more maple syrup after tasting them. I made it the day before and just baked it yesterday.

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/chipotle-smashed-sweet-potatoes

I had made pies and dinner rolls in advance, so all I had to mess with were the deviled eggs, the turkey (17 lb) and a ham. Sara and Xa did the green bean casserole, squash, sweet potatoes and broccoli salad. Sis brought a cheese and cracker plate and a cottage cheese fluff. Planning on 11, but only ten showed up. We targeted 1:30, but DS and his wife did not show until after 3. had fb on all day, and then we had pie and homemade whipped Cream and played games after the dishes. The semi-autistic 12 YO nephew was less of a challenge this year and all went well. He has started to study the saxophone, and my GS is playing the flute, so we talked music a lot. Everyone in the family is musical except DS's wife ... so we talked music until they decided to get back to their phone or switch games ... our internet really bogs down when everyone is on line. Good time. The other DS and his DW will be with us for Xmas so looking forward to that ... lather, rinse, repeat

So fun to read everyone' experiences. Good idea for a discussion!

Did not see this until after I posted this comment on another thread. We had Thanksgiving at my mom's, since she has all the space and chairs and whatnot:

I was blindsided yesterday when an extra 6 people showed up, and I had already planned for and set the table for 8. Had to scramble at the last minute setting up a card table, finding a tablecloth, getting extra dishes, napkins and utensils, when I was supposed to be getting the food ready. We had plenty of food for all, but bless her heart, my dear 89 year old mother had forgotten she invited more people until they showed up. We ate a bit later than normal, and everybody enjoyed themselves and the food.

I should've known better - she invites everybody she knows - and sometimes doesn't know - for every holiday & get together. Thank goodness the rest of the holidays will be buffet style and not as formal.

Because of the last minute scramble, the dressing didn't come out of the oven when it should've and was a bit overdone, but it still tasted very good. This was the first year I did everything and I am proud of myself for pulling it off successfully. We had my mom's good dishes and flatware and linen napkins, fresh flowers and candles and everything. Ironically, I was feeling grateful it was only going to be 8 people, as I felt that was less pressure for me - oh well!

FWIW, I use Arrowhead Mills organic stuffing mix with a ton of butter and lots of celery, onions, fresh sage & parsley - and chestnuts, and it comes out delicious every time. There's a recipe on the bag and I kind of follow it, but use extra everything.

And I am sorry to learn about your stress, amylou. I have to say I likely would've been just as stressed out by our last minute upset if I had not 'medicated' myself with a tiny dose of some THC edibles my sister in CA gifted to me. As it was, I stayed in good temper throughout and had a very good time, despite running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

P.S. FWIW, I cook everything at my house and bring it over to my mom's, so I get to have the kitchen all to myself. I made a lot ahead too, so the only things I had to cook there was baking the dressing and warming the gravy and rolls. I even carved the turkey at my house and had it already arranged on a platter - and I was complimented on the carving! We live only about 5 minutes away, though.

amylou....sorry you were so stressed. Yes, extra sleep would help, I see that.

Thanksgiving was very nice. Great food! Great company!

Thanks for the link, Chi! Hubby doesn't like sweet potatoes, but I just may make that for myself or I'm thinking about making it next time I have a girls get together with some of my former co-workers.

Just my husband and me. We had steaks, baked potatoes and a nice salad! So simple and out of this world delicious!

Early on, he DID make the mistake of grabbing a spoon out of my hand and saying "let me show you how to do this." He only made that mistake once.

HAHAHA I LOVE reading your posts, why are you a minion when you could be an author?

My Thanksgiving was fine. There was a glitch with Skype but my wonderful son Michael the Millennial fixed it up so we could see each other on fb, and I got to see my beautiful grand baby!

We were going to try to make crab an annual thing, but the crabbers opted to delay the crab season for a week to hold off whale entanglements! Oh well "save the whales!, collect the whole set!"

We chose to have my lasagna, ceaser salad, greenbeans (NOT the casserole, but with onion, mushroom and garlic), french bread and the usual P pie and SIL's stickey buns (which I'll have to freeze!)

Went well, posted several stupid We Todds videos.....and everyone is now GONE!

Our celebration with my husband's family was wonderful. Turkey 2 ways - one done traditionally and one deep fried, a spiral-sliced, glazed ham, sweet potato fries done in the turkey fryer and lots and lots of sides. Everyone was stuffed and there were lots of leftovers. Better yet was the chance to hear DH's Aunt's stories from her girlhood. It's been 24 years since we lost my Mother-in-Law and it felt like she was there with us. So blessed!

Amylou, I do get what you are saying. I have never had anyone act like your dad--or not for years, anyway--but I did build my kitchen so that my back is to people watching me cook. My stove before that was in a position that everything I did could be observed. MIL use to question everything I did, as did H, but he did stop that. Others too--"You are using a lot of butter! salt! Oregano! it was just annoying. They all love my cooking but I sure disliked being distracted with their commentary especially when none of the guilty knew how to cook at all. Oh! H use to do things like turn the boiling water off with letting me know. Now that he, too, cooks he understands things much better.

Our T-day was nice. D and SIL hosted and did a nice job. Of course I cooked half the meal but it was super relaxing. Actually, the best T-day I have had is decades.

Hope you feel better soon Rae!

Had Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with my daughter and her girlfriend. We saw Beautiful, the Carole King musical first and then went to a nice steakhouse. Daughter and I split a rack of ribs. It was okay. She ordered a Caesar salad that was totally coated in salad dressing and gross. She forced it down.

Thanksgiving day I worked. We had various breakfast foods and I brought some flavored coffee creamers. The main meal was ravioli someone brought in, and antipasto tray, crackers, pies, salad, and stuff to make sandwiches which no one ate. I brought breakfast foods since there was so much main meal food. There is still so much leftover food. I hope they eat it all this weekend. The day was very slow, not too many calls. I finished one book and started on another.

Kath, that is why I always ask for dressing on the side.

I was thrilled to be invited to my oldest DD's BF's parents. They hosted extended family of all three of their kids! So a crowd of twenty.

The best was that they were okay with us bringing the dog. We stayed overnight in a nearby hotel and then went back for breakfast. With the dog there we didn't have to feel the need to rush back and get him out of prison (ie the kennel)

eld6161, she usually does too and I did. It was really gross but she didn't want to complain so she ate it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with 9 of us, including our new grandson, who was delightful. The food was great, and the family delighted to see each other and meet the baby. My sister and I make the family favorites, so it was all good.

We just finished ours, we had turkey and ham, two kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with bacon, corn pudding, broccoli/cauliflower salad, homemade pumpkin brioche dinner rolls, candied sweet potatoes, cheesecake, peach cobbler, banana cream pie, Nutella mousse. We had "snacks" before, some spinach dip with pita chips and a cheeseball with crackers, as well as various pickles, olives and dip with some gluten free beet chips. The food was good, it all came together well, no one got into an argument, the guys all sat around and talked about guns and hunting, fish and football, while The Princess played with the two small apprentice Princesses and Ashley and Amanda caught up with Nikki, who they haven't seen in a couple of years.

Everyone stayed out of my kitchen, I set the table the night before, Elery carved the turkey and ham and put the cooked potatoes through the food mill and generally cleaned up after me. The dogs ate, the kids ate, the adults ate, we sat and talked some more and then had dessert.

Now we're in the middle of an ice storm, I can hear the ice hitting the window and the wind blowing. I'm still full, the house is warm and Elery's daughter and son in law are staying an extra day because of the storm, so he's happy too.

Annie

I would like to report that the duck turned out perfectly! I followed a video that I found online on how to roast it, and had dry brined it with salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemon zest. Super crispy skin with moist tender meat - yum!

My usual dressing (Pepperidge farm with generous amounts of added onion, celery, parsley, diced green apple and cranberries ) turned out well & paired nicely with it. I played around a bit with the cranberry sauce -- added orange and lemon zest and juice, diced apple, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, ginger, and a bit of Cointreau. We all 3 were delighted with it!

DD made stuffed acorn squash and a mélange of roasted vegetables (fennel, daikon radish, brussels sprouts, baby cauliflower, sweet potato, leek) spiced with juniper berries. Pumpkin pie finished it off.

A good meal, and a nice evening playing cards after - I hadn't played cards for years and had forgotten the how-to of many games.

l pinkmountain, thank you! It is getting better slowly. but surely. DD's bug resolved quickly thank goodness!