:friendly: We generally stick to the same traditional menu every year which we really look forward to with great anticipation. This year I will be trying a new dessert or two for our friends to enjoy and perhaps more child friendly desserts as well. We are having friends over after dinner for dessert, and there will be a lot of kids running around who are not too interested in pumpkin pie or baked apple dumplings. I will get suggestions from my kids and/or talk to their parents about favorite desserts. Of course, you can never really go wrong with cookies! We are such cookie monster kind of family here!
:turkey: :turkey: :turkey: :turkey: :turkey:
Also, a couple of years ago I found it helpful to type out my Thanksgiving menus as well as the shopping lists that corresponded to the menus including beverages and snacks. We usually have family and or friends staying as guests during Thanksgiving weekend, so on Thanksgiving morning we usually have a substantial breakfast such as a breakfast casserole or scrambled eggs, bacon, and various muffins or breads and fruit. Lunch usually consists of light snacks throughout the day while we watch the Macy's parade, football games, and cook our meal. Dinner is usually served between 3 and 4 pm. We sit around, chat, eventually clean up some of the dinner dishes, and then we have dessert while we visit or watch a Christmas movie. By having all of my lists and menus planned out, I can start shopping as early as September for some of the ingredients for our meal. Because our guests/family stay for the entire weekend, I also have lists of ingredients for easy meals or casseroles to prepare in advance and stash in the freezer so that I am not overwhelmed with cooking. And, last but not least, we always cook way more than needed for the Thanksgiving meal, because we LOVE to have leftovers while we start the Christmas decorating marathon! :grin: :grin: :grin: I have found it so helpful not to reinvent the wheel each Thanksgiving for our meal. Of course, if we ever want to add something new, than I can simply add it to the list which is stored on my computer and in my planning notebook. Hope this is helpful--sorry it is so long-winded :
rnament: