Afterthoughts 2015

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missjane

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Oct 13, 2007
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I know its' not the fourth Thursday, but thought I would start this in case anyone had afterthoughts about how things went this year.

So, how did your Thanksgiving go? Anything that really worked or you need to do differently?
 

missjane

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Even though I posted that we would have traditional food, we didn't. My family was so tired of traditional because they had celebrated with so many gatherings already, we went totally unconventional, and they loved it!

We had ours on Wednesday night ate around 7:00 because DSIL had to work. DD22 and DSIL stayed the night with us and drove to his family's house to have lunch with them on Thanksgiving day.

We ate:

fried catfish
shrimp etouffee
twice baked potato casserole
baked beans
deviled eggs
french fries
pickles, onion, lemons
brownies
fresh apple cake
sweet and unsweetened tea

I made the etouffee ahead and put it in the crock pot. That worked really well. The twice baked potato casserole, brownies and cake were made on Tuesday night.

Honestly, things went pretty good. I don't know that I would change anything. I wasn't too sure about the menu, but everyone love it and didn't seem to mind that it wasn't traditional Thanksgiving food.
 

MrsSoup

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Oct 13, 2007
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I decided that i'm not doing a turkey anymore. No one really cares for it except maybe DH. However, everyone likes ham so i'll do that from here on out. That was my big one. I also made the mashed potatoes the day before and used Pioneer Woman's recipe and DH really liked them and so did I, the kids won't eat mashed potatoes, so i'll do them like this from now on. Also, green beans in the crockpot the night before and let them cook until time to eat at lunch time the next day (or until the crockpot shuts off, which is what happened). That's about it.
 

DahliaDoll

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Oct 15, 2007
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Greetings!

I take notes every Thanksgiving, so by this time, everything runs pretty smoothly. I don't know if I would change anything except to prep the vegetables ahead of time. I thought I would have more time while the turkey baked, but it was done ahead of schedule. We have taken good notes on what kind of turkey we like (Trader Joe's brined turkey) and what size and how to cook it. Got it down now except for the timing apparently.

Of course it was just DH and I, so when/if we have more family and friends coming, things would change.

My notes even say "when people ask what they can do to help, have them ... "
 

Lolwlias

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Oct 14, 2007
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I need to learn to delegate!!!
 

halimer

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Aug 30, 2008
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I wish I could be home!
 

Minta

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This year we hosted twice as many as normal and it was great. Finished all the grocery shopping the weekend before and had extra hands in the kitchen which definitely made things easier. Next year I need to do more prep work ahead of time.
 

ChristmasPir8

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It was a small group and just us 5. The turkey breast was the perfect size the stuffing the the crackpot was not. DH liked the greenbean bundles
 

Cindylouwho

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My big one was that we are doing Thanksgiving on Wednesday from now on! It was great! We had to do it a day early because of family schedules and it was SOOO nice to relax and eat leftovers on Thanksgiving day, watch the parade, be bums. AND we were all so rested by Friday morning that we got up early and hit the Black Friday sales (I have never done Black Friday sales. Ever. I'm always too exhausted from cooking to even contemplate dealing with the crowds). It made the weekend seem much longer too. :)
 

missjane

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Just reading back over some things from last year and trying to get my feet under me for this year.

Cindy, I agree that doing it on Wednesday was great. I may do it like that from now on, too. Normally, we have church on Wednesday night, but our community has a community-wide church service on Tuesday night, so our services are cancelled on Wednesday for that week.

We've always gone Black Friday shopping. My mom NEVER started buying ANYTHING for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, and was often still buying on Christmas Eve. Our entire family used to have to wait to open presents because she was still wrapping. lol

I'm not that bad, but I do love to shop on Black Friday, which gets earlier each year with the Christmas creep. Even though I love it, I'm glad some stored didn't open on Thanksgiving like they did in 2014.
 

FrostyShimmer

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MissJane - I'm the opposite way - usually finished buying and wrapping by July, but it does take some of the fun out of it. I guess we need to strike a healthy balance between prepping and enjoying the season during the season :)
 

ejagno

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Our 2015 Christmas and Thanksgiving was fairly non existent due to FIL being in really bad shape. It was a daily struggle to see if we would be celebrating or mourning each day. We celebrate that he is still here with us today but it did teach me some valuable lessons on waiting to prepare and celebrate my beloved holidays just during the last quarter of the year. He has cancer so there are no guarantees that we won't be facing much of the same struggles.

This year I am finished with all of the important gift buying. All that's left is optional stocking items for adults but I do have all the grandbabies done.....and they are the most important in my world. Adults understand but children do not. I've even started buying the food and beverage items that will keep well throughout the holidays. It brings me such comfort that I'll never go back to the old ways. Holidays are much too important to be to leave to chance.