Thanksgiving Countdown

This is it!  The week of extravagant culinary indulgences.  And my Thanksgiving Dinner Countdown has begun.

Sunday night:  Put the turkey into the outdoor fridge to thaw.  (Yes, it's in the garage—see, Kim, there can be some advantages to freezing cold weather).

Monday morning:  Finish shopping for the feast.  This is when it really hits me:  Do we really need four kinds of pies, and more side-dishes than you can count for one meal?  Um, yeah.  We do. :-)

Monday afternoon:  School, then rush home for dinner, and rush off to see Brandon's school play, Once Upon a Mattress.

Tuesday morning:  Either make the stuffing bread or the apple pie.  Probably the pie, since whatever I do has to be finished before I go to school; then I can put it in the freezer after school (built, but not baked).

Tuesday afternoon:  Definitely make the stuffing bread now, before I get the kids from school.

Wednesday morning:  No school for the kids—Yaaaayyy!  If only I were so lucky.  But it's only one one-hour class, and the rest of the day will be filled with preparations.  So:  8:30-ish I'll bake a couple of pumpkin pies before school, while urging the kids to get their bedrooms clean.

Wednesday after school and lunch (1:00-ish):  Bake a couple more pumpkin pies (with the kids this time).  Yeah, we really do need four pumpkin pies—Thanksgiving lasts all weekend around here, and pumpkin pie makes a great breakfast!  Also a pecan pie and maybe a banana-cream pie.  We're having a totally easy and brain-free dinner onWednesday night, so we can keep up with food-prep for Thursday.

Ryan is making chip dips and some kid or other will make veggie dip.  Still more children will break up the dry stuffing-bread.  I'll also get help in preparing the yams, and I'll prepare the Classic Green Bean Casserole (Cooks Illustrated).  Maybe we'll make some kind of jello, too.  Undecided on that one.  Everything goes into the fridge for the night.

Thursday:  8:00 a.m.  Start making the broth out of the neck, giblets, etc. for moistening the stuffing.  While the broth simmers we'll cut up the veggies for the veggie tray—also chop up celery and onions for the stuffing. 

10:00 a.m:  Make the stuffing and set it aside for a bit. 

10:30-ish:  Check out the house—is it clean?

11:00:  Start packing everything into the van.  We are having dinner at my father-in-law's house this year.  I volunteered to cook, of course!  So all the food, maybe a DVD, and possibly some games go into the van to make the...maybe five-mile commute.

12:00:  We arrive at Dad's house.  Come on, you know how it is!  It takes a loooonnnng time to get everything and everybody into the car and on the road.  And we start unpacking everything we brought with us.

12:30  Stuff the turkey and have it in the oven by 1:00.  Usually we have an early Thanksgiving dinner—around 3 p.m.  But this year Bruce has to work on Thanksgiving, so we're having dinner at about 5:00.

1:00:  The turkey goes into the oven and now we're free to play games or watch movies, or whatever for a couple hours.

3:00:  Get one of the kids to peel potatoes.

3:45:  Chop the potatoes and put them to boil.

4:00:  Check the turkey—is it done?  Also, get kids (or someone) to set the table and send someone to pick Bruce up from work.

4:30:  That bird should definitely be out of the oven and the potatoes are ready for mashing.  The yams and green beans can go into the oven now and we can "unstuff" the turkey.  It's also time to make the gravy.

4:45:  Carve the turkey and start setting food on the table—or maybe just the buffet (kitchen island).

5:00-ish:  Bruce should be home, we can all sit down for a blessing and then feast, feast, feast! 

I'm thinking of taking some kind of smallish book for everyone to write down their gratitudes during the day, and maybe we can share them after dinner and before pie.  Or something.  We'll head back home around 9 or 10 p.m. after having a full day of food, family and giving thanks.  What a lovely holiday Thanksgiving is!