One Week To Go

There is one week until Thanksgiving. Here are a few ideas of what you can do now to make things run smoothly during your dinner and family parties.

*Clean out your refrigerator and make sure you have enough storage space

*Check your menu again. Get your shopping list together now and make sure you get everything by this weekend. Trust me on this, you do not want to run out to the grocery store next Wednesday night. I am the voice of experience with this.

*Make things like pie crusts, rolls, and casseroles now and freeze them until next week.

*If you are having younger guests, make sure you have some age appropriate entertainment to keep them occupied.

Check back later for some vegetarian menu ideas.

Morbid or Just Me?

I am a strict vegetarian so turkey eating is not something I would take part in to begin with, but I do not force my views on others around me. This is something that I have always found a bit odd though. Turkeys are hunted and eaten on Thanksgiving. Then why in the world do Thanksgiving decorations feature cute, living turkeys?

I was just searching for childrens' online Thanksgiving activities and found so many coloring pages of happy, alive turkeys when happy and alive really do not describe a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Again, I don't mean this as a judgement against anyone who eats meat, just it seems a bit strange.

It reminds me of a story night we held at the elementary school I used to tutor at. After listening to a story about a cute little turkey, the kids made turkey drawings. As the night was ending, they announced the winners of the door prize and drawing and gave the winning families their prizes: frozen store bought whole turkeys. A few of the younger kids just then made the connection between the cute animals and the meal they eat on Thanksgiving.

The cries put a bit of a damper on the rest of the evening.

Two Weeks To Go

Thanksgiving is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Here are some ideas from allrecipes.com of things to get done with 2-3 weeks left to help your Thanksgiving get-togethers run more smoothly.

1. Confirm your guest list.

2. Finalize your menu and shopping lists. Break your lists into items you can buy ahead and those that can't be bought more than a few days before.

3. Do test runs on new recipes. If a new dish is not going to turn out, Thanksgiving day is not the time to discover this.

Thanksgiving: The Forgotten Holiday

It's been a week since Halloween and we have (in the US at least) have another holiday coming up in a few weeks, Thanksgiving. Of course, you wouldn't know it by visiting any store.

I don't do much decorating for Thanksgiving, but I do like to do some. Good luck finding anything Thanksgiving themed though. As usual, all the store aisles are filled with red and green.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas decorations. But they have their time and place. I am still in a sort of fall festive type of mood. Show me some orange and brown, a few plain pumpkins. To me, it lessens the beauty of Christmas decorations seeing them up months before December.

Imagine the magic of walking into the mall the day after Thanksgiving and seeing newly lit trees and freshly hung sparkly decorations.

The Best Laid Plans

Like practice, planning also makes perfect. Here are some ways to start planning now for your Thanksgiving festivities later.

Things to do 3-4 weeks ahead:

1. Plan your menu, especially if there are any special diets or needs to consider.

2. Order your main dish(es) ahead of time.

3. Make a timeline for dishes you can make ahead of time.

4. Clean our your freezer. Make sure you can put all your items in one place to make them easier to find later.