I am going to get my table set this weekend. This is a big job and I like to fuss over it! Everyone will have a place card and I just love to set a pretty table. So if I do it this weekend, I can play with it for a while. I bet you are all going, WHAT?? Already?? Is she crazy? Well yes, what I will do after I have it set, is throw clean sheets over the tables to keep dust off of the dishes. I will also get my grocery shopping done. Everything will be ready to go by Monday. I have done a heavy cleaning this week, so I think if I just give everyone the "evil eye", we can keep it straightened enough to just go over the tops of things on Wednesday. I make the dinner by myself, so I have a system that works for me. On Monday I make homemade noodles for my husband, and on Tuesday, I will start some of my food. I can make my pie crust and my pumpkin pie filling and just refrigerate it separately until Thursday morning. This works great! On Tuesday I will make my cranberry salad, get my Turkey starting to defrost. On Wednesday, I will make my broth from the giblets and start the dressing. I will put my bread in the oven to dry out and I cut up all the celery, onion, etc. and put in the refrigerator. I even have a great recipe for mashed potatoes that I make the day before. I didn't believe that these would be good when a friend gave me the recipe, but I knew she was a great cook. I took her word for it, and have used the recipe ever since. It is nice not to have to mash potatoes when you are trying to carve the turkey and make gravy. Everything is ready to be mixed together on Thursday morning! I can make a couple of vegetable casseroles also on Wednesday. I have used this schedule for years. I have a written time table of when each item needs to go into the oven or start cooking on the stove. By 1:00pm, it will all come together and we will eat our Thanksgiving feast!!
On Friday, I will collapse!! Just kidding!! If I don't have time to write another note, everyone have a Very Blessed Thanksgiving!!!! Cindy