{ Preparing for Thanksgiving }

Well it's here, without a doubt one of my favorite times of the year.

The food, the family, the atmosphere, the insane amounts of cooking and preparation that goes into it.

When we were an Active Duty family, it was just the 4 of us, and so I would wait until the actual day and then get into the kitchen early morning and prepare everything for us.  It didn't matter if I was in scruffy clothes, if food wasn't ready at a certain time, if something didn't go to plan and so on.  It was just us and we honestly didn't care, because Thanksgiving was just a day of indulging in some really yummy treats, relaxing, watching TV, napping and then enjoying leftovers for days.


Then my family moved to the States, and we now had someone to celebrate the holidays with, so it changed a little but not too much, we all lived together and so our Thanksgiving celebrations were just an extension of our previous ones.

But after moving to Texas, and closer to all of Curt's family, the holidays took on a life of their own.  Our get togethers went from 4 people, to 8 people (with my brother's family), to over 20 at times.

This year it's about 12 of us and so, I've had to make changes.  Namely in the sense that preparing for the meal, takes a few days.

I was actually looking over my to do list for today and wanted to run away.  No joke!!!!

I figured I would write this post, and jot down my to do list in here, just to keep as a memory for future years, because it's always fun to look back and see what we were doing, isn't it?

I'm also going to snap all sorts of pictures as I go about my day, and tonight I'll do another post recapping my day and what I've done.  It will probably be loaded with pictures, or so I hope, lest I forget while in my humdrum of chores.......but I doubt I will :)

I hope you're all getting ready for the big day, and I hope your to do lists are not as long as mine, though to be fair, I kinda hope they are so I won't feel so lonely LOL

So here's what's on the menu, followed by my to do list :)
Fried Turkey
Ham
Homemade Dinner Rolls
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole - DONE
Sweet Potato Casserole - DONE
Salad
Potato Salad
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Deviled Eggs
Roasted Vegetables
Tofu Turkey (for our Vegetarian)
Pecan Pie Bars
Chocolate Pecan Pie with Rum - DONE
Honey Pecan Pie - DONE
Pumpkin Pie
Truvia Apple Pie
Jello Dessert - DONE
Cherry Salad - DONE

And now for my To Do list, for today, I'm not including tomorrow's.

Kitchen 
Empty dishwasher, refill
Wash turkey fryer
Clean turkey and start brining
Make pecan bars and the pecan pies
Make dinner rolls
Make Jello Dessert
Make Cherry Salad
Make Tofu Turkey
Make Green Bean Casserole
Make Sweet Potato Casserole

Dining Room
Move table and insert leaves
Set up serving tables
Make centerpieces
Carpet clean

Living Room
Vacuum
Dust
Tidy

Bathroom
Clean toilet
Wipe sinks
Sweep and mop
Wash bath mats

Room where family will be sleeping
Change bed linens
Carpet clean
Dust
 
I really do hope I have the energy to get everything done.  I'm giving myself until 9am to have my coffee and breakfast and relax a bit, then it's full steam ahead.  Lord give me energy :)