Fixin' Supper

If you’ve been reading this blog long at all, you know we’re coming up on The Biggest Holiday Of The Year here on Thursday. Forget your Halloween. Your Fourth of July. Forget Christmas, people. Thanksgiving is the one.

We’ve firmed up the menu. Here’s an update from a couple of weeks ago.

• Fried turkey [From the men's group at church.]
• Roast [Me.]
• Homemade rolls [Nashville aunt]
• Broccoli casserole [Nashville aunt]
• Cornbread dressing [Nashville aunt]
• Green bean casserole [Nashville sister]
• Golden Baked Potatoes [Nashville sister]
• 7 layer salad [Jackson aunt]
• Cranberry sauce [Jackson aunt]
• Hors d’oeuvres [Jackson aunt]
• 2 chocolate chess pies [My mom]
• Mincemeat pie [My mom]
• Pecan pie [My mom]
• Cheesecake [Me]
• Pumpkin pie [Me]

Before you say anything, I already know that’s a ridiculous amount of dessert. Trust me when I say, it will all be gone by Saturday at the latest. The only really crazy item is the pumpkin pie. We only know of one person for sure who will eat it. But the one person is Ashby, and his birthday is Thursday. So, he gets the pie he wants.

You know we don’t do anything small around here. I was just telling the MIL that the other day — she’ll be joining us for the first time for Thanksgiving this year. And she was so nice, saying, hey, please don’t go to any trouble, etc. I just laughed when I read her email — I wrote back and said, Oh, it’s no trouble. And I really don’t think I could do Thanksgiving small. I’ve tried. One year, it was just the 9yo and me for Thanksgiving. So she was probably 4 or 5. And for 2 people, I made enough food for a party of 6-8. I even did a turkey breast instead of a turkey. But still, we had leftovers for days.

This year, we’re having 18 at last count. Respectable, but nowhere as big as we used to have growing up — all my mom’s brothers and their kids would come to our house. And most years, we had a few “extras” as well — other friends or family we’d pick up along the way. [Nowhere to go on turkey day? Let me know. I just warn you, we can be rather overwhelming. And loud. And the after-dinner Scrabble is a match to the death.]

The guest list to date:

• Ashby, me, the 3yo [the 9yo will be with her dad this year]
• Ashby’s mom
• My parents
• Nashville sister and her husband
• Nashville aunt and uncle
• Nashville cousin C and her fiance
• Nashville cousin N and her son
• Murfreesboro cousin [I think.]
• Jackson aunt and uncle
• Whiteville uncle

The menu to date:

• Fried turkey [From the men's group at church.]
• Roast [Me. I haven't decided what recipe yet, though I really loved the one I did last year and apparently failed to blog about. I have no idea how I'll find that recipe again. And you thought I was blogging for you.]
• Homemade rolls [Nashville aunt]
• Broccoli casserole [Nashville aunt]
• Cornbread dressing [Nashville aunt]
• Green bean casserole [Nashville sister]
• Golden Baked Potatoes [Nashville sister]
• Chocolate chess pie [My mom]
• Mincemeat pie [My mom]
• Cheesecake [Me. I blame Twitter.]
• Some other stuff — possibly salad or hors d’oeuvres [Jackson aunt. She and I have to get together.]

Still to be figured out:

• How to sneak a healthy item or two onto the menu
• Who’s bringing the wine besides Nashville aunt [Volunteers for white? We already have lots of red.]
• What we’re having Wednesday night [Odds say it will be spaghetti, though.]
• Who’s cleaning up after dinner while I go for a walk [Don't be the one to point out how little I'm cooking on that menu.]