Thanksgiving Made Easy
Is Thanksgiving no fun for you because you spend it in a lonesome kitchen? Perhaps Thanksgiving is a boring holiday for your family because you can't seem to figure out what to entertain with.
Why not turn the holiday of gratitude into a day of thankfulness with harmonious attitude?! I have a few helpful ideas to make this coming Thanksgiving Day a feast of memories. With a bit of planning and pre-holiday preparing, you'll be spending more of your next Thanksgiving in the living room with the rest of the family feeling stress free and having lots of fun!
Firstly, throw caution to the wind! Let your little ones get in on the action, even if it means that there will be a little more mess. The trick is to recruit them to cleaning up without them realizing what you're doing. Also, kids tend to be bored during the Thanksgiving Day. Bringing them in on the festivities gives them something to do and even helps them to appreciate what you do in the kitchen. I can even almost guarantee you'll have plenty of laughs in the kitchen with your kids while you're at it!
Start a few weeks early by collecting the grocery ads and planning your menu based on what's on sale in combination with what you may have coupons for. It's always best to pick up your turkey a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving and storing it in your freezer because the closer you get to Thanksgiving, usually the more expensive the bird is. Be resourceful when trying to get the lowest prices possible on your Thanksgiving meal items. Also, there's no shame in making certain things easier for yourself by purchasing already made dips, gravy, bagged salad, pre-cut veggies and canned crescent rolls. Grab the coupon booklets in the Sunday paper and check online; go to particular brand websites, www.couponmom.com is a great source.
Not only do you want to plan your meal in advance, you might want to plan on some festive crafts that will keep your little ones buy for the day while giving your dinner table an extra special flare. Perhaps pick up some felt or foam fabric/paper in oranges, browns and yellows, fall leaves in a bag or on vines, maybe a fun kin, a white or yellow paper table clothe, markers and/or crayons and safety scissors. You might want to check out some simple and fun Thanksgiving crafts on the Martha Stewart Website and grab the items needed for those templates. If you happen to have a kitchen with minimal counter space, consider picking up a fold away table you can use as an island for the holidays.
About 3-5 days before, sit down with a pencil, paper and make a "to do" list for Thanksgiving. Figure out what parts of the meal can be done a day or two in advance, what can be done the day before and what can be done the day of. Also, figure out what can be done in the oven and what can be done on the stove top. Lastly, figure out what things your kids can do, depending on their age, even if it's so much as pouring a bag of salad in a bowl and serve. Planning in this fashion helps eliminate the mad rush the day of, brings your family in on the day and allows you a whole lot more down time to spend in the other rooms with your family and guests.
Another aspect is bringing your spouse in on the cooking. I'm lucky to have a husband who does cook and he prefers to be the main cook on Thanksgiving. However, that doesn't mean your spouse can't help you out. They can make a dip and serve it with veggies; they can make the canned crescent rolls, THEY CAN DO DISHES AND CLEAN OFF THE TABLE!
On the second or third day prior to Thanksgiving, my husband and I make the desserts. He makes a fruit pie, usually apple, I make a pumpkin swirl cheesecake, and we make the pumpkin pie together. Let your kids help by letting them pour ingredients and mixing. To minimize dishes, we rinse mixing bowls and mixing utensils between the pies, better yet, get your kids to rinse them for you. The day before, my hubby makes up the potatoes and I make the stuffing so that alls we have to do is pop them in the oven within the hour before dinner the day of. You can also get your kids in on the mashed potatoes by peeling with a safety peeler and mashing after the dices are broiled. Again, we rinse dishes as we go. If you make a soup from scratch, prep by chopping and pre-cooking any meat for it and cook it in a crock-pot the day of.
You may want to marinate your turkey in brine and do so the day before, as my hubby does. Should you marinate overnight that would be a good time to make your gravy with the giblets, if you make it from scratch.
Thanksgiving morning, put the turkey in on the lowest rack setting, or, if you're deep frying put it in a half hour to 45 minutes before serving. Turn on the Macy's Parade in the background, set some board games on the coffee table and play them with your children. If you like to do so, set up the Christmas tree slowly with your kids Thanksgiving. Have some light and quick breakfast items like fruit, cereal, carnations instant breakfast and/or toast ready.
Around noon, have your kids put out the veggies and dip for your family to munch on while they're waiting. That would also be a good time to get your kids started on decorating. Decorate with them, if you like! Take out the paper table cloth, throw it over the table and let them have at it with fall colored crayons or markers and let them have at it! Let your kids work on the tables-scape with their crafts. Have your kids set the table with the foam paper and let them color a turkey on the fun kin. Cut the top off of the fun kin and use it for the middle of the table-scape. Have your kids cut small square pieces of paper. Next, have all family members write down what they are thankful for and sign their name on the paper, fold them and place them in the fun kin for a meaningful dinner.
About 1 or 2 hours before eating put your pre-made goodies on the top rack of the oven to heat. You kind of need to stagger the items so that they all stay warm at the same time. Have your kids pour the green beans in a casserole dish and heat; you can do so in the microwave, then they can top with French Onions. Take the turkey out, put it on the platter and set it in the middle of the table to let the juices flow back through it a bit. Your kids can roll the crescents then put them on a cookie sheet for heating in the oven. Have them serve the salad, too.
After your meal, have each family member wash their own dishes and wash a pan each! Put the pies in the oven for warming a little. At that time, everyone is going to draw from the fun kin and read what each other are thankful for to reflect on the importance of appreciation. After dessert, they can all wash their own dish, then, too! Pop in a fun holiday movie for the evening.
Such simple additions and planning can make your holiday so much more pleasant, brings the whole family together involved more proactively on the meal and makes them all appreciate the meal a bit more since they helped! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
