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I LOVE Thanksgiving. I love that its a simple holiday where family and close friends gather together to share a meal. There’s no gifts to stress over or other things to organize, it is simply about the food and the company. Over the past few years, I have loved being the host of Thanksgiving dinner. Getting to cook for people and welcoming them into my home brings me a lot of joy. I understand, for some, its a bit more of a job to take on regardless of whether its your first or fiftieth time hosting. So I thought I would share some of my methods for staying organized and getting it all done. Hopefully, this helps and we can all enjoy the holiday with those we care about, and not spend all of our time stressing about preparation for the big day!

How To Get Organized

My process is simple. Right after Halloween, I start by writing out all of the menus. This includes appetizers, the main meal, desserts, and beverages. Leave nothing off the list. Literally, I write butter on there, because I do not trust myself enough the week of Thanksgiving to remember it. I also write out my entire grocery list for the whole meal. That way I am not overwhelmed when it gets closer to the holiday. As I’m sure you are aware, many stores are packed the week of and for me I find it very stressful to shop during this time. Therefore, to make it easier and reduce the stress, I buy it little by little throughout the month as I come across it.

Extra Touches

Now if I’m being honest, I like to do a few things that some would consider over the top, but I really enjoy the added touches so I do them anyway. When we lived in the states I loved to order printed Thanksgiving invitations. Even though it was just family attending, it made it a little more exciting. Also, my grandma loves things that have a little “extra” touch, so mainly I did it for her excitement and enjoyment. Shutterfly had some of the cutest ones and I just couldn’t resist. Plus, they were super affordable. I also liked to have little favors at each place setting. Sometimes I would do chocolates and once, I did little ornaments. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive or ultra fancy, but just a little touch of something to make it personal and welcoming.

Must Haves

I highly recommend investing in a few crockpots for Thanksgiving day, if you don’t already own some. As a disclaimer, I do not like to cook with them on a regular basis, but on a day when your oven and stove are at max capacity, it just makes things bit easier. Its so nice to be able to make something earlier in the day and keep it warm for when you are ready to eat. Personally, I prefer to use them for my mashed potatoes and corn. I find that those items do really well in the crock pots, and don’t get dried out. Also, they make these fantastic things called crockpot liners, which makes the cleanup about 5 seconds long.

Make Your Action Plan

As I mentioned earlier, I love to host but I also love to enjoy the day and relax which I’m sure you do as well. That’s why preplanning is key. Therefore, about one week before Thanksgiving I create my action plan. I sit down with my menu and write out the order in which I will cook everything while making note of the things I can make the day before. Below is a sample list from years past. While it can vary from year to year based off of who is coming and if they are bringing a dish, this is a pretty standard guide. So, if you are interested check it out.

Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

If you haven’t noticed by now,I really love this time of year. So, I thought I would share my favorite Thanksgiving memory with you all before I wrap up. Thanksgiving 2016 was the first major holiday my family celebrated after the death of my grandpa. We were all still mourning the loss and his presence was deeply missed. It just felt a little like something was missing from the day. We had gathered together to celebrate in the home he and my grandma had shared. The home we had celebrated so many holidays in together and on each holiday, especially Thanksgiving, my grandpa ALWAYS said the blessing over the food. There were no exceptions. He was the patriarch of our family after all. However, when it came time to pray on that day, we all stood there and looked at each other. Nobody quite knew what to do or say. Now, if you know my brother, you know he is a funny guy. The comedian of the family. He grabbed the hand of the person on his left and his right. And without missing a beat he began to sing. “Blessed be the tie that binds, our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds, is like to that above. AMEN.” We all joined in, we had all been raised baptist so we knew these words by heart from the age of 2. While it was a bit comical (we all chuckled a little), my grandma decided not only did she like what he had done, but it would also suffice as the blessing. And now every year, we join hands and sing the old hymn. Partly to have a little laugh and partly to bless the food before us.

You’ve Got This!

Now, finally, I just want to leave you with a bit of encouragement. Whether your green beens come from a can or you picked them from your garden. Whether the mashed potatoes are instant, or made by hand. Whether you use china or paper plates. Remember none of that matters. None of that ever mattered. The only thing that matters are the people around your table. The fellowship you all will get to have with one another. And the memories you will make together. Those are the things people will remember. They will remember how you made them feel when they walked in the door. And they will be thankful they were able to spend such a special day together.

My Personal Action Plan

Here are the things I cook or prep the day before:

Make the cheeseball for appetizer
Slice all cheese and meats for appetizers
Bake all pies and make the whipped cream for topping
Make deviled eggs
Prep turkey the for next day
Set the dining room table

Here is my day of Thanksgiving timeline:

1. Turkey
2. Begin rolls (they take a while since they have to rise 2 times)
3. Set out butter to soften
4. Begin sweet potato casserole
5. Plate and set out all appetizers
6. Cranberry sauce (I like it room temp, so this gives it time to cool and be perfect for dinner)
7. Corn (I do this one in the crockpot)
8. Green Bean casserole
9. Mashed potatoes (once finished I place in crock pot to keep warm)
10. Stuffing
11. Gravy
12. Remember to grab deviled eggs from the refrigerator ( once we forget them haha)
13. Set out dessert right before you are ready to eat your meal
14. Enjoy!

Nobody was prepared for the dumpster fire that 2020 has been. I especially wasn’t ready to experience a pandemic while living in a foreign country. And to top it off, being in one that just happened to have some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world. I can best sum up my experience like this, “I don’t know if it was all a dream or not.” It all seemed so surreal that its a bit hard to wrap my mind around. I am certain that all of the “social distancing” and lockdown measures have been difficult for us all, no matter where you live. This hasn’t been easy on anyone, anywhere in the world. But just for a moment, let me transport you into my world. How it was for me, in Madrid Spain:

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a person who lives in fear, or gets scared or spooked easily. But, this experience was a bit scary at times. When they announced “Spain is locking down” they meant it. There was no ability to do anything. Literally ANYTHING. No sneaking past any rules. No wiggle room to do what you please. We were essentially locked in our house, for 3 months straight, the ability to go on a walk in our neighborhood was considered a criminal offense. I have never been so thankful for a yard in my life, it was the biggest blessing. We recognize that we had it so much better than most in Madrid. The large majority of people here live in apartments with their entire family, children included. The 4 walls of their apartment were it for them. Can you even imagine?

At the time when we went into complete lockdown in March of 2020, the Covid-19 virus had a lot of mystery and unknowns surrounding it (in some ways it still does). This fact along with many others made for an ultra strict lockdown in Spain. Police were patrolling even my rural Madrid neighborhood. They were announcing things in Spanish over the speakers, that I didn’t understand, to make sure nobody stepped a toe out of line. That was unnerving for us all. We were not able to understand what was being announced and were not getting all of the news updates because only a few got translated into English. During that time we were beyond thankful for friends who were fluent in Spanish and were able to give us updates and help us better understand what was going on around us. That was so huge for us, without that help it would have made things ten times harder.

The rules that the police were heavily enforcing were no joke. Everything you did had to be meticulously calculated as to stay within the lockdown measures. Only one person was permitted in a car. You were not allowed to go anywhere with anyone for any reason. The only places you were allowed to go were the following: grocery store, pharmacy, hospital, and tobacco store. Gas stations were also open as well as dry cleaners for some reason, though I never figured out why since all office buildings were closed. When I would venture out to buy food about every two weeks, I would get stopped by the police who would ask to see my ID to verify I was going to the grocery store closest to my home. Then, while returning home, I would have to show receipt proof of where I went and my ID once more. At the grocery store, police stood at every entrance making sure everyone was in masks and gloves. Inside the store any aisles not containing food related items were taped off with caution tape. The only exceptions being the personal hygiene and pet care areas of the store. If it was your kids birthday, too bad. You couldn’t sneak past the caution tape to buy them any gifts.

Once I got home with my haul there was a certain routine to bring everything into the house. I would carry everything in via the kitchen door. Next I would Clorox wipe everything down and then wipe down the counter where everything had been setting. Looking back, I can see how over the top this extra precaution was. However, to be fair, where I was living and what I was experiencing was a little over the top also. The times in which we were living in and in some ways are still living in, are unknown. None of us have ever experienced anything like this before in our lifetime, and hopefully we never will again. If there is one takeaway I hope to drive home to everyone it is this: show others grace. Whether it’s those you love or those you live around while navigating this season of life, pour out grace. Pour out understanding and patience. People who live with anxiety in normal circumstances are probably on overload right now. People who have kids with special health concerns (like my Jane), are trying our best to not instill a fear of illness into them, and into ourselves. If someone you want to spend time with kindly asks you to wear a mask around them to make them feel more comfortable, do it. Love and care for others selflessly. Even if you don’t care that people wear a mask around you, think of others needs before you think of your own. Thats the lesson I hope we can all take from 2020. Maybe a small inconvenience to me means that somebody I care about will have a little extra peace of mind today.

This year has not gone the way any of us would have wanted. I remember at the start of the year Trenton and I were hyped up for all the things God was going to do in 2020. We had envisioned a resurgence of the “roaring twenties”, we wanted to take the year on with 20/20 vision for the future. This year did roar in, though in a different way than we expected. This season of life did give us 20/20 vision for our future, many of the ways have been surprising to us. We have learned to be thankful for the little things in life. We have gotten to spend so much quality time together as a family and we we beyond grateful for that. So take a step back, try to look beyond the hard and disappointment this year has been. Find some things to be thankful for, I know you will find them!

Tag: family

How To Host Thanksgiving Dinner | Plus My Favorite Thanksgiving Memory |