Hellobee Boards

Thanksgiving will be just the four of us. With the exception of me, my family doesn't really love traditional Thanksgiving food, so I'm making a meal we'll all enjoy: roasted chicken, crescent rolls, and green beans with almonds. For dessert, though, we're going all out. Pumpkin pie for 3 out of 4 of us, and pecan bars for DH. Ice cream and whip cream for all. Pecan bars will be handed out to neighbors, too, because I don't need that many sweets in the house! We'll do a Zoom call with my whole family in the afternoon.

We’re definitely scaling back to the things people like the most and I’m not feeling a need to live up to any traditions (I feel that way about a lot this year!). Maybe pork tenderloin instead of turkey because way easier and everyone eats it better. Then mashed potatoes (a special treat around here), old school green bean casserole, frozen rolls likely (although maybe I’ll get motivated to make them from scratch). Desserts will be courtesy of TJs! I love their cranberry tart that you just thaw. Maybe I’ll do a special breakfast for parade watching of chocolate croissants and cranberry bread or an egg casserole.

It's just going to be the 4 of us but we plan on going all out. Last year I had jaw surgery 9 days before Thanksgiving and was still wired shut so I didn't get to enjoy any of it.

DH is going to smoke our turkey in his barrel smoker. I'm making roasted caramelized carrots, green been casserole, baked garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing and dinner rolls. For dessert we will have a decorate your own cupcakes station. I might also make some mini pies because I love pumpkin pie.

I will probably make some appetizers too. I found a yummy looking baked brie bread bowl that I want to try.

We also cut down our Christmas tree the day after so we will be getting the house ready for that.

This is a great question. It's tough b/c it's the first holiday season after my grandma passed and she was where we always had our holidays. My mom was supposed to be the one who would take over for her but obviously the big family celebration isn't happening. We live close to my parents and they're in our bubble so we'll go to their house. We'll make a turkey breast and apparently a ham b/c that's what my mom already has in the freezer. We need to plan out the rest of the meal. We're talking about maybe ordering the sides from local restaurants to help support them b/c of everything that's going on. I'm guessing we'll have a video chat with my 3 brothers and their families. We talked about doing a contest like we did at Easter where we all made our own dessert and voted who's was the best but haven't gotten farther on that. Definitely will be strange but looking forward to being with my parents and will help my mom who will be missing her mom....

@wrkbrk: ooh what’s the horseradish carrot recipe?

@wrkbrk: thanks!

@ilovepie: Any response from you other than "we're going to have a bunch of pie" would have been very disappointing.

@caitcat: I caved on my hard-held devotion to real Christmas trees only and bought a fake one just so we can put it up early. It'll be here Friday and it'll probably come out early next week.