Between the election, preparing for the Million Woman March, a death in the family this week, and death of my best friend last week, I have no focus and nothing done. My sister is coming from out of town and bringing dinner. I'll be doing well to have the dining room vacuumed.

That sounds so good tooky

Not at all ready! Our kitchen remodel was supposed to start in August and after unexpected delays - starting now. We won't be hosting thanksgiving/Christmas or decorating for the holidays this year. I am excited for the remodel to start, but not the bad timing.

At least I don't feel alone...and Christmas is right around the corner! :-) Haven't even started to food shop (it's Sunday -- I have time -- lol!) -- however, the good news is I did pre-order my turkey, so that's good to go. :-) Also, since I'm a traditionalist and have been cooking the Dinner for the family for the past 10+ years, I have perfected the menu over the years and have a binder with the recipes, ready to go; so it's only a matter of making a list of the ingredients from those recipes that I need and I'll be ready to shop...(maybe Tuesday :-).

The best thing that I have found -- after years of stressing about getting all the food ready at the right moment at the exact time -- is to take Wednesday off from work: I then make all of the dishes to the point of final cooking - put them in the fridge - then on T-Day all I do is put things in the oven, except for the fresh vegies. The clean-up is minimal; no pots all over the place on T-Day -- just a few things here and there. I also take that day before T-Day to clean the house (but only the first floor -- I used to spend the weekend before making the whole house spotless -- but, seriously, why?? everyone stays on the first floor - so only the kitchen, bathroom, and dining room get the spotless treatment -- with tidy up of the living room - but no one goes there anyway). Since I have been doing this, my Thanksgiving Day has been relaxing and fun -- I get to talk to my family without any worry about time (except for the last hour or so :-) -- and since the recipes have been tried and true and perfected, I can be assured of the accolades after the meal, year after year. :-)

We have fortunately been invited to our son's best friend's house again this year. So all I have to do is make the sweet potato casserole and bring wine. My husband somehow manages to get swindled into working every Thanksgiving weekend so he can take off at Christmas (which make's no sense since the person who works Christmas is Muslim!)

We have been renovating a home for 2 1/2 years that we haven't lived in yet. Our builder seems to have lost all concept of time, multitasking and prioritization. We were supposed to be in our house last Christmas! Then by Easter, then by summer, then by Labor Day. And it doesn't look like we will be in until after the holidays. So I'm stuck still in condo-ville with the WORST neighbors on the planet who think that blue light displays and ornaments on a dormant tree outside my bedroom window and our primary view are adding festivity to the neighborhood. Meanwhile, the Association won't repair a warped deck board, which is a tripping hazard, paint the cracked front door paint, or peeling trim paint. My holidays will be spent on trying to finish our renovation and suing our Association. I can't enjoy my new home, let alone my current home.

@dvd94, I couldn't agree more about preparing as much ahead as possible and parking it in the fridge. It's so totally do-able!

As we're Canadians, we had our Thanksgiving in October.

Since it's just me and my husband this year, our skis are tuned for some Thanksgiving Day skiing...oh, and I have a Trader Joe's breast of turkey in the fridge. I'll make a box of stuffing, mash a couple of potatoes, roast some brussels sprouts and toss a salad after we get home. I'll probably make a pumpkin pie on Wednesday. Maybe next year we will have company!

Only 10 this year, (compared to the typical 14-20 of various hangers-on & strays. All close family & everyone pitches in. Shopping for brine ingredients today (Monday) and pressing the tablecloth. Hubby will fry the turkey Thursday morning while I bake bread. Everything else comes in with the guests. Wouldn't have it any other way. Thanksgiving blessings to you all.

My daughter married a boy from New Hampshire so they alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas visits. Last year they were here for Thanksgiving so I hosted the dinner including our son and his wife.

This year it's just our son and daughter in law so we make reservations at a nice restaurant and have dessert at home while watching football. We could piggyback onto any of my relatives meals but prefer the peace and quiet.

When we moved into our house in September 2014 our (my) plan was to have it finished by Thanksgiving of this year...We just made it having the wood floors in the dining/living room done about a month ago.

So. . . we're empty nesters, from NYC, retired and living on the Sun Coast of Florida.

Are we ready for Thanksgiving? Nah. . .well, maybe.

The better half and I made reservations at a local swanky restaurant for some fine Prime Rib, medium rare with mixed veggies (carrots, zucchini, parsnips, red onions) a humongous Idaho Baked Potato (with everything on it), thin sliced Garlic Italian Bread and a very French 2012 Domaine Laurent Cognard Red Burgundy wine.

As the "Great One" used to say back in the day. . . "How sweet it is!"

This year has really gone by too fast!..
Can't believe it's already almost thanksgiving!

I work every other day. I have not had time to shop

Well I shopped. Now have to pull it together

I have not done anything special for Thanksgiving for the last several years. Now it is just a time for me to relax and catch up on reading and projects.

Just the two of us, the kids live out of state. We'll have a small turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes and cherry cream pie for dessert. We love the leftovers!

Am I mentally ready? Yes. Am I physically ready? Not even close.

@Tooky58 I hope you made enough for the rest of us! Sounds great :)

No restaurants open in my town on Tday so 93yr old mother decided she wanted to eat with her neighbors in their senior community dining room. I am going to rock newborn babes in need of stimulation and cuddling at the local hospital in the morning and eat Amy's pizza for my day of thanksgiving:)

Got a lovely surprise this morning: furnace died! Bought a space heater - lol - but it did such a great job keeping the kitchen and dining room warm, I decided to move along as planned and start my cooking (see earlier post) and have T-Day as normal. I figured it usually gets so warm in these rooms any way, with the oven going and lots of body heat, no one will even realize the rest of the house is cold. :-) Then later this evening I got the call from Home Depot: they are going to install my new furnace on Thanksgiving morning -- isn't that nice! :-) So all the prep work (to ready to cook) is done -- just have the turkey and vegies to do tomorrow. :-) :-) Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy thanksgiving to all!

Ever since we have our new kitchen, we host his family (I have none). I do all the cleaning. He does the cooking. I love his family, but physically, I feel like I got run over by a truck, between pre-and post-dinner cleanup.

My sister and brother in law had us over for dinner which was great - nice time with my nieces and our two dogs - I didn't get a st of her chiweenie but our jack russell actually sat still for a second to catch a photo :) and I brought a leaf topped apple pie. The weather was mild and it was a nice day.

My sister and brother in law had us over for dinner which was great - nice time with my nieces and our two dogs - I didn't get a shot of her chiweenie but our jack russell actually sat still for a second to catch a photo :) and I brought a leaf topped apple pie. The weather was mild and it was a nice day.

sorry not sure why it posted 2x

Now it's time to get ready for Christmas

already got a few gifts from Houzz

Christmas is coming!..
Can't believe it's already almost 2017!

It always amazes me how people get all their Christmas decor up by Thanksgiving day. I still have pumpkins all over the place.

We normally decorate for Christmas the day after Christmas.

Thanksgiving not Christmas

Got our tree today with my sister and our families at the tree farm - it's in the stand and will fall overnight - we'll decorate it tomorrow. This was a cute little guy welcoming us in the barn at the farm. Christmas time has come!

Is anybody ready for Christmas yet?

Working on it!

Chloebud I understand. Don't know when we are getting Christmas tree!. And we already have some Christmas stuff up but not finished yet!
And it's only 22 more days! Wow!

minjeeah, I got the tree decorated this morning...took me 4 hours. Why are tree lights always such a pain? Grrr...

Chloebud! I just don't know!:).
That's a good question tho!
How does it look?

Because they're all what my husband calls C-cubed - Cheap Chinese C#&%. I am being saved from the whole ordeal this year by having a broken leg, and it's almost worth it. :-)

Cool!

minjeeah, it looks really nice!

Something interesting...we got the tree at Home Depot. The tree lot was very busy last Friday night with a long line of people with their trees. There was only one guy to "bag" up the trees. No one was there for you to pay, and the one guy wasn't asking for payment. He was just putting the trees in the netting and handing them off to people. You have to wonder how many people walked off with a free tree! We set our tree aside and went to the garden section to pay, but no one was monitoring that we paid. We just walked back and took our tree.

Wow!:). That's amazing!

So we just got our Christmas tree in!. So excited!
Now to decorate it.

Great! I took a pic of ours yesterday right after my husband assembled a battery-powered "train" for our grandson to ride on. Gotta figure out how to wrap it.

Chloebud
Can you use rapping paper? Or is it too big to fit?
Or you could just sit it in your garage till its time for him to get it.

minjeeah, it's a little big for wrapping paper. Right now it's in a closet and out of sight for when he's here. I'll have to see...we might just tie a big bow on the "handlebar."

Chloebud. I understand. How are you?

LOL...we could always disassemble it and put it back in the box. Somehow I don't think that would be as fun for an almost two-year-old.

Chloebud. Lol!. You could always do that!
But 2 year olds like that kind of stuff you know!

Anyone else ready for Christmas?!..
I am kinda!. Lol!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a blessed day!