I highly recommend the low key Thanksgiving

Rule one
Make sure you have had plenty of time to thaw out the turkey. Butterball has a hotline for people who find it difficult to cook a turkey. It is not, but I am guessing a frozen turkey is the biggest problem. This was my 32 family turkey done by me and once again it came out very tasty, It was a 21 lb turkey that took about 4 1/2 hours at 325 degrees to cook it just right.

Make sure the bag of giblets ( neck bone, gizzard, heart, liver) is removed before you place it in the oven. I through that in a pot, simmer in water and eat that myself. The liver I gave to the dogs.

Don't stuff the turkey, do that separately can affect the cooking time and I think dry out the turkey. I season the outside of the turkey and and baste it with butter a few times and and later just use the pan drippings. When it was done, I could have cut the turkey with a spoon, yep, that tender and juicy. Loved by all.

Rule two
Decide what side dishes you will have and shop ahead of time, this way there is no substitutions on the ingredients and do them first, this way no worries on the use of the oven, Worked real well this time around.

Rule three
Company. Tough call. We have gotten away from the the big family gatherings. The peace and quiet, for the most part, was worth it. eating at home, not missing leftovers, is a nice feeling. Clean up was easy. Time spent with my children was nice, one however was working a lot of overtime and couldn't be there.

Rule four
Yep, football. It does help to have a nice size TV and very entertaining games on all day. I did not get the usual tired and sleepy during the games and each one was fun to watch. And then off to bed. I am not that much of a shopper and the frenzy of early morning goody run was not appealing. Plus I do have to be out and about today. Being this is my first time as an agent today should be an interesting day.

There you have it, my basic stuff of a nice holiday.

Brought to you by a nice glass of egg nog!
and of course coffee!

ray