Thanksgiving Debrief

It’s a quiet morning here, the day after Thanksgiving. I’ve lit a candle, as I always do, and have tucked onto the sofa to savor my first cup of tea as daylight slowly comes. A wallop of a winter storm is heading our way over the next two days, changing our weekend plans a bit. No worries. We have plenty of food, warmth, and games right here to keep us busy (indeed, the poker chips and cards are still on the table from last night). By Sunday, we may be able to venture into the mountains to find a Christmas tree.

But right now, I’m taking a moment to reflect, do an inner debrief of sorts, as I like to do following a holiday or event that entails a lot of planning, coordination, and effort to pull off. Sometimes I write down in a journal my post-event thoughts, noting what worked, what didn’t, what I’d do differently next time. But this time, I’m writing them here, for all of us.

Things I’ll Do Again…

Simple intentions. I loved my overall intention to keep the holiday(s) simple. This translated into a menu featuring only our favorite tried-and-true. Not including complicated side dishes that I’d never made before kept the stress level down and my kitchen time enjoyable. Also, I must note that an un-ironed table cloth is so easy and relaxed.
Make ahead. A couple weekends before, I’d made several quarts of chicken bone broth (Deb’s recipe is so easy) and had it in the freezer, ready to be thawed for the stuffing and gravy. The day before, I made the dinner rolls, bread for stuffing, apple and pumpkin pies, mashed potatoes, and I whipped the cream. The relief this puts on my oven, stovetop, clock, and my energy is highly appreciated. Also on hand were plenty of taper candles.
Brine the turkey. This year, I used this brine (purchased locally) had the turkey submerged from Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening, then let it dry uncovered in the refrigerator until I put it in the oven at Thursday noon. It was deliciously moist for our early evening dinner.
Early evening dinner. It’s been usual for us to have our Thanksgiving feast midday, but this year, an early evening dinner seemed best (we sat down a little past 4:30). I really liked how this let me enjoy a slower morning and tend to the dinner prep in a leisurely way, and how there was plenty of evening left afterward to relax and play games together. Also, candlelight is most delightful when the evening dusk has fallen.
Fresh herbs. The weekend before, I’d potted up a small indoor herb garden with sage, thyme, marjoram, and oregano. In a separate pot for my kitchen counter, I’d planted rosemary. Save for the fresh parsley that I’d bought from the market, it was wonderful snipping fresh herbs from my ‘garden’ to use in my cooking.

Room to Improve…

Charcuterie board. So. Because of the aforementioned later dinner, having a platter of something snack-able around the noon hour is a good idea. I had purchased some things for a charcuterie board, but didn’t make prepping it a priority, so everyone ended up finding their own thing to stave off the hunger when it struck. (I think one boy ate PB&J). Better to have the snack board prepped and ready in the fridge, I realized, to just pull out, add crackers and nuts to, and be good to go.
Right-size baking dishes. Though my second nature is to make do with what I have, there is something to be said for having the right-size dish for what you’re baking. Take our favorite squash gratin, for instance. The gratin dish I’ve been using is too big, leaving proper baking time a bit tricky to nail down. After quickly over-baking it this year, I’ve added a better size dish to my shopping list.
Table decor. In my best world, I would have had foraged bits of nature - leaves, berries, branches - worked together and in some way sharing space at the center of the dining table with our beeswax candles. Or I would have at least had the silver basket of pears you see up there. But, by the time I was setting the table, I didn’t have any of those wild-foraged things gathered. I did have the basket of pears, but forgot to put them on. As it was, the table was draped with a cloth and white linen napkins, our simple white everyday dinnerware, stemless wine glasses, our silver-plate flatware, and a pair of brass candlesticks. The candles were lit, and all was simple and elegant enough, but I did miss having a bit of nature’s decor. (I’m sure none of my male folk even thought about any of this, or noticed the lack thereof - they were just jazzed about drinking sparkling cider from the stemless wineglasses, which they said were “lit”. And the food. Of course, they were most focused on the food.)
Housekeep ahead. Sometimes with workload and life-load, accomplishing everything ahead that I’d like to just isn’t possible. But. If there’s any way to work in getting the deeper housekeeping done three or four days ahead, instead of the day before, I’d be so happy (and thankful).

How about you? Any details you’d repeat or others you’d like to include?

Note: And in publishing this post, I mistakenly deleated the one that preceeded it, and as a result, messed up the comments. Sigh. Apologies, loves.