Thanksgiving Kitchen Test Run

GettyImages | Alex Raths

I love hosting friends and families for the holidays. While there are always moments of stress, the overall feeling it brings me is joy. I don’t just love the actual day of hosting, I also love the preparation phase. Planning out what my Thanksgiving table will look like is something I start doing in August. I order my Christmas wrapping paper in September.

While this might sound crazy and over the top to some, to me it isn’t because it is something I love doing. Planning somehow calms me and I truly think it is part of keeping my own mental health in check.

Knowing this, it came as no surprise to my husband when I decided to do a “test run” for Thanksgiving food in October.

It’s actually my husband’s fault.

Back in late summer when I started planning my Thanksgiving table, he had the idea that we should make all the food this year instead of having guests each bring a side dish. We have hosted for years now and we always provide the turkey; which my husband prepares perfectly; and we assign guests to bring something. Bringing one thing is fairly simple and it makes my job as hostess much easier.

Until this year.

I guess I could have pushed back on my husband but in that moment, I loved how excited he was about it. I said yes before I even really thought about the reality of it. It makes me so happy that he also loves hosting along side me. It never falls all on me because we very much work as a team.

Then October came and as I was knee deep in making sure I was getting prepared for the holidays with ordering wrapping paper and a few new things for my Thanksgiving table, I started to feel stress loom over me. It was stress specifically around realizing that while I had committed to preparing the entire Thanksgiving feast, I had never actually done so and I also didn’t totally know how to do it.

But I didn’t let myself panic.

Instead I took a breath and had a discussion in my head around what I could do to rid myself of this stress and to feel prepared come Thanksgiving Day.

The answer was simple.

I would do a Thanksgiving kitchen test run. I would make all the food that I never had before so that I would feel more ready and confident on the actual day.

Part of the challenge in this idea was finding a weekend evening we actually had free from commitments. Once I narrowed in on a day, I got to work.

Really the only items we were confident in making were the turkey and gravy; relief as this is obviously the main course; and appetizers. I really had my work cut out for me.

I went straight to the experts. Or in this case, one of my husband’s good friends who is a phenomenal cook and I knew would be up for helping me particularly considering it would mean a free feast for him in the end.

Mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn casserole and homemade bread were items I wanted on my menu but didn’t know exactly where to start. I decided I would have store bought pies, cranberries and macaroni and cheese.

I sent my husband to the store with a detailed list, invited our friend over as my guide and we all got to work.

I took notes as I made each item so I wouldn’t have to go off of memory for anything.

GettyImages | Liliboas

In the end, we had quite a feast and ended up inviting more friends over to help us eat. I had made enough mashed potatoes to feed an army. But with 20 guests for Thanksgiving, I needed to ensure I also was confident in how much to make. So I literally made enough for 20 people.

I now am back to enjoying the anticipation of the holidays and the planning that goes along with it. I didn’t allow the stress to continue looming over me.

I am so excited to host my family for Thanksgiving and I am confident my husband and I will work as a team to provide a wonderful meal for everyone. If something goes wrong, hopefully we can just laugh about it.

Are you feeling ready for the holidays ahead? We’d love to hear!

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