Lots to do for Thanksgiving & Christmas

Whew.  I have a lot of stuff I need to do.

Today I'm going to work on as much stuff as possible to get ready for Thanksgiving.  This is the first time that I'm having Thanksgiving with just Jeff, and I think only the second time that I won't be with my family (we had turkey at his sister's house a few years ago).

While it's just us, I still feel like there is a lot to be done!  We aren't skimping on the menu...  We're having:

• Roasted Turkey Breast (let's all hope it's not dry...)
• Gravy (hopefully homemade, but I bought a jar, just in case)
• Stuffing (Pepperidge Farm)
• Candied Yams (like Mom makes)
• Mashed Potatoes (more for the leftovers than for anything else)
• a veggie, from the freezer
• Coke Salad (ancient family recipe)
• Pumpkin Pie (again, like Mom makes)
• Cranberry Jelly (canned)

Yes, we will have lots of leftovers.  But I have my Pinterest board all ready with leftover recipes.  And I plan on making turkey & potato soup, using this recipe as a base.  I send soup in a thermos to work with Jeff everyday (it's a Stanley thermos and he said it's always hot when it's lunch time), so I figure if I make the soup, I could freeze some for later for lunches.

Also, the Coke Salad will NOT last long.  Which reminds me, I gave the recipe to a sample lady at Costco this weekend!  How funny is that?  She was in the aisle near the cream cheese, and Jeff asked if we needed any, and then started razzing me that I haven't yet made the Coke Salad that I said I'd make a month ago (true story), and the sample lady asked what Coke Salad is.  I verbally told her, and she pulled out a piece of paper and asked me to write it down!  I sure hope I remembered it correctly, and that her family likes it!

I'm considering making pinwheels to take to church on Sunday.  They have a lunch after every service.  And I figured if I put some turkey, cranberry jelly, craisens, and cream cheese on tortillas, roll them up, and slice, that would be pretty darn yummy...

So today I need to finish putting away the groceries from this weekend's shopping trip (it was a 2-day event and the car was so loaded down that Jeff said that the car raised up 4 inches when we unloaded it).  I need to do dishes, then make pumpkin pie, then do dishes, then make Coke Salad, then do dishes, then cut the veggies that I'll use tomorrow, then do dishes, then make dinner.  And I currently plan on doing dishes before going to  bed so that I have a clean kitchen to start in tomorrow.

Why do I need to do dishes so often?  We don't have a dishwasher, at least not one that isn't human.  And I have a tendency to dirty a LOT of dishes when I cook.  And I hate dirty dish water.  And I also don't really care for drying dishes, so if I do them in batches, they are more likely to air dry in between batches.

I figure if I get all the veggies cut that I will need for tomorrow, it will make my life easier.  I'm also considering making the mashed potatoes ahead of time; does that work?  Is that a thing?  I don't know, so maybe I'll text Tina and ask.

Jeff and I also have a lot that we have to do over the weekend (so excited that he has 4 days off!  Both Thursday & Friday are paid holidays!  At his old job he always had to work the day after...).  We have to put plastic up on the windows, run and get water, and I know that Jeff has some stuff that he wants to knock out this weekend.  I want to start wrapping Christmas presents and working on Christmas cards, along with some un-named Christmas-related stuff that I can't divulge at this time.

Well, I guess there's no time like the present!  Have a happy Thanksgiving!