Preparations

Needless to say, I am very excited to be hosting Thanksgiving this year. It will be nice to be with my family again since I haven't spent Thanksgiving with them since I moved here (2 1/2 years ago). This will also be the first time the "kids" will spend a holiday together without our parents. That's a little strange, I have to admit. It makes me feel like we're grown ups. Not to mention the fact that my baby brother is graduating high school this year. But that's another topic entirely...

Last night I went to my favorite store to (finally) go Thanksgiving grocery shopping. It's Walmart, by the way. And I know, I know. But I just don't care-I love it! And here's why:
I had a massive shopping list, y'all. This was partly because I had to buy everything, even the basics like flour, sugar, spices, etc. Basically, it was every single ingredient needed to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner in my shopping cart. (And you should know that when I say an entire Thanksgiving dinner, I really mean, 'enough food to feed half the country'.)
So anyway, I love grocery shopping at Walmart. I know where everything is (and just in case I didn't, they supplied these handy laminated Holiday Shopping Guides that listed every ingredient you might need for Holiday cooking and which aisle they were located on. So wonderful!). I know about how much everything costs. I know which brands I like, which I prefer and which I have to choose from. All of this has made me a pretty good grocery shopper. I can almost always get out of there under budget and with quite a few bags of groceries. But last night...I outdid myself.
My sister and I had a dollar amount in our heads. Granted, when you think about it, it was a bit much to spend on one meal but you have to remember this is the biggest meal of the year. And we're feeding 6+ people and LOVE leftovers. Anyway, we had this dollar amount in our heads. Secretly, I was hoping it would be less than that, but I didn't want to have to skimp on anything. Howevery, my super-human grocery shopping powers were in full force last night. An hour and a half later, I was checking out and holding my breath (metaphorically, not literally). When the grand total was announced, I thought for sure she had forgotten to scan a couple bags of stuff. I checked the conveyor belt and, sure enough, it was empty. Everything was bagged and in my cart and I had finished $40 under budget!! It was amazing.

Now the cooking begins. I'm going to start early this year. Prep and some of the food will be made the day before to ensure it all gets done on time (and I'm not dead by the time we sit down to eat). Here's the menu...it doesn't look like anything fancy. (No fancy ingredients or cooking techniques in the titles, sorry. But it is ALL homemade from scratch.) And if you've tasted this food, you know I'm telling the truth when I say it's simply going to be the best dinner. Ever.

Appetizers:
cheese ball w/assortment of crackers
deviled eggs
relish tray (pickles, olives, spicy veggies, etc)

Main Course:
turkey
twice baked potatoes
cornbread stuffing
candied yams
green bean casserole
pasta salad
corn
cranberry sauce
rolls
turkey gravy

Dessert:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Banana Pudding
Mississippi Mud Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!!