This is a big Thanksgiving for us. It’s our first year hosting and it’s PW’s first turkey day. My family is coming down from Seattle to see us (…see the baby) so there’s slightly more pressure to pull off a great meal, although in the grand scheme of things I doubt they care about the food or decor. Anyway, I’m writing this post as homemade stock simmers on the stove in preparation for the holiday while our little man’s first craft is displayed proudly on the fridge. Since holidays, to me, are really about family and food I’ll start with our menu. All recipes are linked and I highly recommend them. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m pretty dang proud of this meal. It remains largely unchanged from previous years. The only additions to the menu are green beans (for those that aren’t fond of Brussels sprouts) and appetizers (since you clearly need appetizers before you stuff your face.)

TURKEY– Saveur “The Perfect Bird” – 4 hours including resting

GRAVY– Ina Garden’s “Homemade Gravy”- 30 minutes to an hour. Must be made after turkey is cooked

STUFFING– Savory Sweet Life “Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe” – 1 hour

CRANBERRY SAUCE– Simply Recipes “Cranberry Sauce”- 30 minutes

BRUSSELS SPROUTS – Whole Foods “Rosemary Parmesan Brussels Sprouts”- 1 hour

GREEN BEANS- boiled, blanched, and quickly sautéed in butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper – 20 minutes

CORN- boiled, cooled, then cut off the cob and seasoned with butter, salt and pepper – 15 minutes

MASHED POTATOES – Simple Recipes “Perfect Mashed Potatoes” – 45 minutes

APPLE PIE – the Joy of Baking “Apple Pie” – 3 hours

Appetizer:

CRANBERRY MEATBALLS – All Recipes “Cocktail Meatballs” – 1 hour 45 minutes

Now that the menu is planned, I have a few really simple crafts to share with you. See the turkey our son made in the picture at the top of the page? It’ll be a great keepsake and was so easy! All we did was put paint on his foot, smash it into the paper, and let it dry. Then I added a few pieces of craft paper to make the body, beak, eyes, and feet. Tada! By the way, our (almost) 2 month old’s feet have are close to double their size compared to his birth day. Holy cow.

Another decoration I made is a “Thankful” banner seen in the photo above. You can find the free printables here. I chose a gold glittery paper for the background because it matched the center piece for our table, but you can use whatever you like. I’ll probably re-purpose this for Christmas and print out some new letters to attach. One thing I recommend, however, is to get cardstock of some sort. These need to be sturdy to hold their shape.

Lastly, another free printable made its way into a frame on our wall. I added some gold glitter to the side to tie into our decor and add some color.

And there you have it! We’re ready for turkey day! Gobble gobble.