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it takes us 2 to 3 days spread out to do all the cooking. i like to make things ahead of time that i know can sit well for a day or so until The Day, like most desserts and the cranberry sauce. the boy and i split the cooking, we try to do it leisurely, and we always make far too much food.

which reminds me, since we'll be having two turkeys this year, if anyone is in atlanta, you're more than welcome to come to our house.

Good question! I have yet to do a big holiday dinner on my own since we are always camping with friends and either eating with them (camper kitchen Thanksgivings can be QUITE impressive) or at the campground with 50+ people where they recruit campers to help cook over 3 days (1 for pies/desserts, 1 for sides, and 1 for meatz).

I cook everything and I love it. My MIL was only relieved when I took over as she doesn't quite enjoy cooking (to say he least). My SIL usually brings a couple of tins of corn and cranberry jelly because this is what her BF grew up eating, and as far as he's concerned, it isn't Thanksgiving without opening a couple of tins. Everybody else is perfectly content with either not bringing anything, or more often, bringing their alcohol of choice, or at times, dessert.

So I start planning in advance, as if it were a complicated military operation (I may have that OCD my OH keeps talking about:-)). I keep all menus and related shopping lists in My Documents, so admittedly, it gets easier and easier, but I also always try to come up with something new. I actually write (well, type) a "game plan" - I plan all shopping and cooking for each day starting Saturday-Sunday, and I'm very good at sticking to the plan (otherwise, why have a plan?:-)). As a result, I don't run round like a crazy woman on the day of, as I have lots of things prepared in advance. Even things that get cooked at the last moment are prepped, so I never do any washing and drying or slicing and dicing. So while it takes quite a while altogether (several days), I'm never so knackered on the big day that I just want to murder everybody...or go to sleep. Or murder everybody and then go to sleep. But I digress. I really end up enjoying both the cooking and the holiday itself.

It is a two week process.

We make the menu and shopping list, order the meat (we do crown roast instead of turkey) and shop for spices and hard to find non-perishable items (like crystallized ginger) two weekends prior. We have our usual list and occasionally will add or subtract something, so the menu planning is not too onerous any more.

The weekend before, we set the table and do the rest of the non-perishable shopping. DH gets any necessary wine from the off-site storage. Monday night we marinate the olives. Tuesday we do the piecrust (if we are having pie) and make breadcrumbs for the broccoli gratin. DH shops for the perishables.

Then the real fun begins! Wednesday afternoon I pick up the crown roast on the way home. We start on the sides mid-afternoon and do all the prep we can on those before and after Wednesday dinner (cooking and mashing sweet potatoes, blanching broccoli, preparing gratin toppings, making the cornbread for the dressing, cooking the cream of shiitake soup and so on). At the same time, I prep the custard for the ice cream. When the kitchen cools after the sides are prepared, my husband puts the rub on the crown roast while I do the baking. I make the cranberry sauce while the baked goods are in the oven, usually finishing up around midnight.

Did I mention that we are doing dishes and running the dishwasher throughout?

Now that we have switched from turkey to crown roast, we get to sleep in until almost 8:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving! I usually process the ice cream and put it in the freezer to set up first thing, but this year I will do the Parker House rolls first followed by the ice cream. After that, we assemble all of the side dishes, the pre-meal snacks, and the scalloped oysters and we prep the mashed potatoes 11-ish (they keep in a double boiler on the stove over very low heat). The roast goes into one oven just before noon (75-90 minutes to cook, then 30 minutes to sit) and the longer cooking sides go into the other oven at 1:00 p.m. Gravy gets done at 1:30 p.m. and we warm the soup at the same time. Then the scalloped oysters do their oven time and the sides that require less time enter the oven to bake (with the spoonbread being the last to enter the oven) while we have the oysters and the soup course. Followed by enormous amounts of eating for a long time.

Total time? Probably 24 hours total divided between two people. This year we are excited because one of our cooking friends (as opposed to one of our non-cooking friends who will show up with a purchased salad or pie that will sit almost untasted) is joining us. We know that he can be counted on to prepare at least two side dishes (probably the mashed potatoes and the sweet potatoes) and maybe even the soup in champion fashion with our preferred recipes, so that should cut the prep down noticeably.

I have to say that it all is worth it. DH and I love Thanksgiving -- it is our favorite meal of the year to cook and eat. So much so that we always make sure to have enough of everything to get us through the weekend afterwards!

I could very easily be a procrastinator. Back when I first took over holiday meals, the grocery stores, liquor stores, beer stores, butchers, bakeries, etc. were always closed on the holidays so you had better be prepared with everything you might need. I came to really enjoy the whole process and had very little last minute work to do. Like brooke29, I was prepared and ready, with as much done ahead as possible. I remember one year, my SIL offered to bring mashed potatoes. When she showed up with raw unpeeled potatoes, it really threw off my plan. Every burner and pot was in use. I think she knew I was NOT happy.

These days, I can't stand very long and need to pass the baton. Damn.

Loaded question.
I will start this weekend making cookies and baking cakes. Cakes get frozen till day of.
Also the meals I intend to serve the few days before since people will be trickling in starting that Tues.
Sunday before I will go get the bird.
Two days before I make the cheesecake and the dip if there is to be one.
Also anything chocolate and baked will get done that day. Any bar cookies or things that must be baked to be fresh about now.
Day before I brine. I cut up the bread and leave it out to stale.
Thaw the sausage and chop veggies. All veggies and crudites get chopped the day before and put in zip lock bags.
Our friend the baked brie gets wrapped and frozen till he is read for the oven. I start making platters of nibbles. All drinks needing chilling are put to the beverage fridge, beer and restocked. I usually make a conserve of cranberry with something boozy (grand marnier, etc) and my MIL makes her cranberry salad (with jello) and they get sent to the 2nd fridge.
And they get put into the 2nd fridge. Sweet potato casserole gets put together but not baked off. Linens are surveyed and checked for any missed spots and ironed if necessary. I do all the center pieces that night.
One for Entryway, one for the powder room, one for the dining room table, one for the kitchen. The Dining room one is the biggest the others smaller ones with same components.
Day of I get up early and prepare our Bird to go in the oven. Potatoes get peeled and put in a pot with water. Asapagus steamed and dressed into the fridge. Cakes out and frosted, cookie trays assembled. All sweets go to the dessert holding area. Table fixed and set. Serving dishes rinsed and in the staging area. Wine opened, tasted and left to breath. All crystal is run thru the dishwasher again. Coffee is set ahead of time so with one touch of a button that is ready to go.
I work dishes in and out while turkey cooks. Sweet potato, stuffing, our friend the brie. When the bird is damn near ready I start making veggies and boiling potatoes and prepare the gravy with the drippings. Pellegrino is put into pitchers, The datenut bread and rolls are put in their baskets.
While resting we mash potatoes, warm rolls, plate damn near everything.
The husband carves the bird and we run to the table.

By the time we sit I am so tired I cannot even think straight
I do not do this all by myself. Fair amount is done early. The week of Thanksgiving I have MIL, friends from out of town, our neighbors and day of my mom shows early.
If you are not doing the whole dog and pony show you could do it in 3 days. Just make lots of checklists and do not go overboard your first time.
More is not better than less if the more is not done right. For your first make a simple menu stick to it and do not be afraid to buy pies.
They are time consuming and must be done in advance. We usually go to a local orchard who has great pies. I do not like to spent time on pies.
Once the meal progresses people will help serve/help themselves.
Make lots of lists and do your wine pairings early.
Good Luck!
My army of helpers including

Last year Thanksgiving dinner for two took me 8 hours. I did everything myself...I decided it was hubby's day off. Turkey brined overnight. Went into the oven about 4.5 hours before dinner time. Spent the morning washing and prepping veggies and put a pecan pie in the oven. Spent the afternoon in the kitchen. By 6 pm I was exhausted, but dinner was great and we had way too much food...I mean waaaaaay too much food, further emphasizing our first Thankgiving away from the rest of the family.

This year, hubby does not get the day off. I will buy a much smaller turkey, like 8-10 pounds--do they come that small? I will prep my veggies a day ahead, I will ask someone who knows pies to bake a pie or I will buy one. On this Thanksgiving day, I hope to be in the kitchen only 3-4 hours.

The cooking starts about three days in advance, usually. That's for things like starting to make a stock that will be the base of the gravy and will also go into the stuffing. The day before, I do a lot of the chopping, and make the cranberry sauce, and do whatever else doesn't have to be done the day of the event. I might start a bread dough that night, or I might do that the next day, but I don't bake the rolls until Thanksgiving. Once the bird is in the oven, there usually isn't much else that needs to be done until its time to cook the veggies. Depending on what dessert is, I might make it the day before, or I might work on that while the turkey is roasting. Now that I have extra oven space, dealing with that is a little easier, so I can bake something at one temp while the turkey is in the big oven at another temp.

As far as planning and shopping, well, I ordered the turkey a couple days ago, and I'll be picking up other things along the way. There's really not much I need to buy in the last few days -- cranberries, for sure. I might need celery or potatoes, if I don't have them on hand already. I might need something for the dessert, and if I decide to make ice cream to go with dessert, I'll need stuff for that. But all the shopping fits in with all my usual errand-running, so it's not like I'm adding much more to the agenda.

@Heart, you stepmother is just rude. If someone brought food to my house, either I'd set it out with everything else, or, if it was completely out of place for the meal (for example, potato salad when I made lasagna) I'd be grateful and try to be graceful and try to find some way to work it in or find a nice way to explain why it wasn't going to be on the table. If the person who brought it had specific food issues (allergies, religion, etc.) so that they had to be careful of food they didn't prepare themselves, I'd cut them a lot more slack on bringing an odd dish.

At the worst, if I suspected the food was potentially hazardous to eat (potato salad traveled in the trunk of a car for 500 miles) I'd say that I'll be saving it for myself the next day, and I'd throw it away after everyone had gone home so no feelings would be hurt.

All I do is show up after everything is cooked.

My husband does all the [Thanksgiving] cooking. He starts 2-3 days before and cooks intermittently throughout the day and night. It's just the two of us, but he cooks for 25 on holidays. Most nights, he cooks for 10-15 people. o.O

@Jerzee ~ I also had to plan for many meals, as my parents and my baby brother (born when I was 20) would usually come for a week. Sometimes, other family members would stay over with their families, too. Luckily, my mother was a better cook than I and was an enormous help. She did all the baking and her pies were legendary. The biggest problem was my MIL who insisted that holiday meals be served at noon, pretty much on the dot. We always bought the biggest turkey we could find, always over 22 lbs and that sucker took a long time to cook, which meant getting up before the crack of dawn. One year, when it looked like dinner would be late, she came into the kitchen and started making spaghetti for her younger son, who was there with his wife and 3 boys. There were appetizers, but that wasn't good enough. It was just too funny. She decided her baby was hungry. He and his wife were embarrassed, but had to laugh, too.

@Heart ~ did you ever confront your step-mother and find out WHY she would toss food you or anyone else brought? she sounds wacky, you know - like should be in an institution wacky.

I remember running around like a lunatic trying to get a huge dinner ready with no help and many hinderences. The last few years things havecalmed down, if SO and I go out to the left coast, we usually have dinner at his sisters and I will bring something like lasagna or stuffed shells, and try to get there early enough to help out, if we stay home, its just the two of us and we do the simple dinner. This year we just found out his best friend wife and son will be coming for an extended stay (nov 19-dec2) so instead of the simple meal we would have had I guess I'll do something a bit more elaborate, what I have no clue but if all else fails they can order in ;-)

The day of it's, well, a day. I probably start around 11 am (after walking back from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade) and we eat around 6 or 7. That's my own personal change to a family tradition - my mom always made us eat holidays dinners at like 3 in the afternoon and I never understood it.

Anyway, I do most everything ahead of time. I'm probably start on freezable desserts and breads this weekend, I take the day off before to chop and prepare whatever I can, and I bake most of the pies the day before too. The day of, it's just about the bird and heating everything up.

I like to have a very traditional Thanksgiving meal.But very laid back and simple.When I was a kid my dad had to have this lavish,way over the top,look at how great I am crap,and I try to stay away from all that. That being said,I like to do all the cooking.When my kids were little,they were all my little prep cooks,helping to wash an chop all the veggies,maybe make a veggie platter and some simple Whore's Durves.I'm proud to admit that all of my grown children are accomplished cooks and foodies.We have turkey,either roasted,fried or smoked,sometimes 2 different ones.Mashed potatoes,baked sweet potatoes with a gingersnap topping,roasted carrots,broccoli,and some freakin awesome homemade sourdough stuffing.For dessert we have sweet potato pie,peach pie and whatever anyone else wants to bring.For me it's all about spending time with peeps that you love.I do very little prep work ahead of time,except for the pies which I do the day before,so I like to get an early start on T-Day morning.If I have to end up working that day,as I work in a meat market in a large grocery store,my wife will uaually start the roasted turkey before I get home from work.All together I probably spend 5 to 6 hours in the kitchen,at the smoker,and at the turkey fryer.

@Perky--she's nuts, perhaps--but it's more that she's Greek ;) My father is Greek, and my mother was not, and my stepmother is very, well, anti-anything that isn't Greek. Including me at the food I bring. She has a very rigid idea of what is 'correct' to eat. So bread that I pick out is 'not correct.' So are heart-shaped shortbread half-dipped in dark chocolate. Although she does serve Jello and allowed the corn bread muffins made from a Jiffy mix by her friend on her table one Thanksgiving, so I can't quite figure out her 'code,' other than, if you're Greek your food gets served, if not, it's in her circular file. The funniest thing I saw was not on T-day, but Xmas when every woman bought a lasagna, which was served, because well, it was Greek lasagna! It was like one lasagna pan for every four people! Sometimes holidays are when all of the family 'issues' get aired through food, unfortunately.

@dbcurrie--I didn't confront her, but I did ask my father, in a sort of 'well, what can I bring that she will like' sort of a way. He blatantly denied anything I'd given as a gift had been tossed, until I listed everything I bought that had 'disappeared' every year before hitting the table, to which he said: "so just bring yourself this year." "But all of the other women bring things and it makes me feel left out!" To which he muttered something about I can't take a hint. Which I can't, I'm very stubborn, I admit ;)

More on topic, I think it's awesome how everyone with such busy lives is so organized with all of this prep. But I agree in general that eating so early is crazy--it puts so much pressure on the cook and everyone is comatose for the rest of the day!

@wookie -- Consider doing either a stuffed turkey breast (lots of good recipes out there), turkey confit (great recipe in that new cookbook, "Fat"), or either making or purchasing a deep fried turkey.

Deep frying works best with a bird under 12 pounds -- but be sure to order one early from your preferred store because lots of stores only get the larger ones. The purchasing option is more appealing than you might think -- my favorite Cajun place deep fries and lets you pick up on Wednesday. It crisps up great in the oven and I love to do a cajun style stuffing with it. Of course, we do not do turkey for Thanksgiving at our house, but it is something we will do for a buffet type party.

Oh, and you always can order a small turducken . . .

@Perky-- I am with you on the early eating thing. The first time I met my future inlaws it was Thanksgiving at their house. They eat at noon. I simply cannot eat all of that food that early. (I also have issues with the fact that they eat Thanksgiving dinner off of TV trays while watching either football or old movies, but that is another story). Because they join us for the holiday, I leave pastry (purchased) out on the counter and precut fruit in the fridge for them to keep them fed on the holiday morning and to avoid a repeat of their performance from four years ago where, after waking up at their usual ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m., they decided to make themselves omelets using some of the eggs meant for the dressing and dirtying a couple pans in the process. I also put out marinated olives, various charcuterie items, and the little Laughing Cow cheese cubes (don't ask me why, everyone loves 'em and they all get eaten) at noon to tide them over until we start with the serious eating at 2:00 pm.

@onepercent -- We always are searching for a better stuffing recipe. Would you consider sharing yours for sourdough stuffing, or is it a family secret?

My in-laws used to show up every Sunday, uninvited, but it became a ritual. Dinner at noon, even though we were just getting home from church. They drove about an hour and a half to get there, and never called, so occasionally we weren't there. At one point, I finally figured out why dinner had to be at noon. They wanted time to eat, visit, have dessert and be home in time for Lawrence Welk. Swear to God. Even on holidays. We often had 30ish people for T-Day. Now, between death and divorce and kids moving across country, we could have as few as 3. I miss the big Norman Rockwell holidays. If you're still doing them, enjoy!!!

THREE HOURS. Here's how:

(well, first a short intro: a few years ago i was in charge of getting thanksgiving reservations for me and my bf, and i failed to plan properly and so all the restaurants were booked. I realized i was SOL at around 2pm. Crap. Managed to get a tasty thanksgiving-esque dinner on the table by 6pm)

1. Run to the grocery store and try to find a turkey that isn't frozen or 65 lbs.
2. Fail to find an unfrozen turkey
3. Pick up the cornish game hens instead, along with brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, pie crust, stuffing mix (i know, shoot me), and cranberry jelly-in-a-can (yes, i prefer this to the actual cranberries).
4. Run home, clean the hens and shove 'em in the oven, surrounded by a garden of brussels sprouts, cubed turnips, potatoes, onions and carrots and let 'em roast.
5. Put the potatoes & sweet potatoes in water to boil.
6. Slice up the apples, coat them with ground cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, a splash of lemon, and a bit of flour, and throw the whole mess into the pre-made pie crust. Add a crumb topping if you're feeling adventurous.
7. Mash the boiled potatoes and throw in some sour cream and maybe garlic or horseradish to "gourmet" them up
8. Mash the boiled sweet potatoes and add a little ground clove and nutmeg and salt to taste
9. Make stuffing on the stove top
10. Pull the birds out of the oven, make sure veggies are properly roasted.
11. Throw pie in the oven.
12. Plate the bird, stuffing (put stuffing into the hen's cavity for extra bonus points), roasted veggies, mashed galic potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and sliced rounds of cranberry jelly-in-a-can.
13. Tell your hubby "I figured we should stay home and have a home cooked meal for Thanksgiving, rather than going out to a cold restaurant. I slaved away ALL DAY in the hot kitchen ... but you're worth it"
14. Revel in the compliments
15. Pull pie out of oven and devour... you've earned it.

Total time: 3 hrs. Seriously. I know there's no turkey, but its really about all the sides anyway, isn't it?

I've lived outside the US, for the last few years, so this hasn't come up recently. When I'm in the US, I usually wait until Thanksgiving day to decide whether or not I'm going to bother, and if I do, pick up things that look interesting; I'm not crazy about turkey. The last Thanksgiving day that I celebrated with a specifically designed meal involved venison filets, home-made cranberry sauce, baby rucola, and pumpkin chestnut soup. I think about two hours of actual labour were involved, and I've never spent more than three hours on preparation, as far as I can remember.

About 6 hours for me, but I am only making 2 casseroles and a cake. I might make an appetizer as well. In that case, I will be all in for close to 7 hours.

Pies (pecan and pumpkin) made in advance and frozen. Same with proscuitto/provolone and puff pastry appetizers and the fixins for my mean, green guacamole. Load everything in the car and it survives the 7 hour drive from Pittsburgh to Long Island.

I guess I'm lucky from there - it's my aunt's house but we have team of 4-4 passionate chefs among the 16 of us, so it's fairly easy. After the 30 years I've experienced it, it's almost down to a science - we still have time to watch football, walk to the ocean and play appx. 2.5 innings of barely football in the yard before dinner at 5pm. Once the Bloody Marys start flowing around 2, I'd say we logged 2-3 hours of real work per person. The quickest part is the 7am dance with the turkey (yes, you heard me) before we start the roast - gotta go kosher for that one btw!

Veggie prep? Beyond frozen peas, we're carb- and carn-ivorous :)

Two to three days. I like to spread the work out so that I'm not overwhelmed the day of. Last year, everything went so smoothly, that it was almost scary. I knew something was going to go wrong, but I didn't. I have a list of everything I need to do on each day. I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner (minus the turkey... left that to Mom) when I was 17. I'm 21 now, living in France, and man, I'm already missing "Thanksgiving time". Before I left for France in September, we had Thanksgiving dinner b/c it's my favourite dinner/holiday.

2-3 days ..but actual prep time 6-7 hours max. A full holiday meal but not excessive.

It took me about one week to prepare Thanksgiving last year. I think this year I will be much less ambitious. I was exhausted by the time the day rolled around.

@Mizbee, ok, so here's the "secret" recipe....lmao at the secret thing. I basically make a sage and onion stuffing,or dressing.Depends on what part of the country you're from.I don't measure any of the ingredients,but if you've made stuffing from scratch,you'll be fine.My "secret" is the bread I use for the stuffing.I get a loaf of sourdough bread from the bakery a few days ahead of time and cut it into really large chunks.Really large,like 1and1/2 inch pieces.Let it dry out for two or three days,then put it in a big bowl.Chop 1 very large onion into big chunks and add it to the bowl.If you want sausage in it,use Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage,cooked and crumbled,if not it'll stil be good.Add a couple of cups good chicken broth,one egg,a stick of butter,melted,celery if you want,big chunks too,s&p to taste,and some sage if you're not using sausage.I also like to add some dried crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick.Put it into a big baking dish and bake till the top is brown and crispy.

@Mizbee......

i don't cover it at all,just bake for about 45 minutes at 350 or 375.
Hope you like it !!