I just wanted to thank everyone here at Serious Eats for all of the help to make my first Thanksgiving the success that it was

The day before, I made my gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and peas with onion and mushrooms. I also cooked some bacon, crumbled it, and added it to the peas after I reheated it (I didn't want the bacon to get soggy).

With the gravy, I roasted the 7 turkey necks and giblets in the oven with sage, rosemary, salt, pepper, onion and celery. Then I simmered all of that in some water (with some peppercorns and bayleaf) for a couple of hours. deglazed the pan with some marsala wine, strained it all, chopped up the gizzard and heart, and added a nice golden roux to it to thicken. Still have a bunch of stock leftover. The next day when I reheated it, I realized that it tasted a bit nutty (from the roux, which I think I made a little TOO golden), and it needed a little thickening, so I skimmed the fat off of the leftover stock and used that to make a light roux, then mixed in a little bit of the stock, and added all that to the gravy. Came out PERFECT.

Turkey brined using the Pioneer Woman's recipe. Roasted in the oven beginning at 9:45 for 20 minutes at 450, then lowered it to 350. Around 11:45 I realized it was going to be done waaay sooner than I was hoping for (which was in the 1:45-2:15 range), so I lowered it to 325. It was still done around 12:45--for a 17 pound bird, seemed pretty quick! tented it with foil. By this point, my partner's sister, BIL and nephew weren't coming (their dog had puppies that morning), which left just two guests other then MIL and her bf. So, I asked them if they wouldn't mind arriving around 2:00 as opposed to 2:30...they didn't mind, and got there around 2:00. Turkey was still hot and delicious :-)

First time making stuffing, and that was the thing that got the most raves, I think. We also had corn, sweet potatoes and mac and cheese. And rolls!

Thanks again! wasn't so bad after all :-)