My Thanksgiving Schedule Started Yesterday
A control freak's guide to a successful holiday
A couple things I am obsessed with this week: the new season of The Crown, a recipe for chocolate coconut cake that I can’t get right, and my shiny, clean, empty freezer that is READY for T-Day. Yes, I have a thanksgiving schedule, mapped out by the hour from now until 4:30 pm on Thanksgiving day. And yes, I am being a jerk about delegating dishes to my family members.
As a certified control freak, I like to make the entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself. Though I will certainly complain, and possibly even cry, I enjoy taking on this amount of responsibility. Not only does it ensure the food is exactly how I want it, but I find the planning and execution of a great meal to be quite thrilling.
Last year I hosted my second ever Thanksgiving. We only had three guests but including my boyfriend, that meant three men under the age of thirty were present— so I actually cooked to feed a party of ten, including enough stuffing to fill a small bathtub.
This year, those same large boys will be attending, as well as a few additional guests and a medium sized dog. The party has outgrown our 675 square foot house and in need of more space, my father offered to host. The host generally makes the turkey— as is customary and convenient— but as the idea of ceding control of the turkey sent me into panic, my dad agreed that we can make the turkey “together.” The same goes for the mashed potatoes.
I’m terrible at delegating tasks, particularly when it comes to food. On one hand it’s because I’m terrified of any food made by anyone but me (germ-wise), and on the other hand I make really good food and I want every dish to be perfectly to my liking. If this makes me sound insufferable, it’s because I am.
As my to-do list begins to exceed the pages of my diary, I’ve taken great care to schedule not only the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner, but Friday’s dinner as well. Why add more work for myself when we surely ought to eat leftovers? For starters, I find that most of the leftovers are typically eaten at Friday lunch. And second, after the enormous rich meal and days (or weeks) of preparation, it’s nice to relax the following day.
Last year, I made pork pelmeni (Russian dumplings) the week before Thanksgiving and froze them. After Thanksgiving dinner I tossed the turkey carcass into a pot of water and made some stock. On Friday we had the pelmeni for dinner and ladled the stock over the dumplings— a meal that took about 10 minutes to prepare (save the time it took for the stock to come to a boil) and was the nourishing, easy on the stomach meal we all needed.
This year, at 2pm on November 18th, I’ll be making those pelmeni again. I’ll use this recipe by Olia Hercules for the dumplings and on Black Friday, I’ll dump them straight from the freezer into a pot of boiling broth. A handful of baby spinach makes it feel healthy— but is optional.
Other ways I’m preparing for Thanksgiving include:
Cutting, bagging, and labeling all of my vegetables for stuffing, stock, and otherwise.
Passive aggressively sending relatives my recipes, so even if I’m not making them, they still taste like mine.
Ordering my turkey pre-disassembled. I did this last year as well and knew it was the right decision when I watched the butcher— a very big man— nearly climb on top of the table trying to get the legs off. Turkey is absolutely better cooked in pieces.
It may be hard to believe that underneath the neurotic schedule following and dumpling preaching is a genuine love of Thanksgiving— but it’s truly one of my favorite days of the year (the others being Christmas and my birthday of course). Aside from the general nostalgia of the holidays, I love to be busy and to feel productive. The holidays make me feel like the best version of myself— organized, on top of things, and always in control— all things I talk about in therapy the rest of the year.