Thanksgiving!

We have Thanksgiving at our house.  It's my favorite holiday, and I love cooking so I don't mind.   Every year (this is our 4th year) I try to perfect the process.   The first year was horrible.  I came home from work on Wednesday afternoon, my mom came over for a visit (Nick was working the dreaded afternoon shift) and I finally got to work on all the prepping around 8pm.  Needless to say, when Nick got home at 11:30pm, I was still working, and we finished at about 3am! LOL.  Then in a rush to finish the sweet potatoes (I had misread the recipe and it needed more time to cook), we decided to microwave them.  I steam-burned my hand taking them out and sat through my first Thanksgiving dinner without enjoying any of it.  Each year has gotten better, as I've learned to simplify things and relax.  This is what is on my menu this year... Some things are easy, others more complicated...

Stuffed Mushrooms (appetizer)

Turkey with Sage and Lemon Butter Sauce
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes 
Gravy
Roasted Assorted Squash 
Shoepeg White Corn
Holiday Carrots with Pineapple
Salad
Parmesan Pull-Aparts

And of course pumpkin pie-(secret family recipe!)

I've actually retired two side dishes at least for this year (sweet potatoes and broccoli).  I am trying to make it simple, but still have variety.  I usually try to stick with some family traditions (shoepeg corn, mashed potatoes and gravy for example) and also add something new (this year the carrots, stuffed mushrooms and pull apart bread are new).   Sometimes my changes stick, sometimes they fail miserably.  Last year I introduced turnips to my family...epic fail...they will not be appearing on our table this year as you can tell.  However, last year I also changed the squash from pureed to roasted, and that seemed to go over well. :)

For those of you reading this, what are some of your family Thanksgiving food traditions?  What are you trying new this year?

Review:  I probably won't make the stuffed mushrooms or parmesan pull-aparts again. The holiday carrots weren't bad, just really sweet.  The turkey recipe was okay (I'm not a big fan of Turkey).  BUT the potato recipe was a KEEPER!  Awesome and great for Thanksgiving in the prep department.