Thanksgiving preparations

As I was jotting down my list of Thanksgiving items to gather and check on amounts etc.  I was thinking how much it has changed since my childhood.   In my family, it was always a chaotic time and lots of food to feed an army.  The trick was to see how many people we could seat a table.  I think we had close to twenty people at one time. 

Now I live far from family so I have adapted the huge Thanksgiving meal to just us five.  It took a few years but I now have a great meal and time to enjoy the family too.  My Thanksgiving dinner begins with getting the turkey drunk okay....I beer brine my turkey.  I found this recipe  from Emeril on Good morning America in 2003.  I have been making it every year since.  David was skeptical the first year and now he can't eat any other turkey.   This starts the day before so turkey can be ready for his debut on Thanksgiving dinner.  I have modified this recipe over the years so it is similar but not quite the same.  I also use a turkey cooking bag.  It always comes out great with no extra work involved.

 Our family is also not a great fan of the typical green bean casserole.   The menu from 2003 also had a green bean recipe that had bacon in it.  Who doesn't like bacon?  No one in our family so that has become our vegetable entrée.  I sometimes make Grandma Rita's rolls but haven't had the time in a few years but might try to do

 that this year.  We will see.  I also make the usual Ray style mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.  I have been using Stove top the last few years just because nobody eats enough for a traditional batch of stuffing.  The last few years I have been making pecan and pumpkin pies.  I do make the crust for these from scratch.

• This our meal:
• Emeril's Beer Brined turkey
• Bacon green beans
• Stuffing
• Mashed potatoes
• gravy
• Pumpkin pie
• Pecan Pie
• Ice cream
• Whipped cream
• Rolls

So if you were coming for Thanksgiving this is what you would partake of at our place.  What are the changes you have made to your Thanksgiving?