Thanksgiving is coming!!! YEA! UGH!!!

OK, I LOVE Thanksgiving. Love the food, love the tradition, the whole package is GREAT!!! YEA! My favorite time of year, hands down. The problem? I have to cook. I have to cook like I haven't cooked all year long. It all has to look and taste great. Why? We've invited a new family in our ward to join us. I'm excited to have guests over. A quiet Thanksgiving at home with just my krew is nothing like what I grew up with and having a large family over should fill the void. They seem nice and I'm totally excited to try their smoked ham and home made pumpkin and pecan pies. The rest of the meal is up to me. I'm sure I can get it done but can I do it in such a way that everyone is satisfied? It's a bit intimidating. Right now is planning time. I have a basic idea of my menu. I've even done my preliminary shopping . . . love the .47 cent per pound turkey at Walmart. I still need to finalize the recipes I'll use. This will take some research and study. I plan to hit foodnetwork.com and check out the "Joey Campanaro" recipes he used to win the Thanksgiving food network challenge. I like the idea of cooking the turkey off the bones but it's a bit risky to try something new for the first time on such an important meal. So, here's my preliminary menu: roasted turkey, some kind of cornbread stuffing or rice dressing, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole - the kids call this marshmallow pie;), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce - has to be some kind of cream cheese blend with pecans, yeast rolls with honey butter, and pumpkin roll. I may add chicken n dumplings depending on my confidence with the turkey. It's a traditional menu filled with the things I remember from childhood. The trick? Making it all a little healthier than what I grew up with and even then, not eating too much of it. As of now my weight loss has leveled off and I definitely don't want to tip it back up before I start exercising. My six-week follow up is tomorrow morning and with a green light, I plan to start burning some serious calories! Yea! Anyway, wish me luck this week! I hope all of you have wonderful plans for the holidays, especially family time, thankfulness and peace. I admit it, I'm totally jealous of my sisters who will be having the traditional meal I grew up with at Mom's. The best part of that one? Not having to prepare it all yourself. . . trust me! Missing Texas pretty hard right now!!!!