Halloween has come and gone. We’ve binged on all the candy we could grab our hands on. But now it’s time for the REAL holidays to kick in starting with Thanksgiving!

When one thinks about Thanksgiving some might automatically think about the amount of food they’re going to eat. And then there are others who will look more into it. Such as the value of their family and friends and what they have. They’re being thankful. Hence the name of Thanksgiving. (At least that’s why I think it’s called that).

Thanksgiving, the holiday where friends and family come together and have a big meal. In other words, it’s one of those days where you can stuff your face with as much food as possible and no one can judge because they’re probably doing the same.

But there is so much more to Thanksgiving and I’m here to give you the rundown!

The Shopping:

Most people do their Thanksgiving shopping ahead of time. That way they can get their hands on everything they need before it’s sold out. And to avoid those really long lines. Shopping for Thanksgiving can be a hassle because you want to make sure you get everything you need in one shopping trip (sometimes that’s not the case). A suggestion? Make a list and check those items off your list as you go.

The Preparation:

Probably the smoothest part of it all to be honest. You just have to get things ready before the real struggle kicks in. This is the part where you decide what you want to serve to your guests, which is probably going to be the whole entire family, if not half and oh yes all your friends, and colleagues and whoever else you know. You just go on a pull out Grandma’s famous recipes and get ready to follow them precisely (unless you have recipes your own, but come on let’s be real Grandma’s recipes beats all) .

The Traffic

Most people travel during the holidays so it won’t be a surprise if you run into a lot of traffic while traveling to a different city. If you can, try flying to where you need to be. I mean if you’re lucky your flight won’t be delayed. Here’s the thing if you’re headed to someone’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Might I suggest leaving a few hours early or maybe even a day early. Most people tend to take off work the day before. So not only will you not have to worry about being late to dinner which could stir up some hangry people, but you could help out in the kitchen. The more the merrier! But seriously, don’t be that person that doesn’t leave their house on time because you best believe you’ll be stuck in traffic and you’re going to hold up everyone's dinner.

Cooking The Meal

Probably the most time-consuming/ stressful part of this holiday. So you thought it would be a great idea to invite 50 people to your house for dinner. Great job on that! So you really do have a lot on your plate. And I’m not talking about the food. There’s so much to be done. I mean of course, there’s the turkey, the main course (at least for most people) which takes the longest to cook, and then all your other side dishes. You got a lot to juggle. It’s a lot of work for one day! But seeing people enjoy your food will be worth it. Right?

Dinner

This part is easy! This is where everyone gathers, gives their thanks and digs into the wonderful meal that took hours of preparing, a fight or two in the supermarket for the last canned cranberry sauce, and hours slaving over in the kitchen. So you better enjoy or someone isn’t going to be happy with you. So go on and fill your plate with all that good food. Have at it and dig in!

Table Feud

This is probably the best part and worst part of Thanksgiving if you ask me. This is where things really start to "get into motion." It’s the iconic moment where $#!t goes down at the dinner table, during dinner. There’s always that one member at the table that insists on bringing something up that stirs up drama and then before you know it, you have a table full of food and harsh words being exchanged back and forth. Thanksgiving done right. If your family doesn’t go through this kind of action during Thanksgiving then boy are you missing out. It’s quite a show. Then again you can always be the one to start the drama and just watch it unravel. Especially for this Thanksgiving. Simply ask a member at the table particularly someone you haven’t seen or spoken to in a while and make sure everyone is listening when you ask them the oh so wonderful question of who they voted for. Or simply talk about politics. Then you just let it take its course. I should warn you though….duck because chances are there’s going to be a lot of things flying around.

Ah, familia don’t you just love them.

Napping

So you’re officially stuffed from all that good food that may have caused you to remove your belt or you can barely move from the kitchen table to the couch. But when you do you start to feel a little sleepy a nap sounds like a really good idea. I mean it’s no myth most of us blame it on the turkey because of this “hormone.” But just to clarify the reason why we feel sleepy after a nice turkey dinner is because you see…..

actually, why not just read this it’ll clarify it for you.

The End?

So dinner is officially over. Your dinner was probably mixed with dessert because why else would you there be all those pies. Your nap was cut short because you don’t want to be rude and just sleep while you're at someone’s house (you shouldn’t take a nap at all). But you still need to reel in all that food so you all have a seat in the living room and hopefully talk about something that won’t stir up another argument. But of course whenever there’s a big dinner there’s bound to be leftovers! So you’ll probably be eating turkey, mashed potatoes and other things for the next three days.

Yum!

Cleaning

Ah, the official end of this Thanksgiving dinner and what a relief it must be. Yes cleaning up the big mess you made throughout the day will be tiring and long, but you got the hardest parts of Thanksgiving down. All there needs to be done is placing the leftovers in some tupperware and then the dishes. Which might be a bunch? Probably huge stacks, BUT if you have a dishwasher that just makes your life easier. If you don’t…… then….. might I suggest getting someone off their ass and making them do some work since you’ve been working all day. It's only fair!

And there you have it. Thanksgiving in a nutshell!