Downstaged: Thanksgiving Eve, aka Food Prep Wednesday

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, was spent getting all the food preparation done. Some families live for Black Friday shopping. We delight in Food Prep Wednesday. It's become a bit of a familial challenge to see just how much we can get prepared on Wednesday without sacrificing flavor. This year has been pretty successful, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow's menu looks something like this:

Honeybaked ham
Smoked turkey breast
Bacon-wrapped green bean bundles
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Cornbread dressing
Crock pot mashed potatoes
Marshmallow topped sweet potatoes (brought by guests)
Cranberry sauce (brought by guests)
Yeast rolls
Individual pumpkin cheesecake pies
Nutella fudge

Between me and my sister in the past 18 hours, we have steamed the green beans, mashed and seasoned the potatoes, made extra cranberry sauce because our guests are notoriously stingy when it comes to cranberry sauce, made a test batch of yeast rolls and then made another batch plus more dough to be baked tomorrow, and completely prepared the pies and fudge. For those keeping track, that means all that's left to make from start to finish is the dressing and the Brussels sprouts. Those two dishes are Mom's to make.

Reward for such miraculous completion? Relaxation tomorrow morning. I will sit back with a mimosa or cranberry cocktail or whatever else I decide to drink and enjoy every second of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Broadway musical performances that are featured before the parade makes its way to Macy's. Spoiler: the musicals are my favorite part. My family teases me endlessly because I actually turn into an excited child.

How about a few pictures from today?!