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Tofurkey and dressing... also homemade cranberry sauce.

my least favorite is all the delicious but fattening mac and cheese (baked with about 5 different cheeses).

green bean casserole.

Stuffing with lots of gravy.

Favorites: Roasted corn on the cob and pumpkin pie. Least favorite...the turkey itself i could live with out, tho i like it some.

John...a twist on fruit salad: Mix fresh or frozen blackberries, blueberries and/or raspberries with jellied cranberry sauce, top with a little whip cream (or cool whip) My kids loved it. Was a holiday staple when they were growing up--sometimes i would slice the cranberry sauce and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes connected with the holiday (leaves for thanksgiving, stars & bells for Christmas) and lay those on top. Strawberries are good with it too. This is something my co-workers always suggest my bringing for pot-lucks at work.

Oh I had a friend who used to invite me over to Thanksgiving several years ago. She was from the Northeast and she prepared an oyster dressing that was delicious. She would laugh and pronounce it eye-stir (phonetic) dressing. As a child we went squirrel hunting on Thanksgiving morning, so along with the turkey we would have squirrel. Can't take the east texas out of the girl I always say. When my friend did not invite me over, it was turkey, squirrel when I was young, sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing, giblets and gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, and macaroni and cheese and of course dinner rolls. For dessert most often it was a choice of pecan pie, buttermilk pie, banana cream pie, or apple or cherry pie one. My favorite was the buttermilk pie, almost pure sugar. Family usually showed up from all over. After eating the men would turn on the television to watch football while the women gathered in the kitchen. That is where I usually went. Soon you could walk into the living room to see all these bodies spread out on the floor with snores roaring loud enough to shake the hardwood floors. We would tell them the scores when they arose from the dead.

Nowadays for just me and Robin we bake a chicken, have some cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and green beans. We will either bake or buy a pie. Often we make some cranberry bread also. One year I made some chestnut dressing. It was not bad at all, and I may do it again.

For John, here is a recipe for mincemeat. This recipe calls for the use of suet, but historically many meats have been used including mutton and whale meat. There is also a vegetarian version out there now. In early England it was used as a way to keep meat.

Ingredients
For 6lb mincemeat:
12oz (350g) seedless raisins
8oz (225g) sultanas
8oz (225g) currants
4oz (110g) cut mixed peel
4oz (110g) chopped dried prunes
12oz (350g) soft brown sugar
1lb (450g) cooking apples - peeled, cored and grated
8oz (225g) shredded suet
grated rind and juice of 2 oranges
grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
2oz (50g) chopped almonds
2oz (50g) chopped pecan nuts
1 tbsp (15g) mixed spice
1 tsp (5g) freshly grated nutmeg
5fl oz (150ml) brandy

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients together, except half the brandy in a large ovenproof bowl and cover and leave to stand overnight.
2. The next day, preheat the oven to 110C/225F/Gas ¼, cover the bowl with foil and place in the oven for about 3 hours.
3. Allow to cool, then mix in the rest of the brandy and put into sterilised jars.

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anything having to do with a sweet tater or yam.

Do you guys have stuffing or dressing?

we save oyster stew for Christmas Eve

Homemade rolls. The work is tiresome but the aroma is so inviting and the taste and savoring of them can be addicting.

Is there a candle for this scent?

Favorites Mashed Potatoes with gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie dislikes The turkey and the dressing. But I will eat some just not much.

gena, my mother-in law makes the fresh Yeast rolls. Glad we live in AZ and he is Massachusette...