I have only hosted Thanksgiving once in my life. My wife and I had just moved in together at the time, and we were feeling bold. We had invited 15 friends over and told them to bring nothing – this was probably the second mistake – the first being we decided to host in the first place.
Our first rude awakening was the expense. Even 15 years ago, if you were hosting, it wasn’t going to be cheap. We also promised alcohol, so there was that on top of everything else. If you don’t buy alcohol a lot, let me tell you – it adds up when you have 15 thirsty friends coming over for the holiday.
I think just the sheer amount of work was the biggest surprise to my wife and me. We did think about it a little bit before just diving into the idea, but I guess we missed a bit of the details.
All in all, it ended up being okay in the end with a few disasters dodged. However, the best thing to come out of the entire fiasco was the turkey. It actually came out really well. I had listened to my aunt about how to prepare the turkey that year. She was very adamant about putting butter under the skin. It sounded so weird to me at the time – and honestly, it felt weird to do – but it made it SO MUCH BETTER.
There it is, my tip for Thanksgiving! If you are in charge of the turkey this year, load the butter in between the skin and meat… all will be well. Oh – and don’t burn it.
Happy Turkey Day!
