Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope each of you has a Happy Thanksgiving.  May your day be filled with family, friends and the counting of your many blessings!

Dress and Table Manners

Just like every family had different traditions for Thanksgiving, every family has their own dress code for the day as well.  Whether it's "Sunday Best" or jeans and boots, know before you go.  There is nothing more embarrassing than showing up at an event in the wrong dress code.  If you are a guest, when you call the RSVP, politely ask your hostess what the typical dress code is.  If you are a hostess, consider putting the dress on the invitation or understand that people may call with this question.


Although table manners should be customary at every meal, Thanksgiving, especially requires all your manners be in top shape.  Elbows should be off the table, proper use of utensils should be in play and as dishes are passed around, you should take a little bit of each one.  Attempt to try everything but do not take a ridiculous amount of mashed potatoes just because its your favorite.


My first Thanksgiving meal went fantastically by the way!  Thanks to those of you on twitter who sent me some encouragement while I cooked ALLLL day!!

Going off script, er, menu

Everyone has there own idea of what constitutes a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal.  If you are the hostess and plan on serving something other than the sit-down turkey feast, let you guests know this upfront on your invitation.  This way no one is otherwise surprised when they sit down to eat.

If you are guest being served a less than traditional meal, whether or not you were warned ahead of time, you should continue to be a polite guest.   Avoid an editorial comments about the dishes and make an attempt to try every dish you are offered.

T-minus 3 days to Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is almost upon us.  And Lord help me, I am making a turkey!  Since so many of us will be traveling to family member's homes or friends' homes to celebrate, I thought we could cover some basic Thanksgiving etiquette this week.

The first tip: arrive on time!   It's stressful for the host or hostess to make sure all the dishes finish cooking around the same time and that they stay hot, etc.  Therefore being late only exacerbates that problem.  If you are traveling any distance to get to Thanksgiving dinner, check the traffic reports before you leave home in case there is something you need to avoid in the way of traffic or an accident.  Allow yourself more time than you think you will need to get to dinner because you never know what might happen on your way there!