By Erica and Karen

Thanksgiving. A favorite holiday for many. A fraught one for others. We hope yours is warm and welcoming and cheery.

We are lucky because we will be surrounded by family—in person rather than by Zoom. Zoom was a lifesaver but it rather accentuated feelings of loss at Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is all about savoring the food and drink, and maybe doing something outside—together!

Are you cooking? Here are our thoughts.

As we are now living in the age of curated cocktails, we might start with something designed for Thanksgiving. Here’s an enticing list. Strongbow Spice sounds appealing. Served with these little oniony cheesy bites.

Turkey? Our gatherings are not so large, so we’re thinking of really focusing on the stuffing. Would it be just sinful to serve two or three stuffings and no bird? We are tempted. This recipe is labeled traditional, which to us means bread, onion, celery, butter, and fresh herbs. Sounds divine. We would go with butter over olive oil. We also like the name of this website—The Grill Who Ate Everything. That’s us! Here’s another traditional recipe, from Carla Music—with a YouTube how-to. same ingredients, but it’s fun to watch her cook. Everything she makes is fabulous. (We agree under no circumstances put carrot in the mirepoix.) We also like spicy, so we might consider this Ina Garden recipe, with sausage. Especially if we have no bird.

We do need some greens, of course—string beans? Buttery to go with the buttery stuffing? Potatoes are also a must—yes, even with three stuffings! Butter again is the star!

We love dinner rolls, but that might be a bit much if we have more than one stuffing.

Then let’s move to dessert. Pumpkin pie is orthodox—and also a favorite. This extremely beautiful offering, with leaves and berries, elevates everything. This pie, on the other hand, is not traditional—a cream pie made with phyllo—but it looks very cool, and we could see it with lightly cooked, slightly sweetened fresh cranberries. Bright red!

After your crew is sated, if there is anyone around who is not determined to watch a football game, maybe a movie? We had not thought there were Thanksgiving movies, but of course people have made lists of what they like. Here are some ideas for feel-good movies that might or might not have anything to do with Thanksgiving. We might go with Little Women or What’s Cooking? or Hidden Figures.

Whatever you eat, drink or do—Happy Thanksgiving!