Shopping, Cooking Contemplations

Ok, so 24 hours after he was supposed to go back on the road, hubby is still home.
We are running low on food (as always happens rapidly when he's home, his nickname being "Search and Destroy") so we just did most of the Turkey day shopping tonight too, excluding the eggnog because it will *not* last until Thursday...spent $115 ...not too bad...picked up Slurpees at 7-11 on the way home too. That is another rare treat.
What I like about the holidays is that the stuff cooked is comfort food, much of it originating from cans and easy to cook (unless you are some Martha Stewart style cook who has to have fresh cranberry mousse flambe prepared from scratch or something similar).
The neighborhood cats get their own little treat this year. My mother in-law was the giblet fan but she's gone now so the cats get the giblets and the neck.
Last year, I cooked the turkey breast side down and it was so tender that it collapsed off the bones when I tried to turn it right side up...the downside to this is that there is no crispy skin on the breast as when you cook it tits-up. So not sure what I'm going to do this year but it's a pleasant thing to contemplate. It really is. I'm almost in a thankful mood and happy that this T-Day is going to be low-stress, just cooking for hubby who will eat almost anything I place before him.
I always do the green bean casserole a little different each year. This year I'm using french cut green beans, cheddar crispy onions (Durkee brand?) and adding slivered almonds. Some years I add bacon or sliced onions or grated cheese.
Got some yukon golds for the mashed potatoes...thinking of adding olive oil and butter instead of just butter, maybe some mashed cooked onion too. The yams are going to be pretty simple with a marshmallow topping.
Hubby got his three pies with a slight variation: pumpkin, dutch apple and cheesecake along with a big freakin' tub of Cool Whip. There was a "no sugar added" pumpkin pie there but we gave it a wide berth and crept quietly away.