It’s here! Thanksgiving eve. We have done a lot to get ready over the last four weeks. Just take a look.

It’s time to start cooking. How do you feel? Excited? I am.

I’m really looking forward to some of our favorites. In my family, it’s always been the tradition to make the pies the night before. This saves time and keeps a lot of traffic out of the oven bottleneck. Additionally, unlike many other items made on Thanksgiving, pies are often much less forgiving of a moment’s distraction. Heather, distracted? Say it isn’t so!

Other items could be done today without adding too much pressure. Please note that these are options, not suggestions, to turn today into a cooking marathon.

If you are making a cornbread dressing, making the cornbread ahead of time is optimal. Either the sweet or plain cornbread works well in the andouille cornbread dressing recipe. Please note that the plain cornbread recipe is not gluten-free, while the sweet one is. Additionally, if you are making cornbread from scratch, you will need to check that you are using plain cornmeal and not a cornmeal mix that contains flour. They are generally right beside each other in the grocery store, which is a very easy mistake.

If you have turkey wings or necks to roast for stock, doing that today will make tomorrow easier..

If you are making a traditional bread-type dressing, you can let the bread get stale today by either laying it out where it’s safe or putting it in a low (200°F) oven.

As we discussed previously, you can prep ahead some items like diced onions, carrots, celery, and bell pepper. Just be sure to store them not only by vegetable type but also by how they are cut.

If you are feeling particularly ambitious today—t could happen not in this house but somewhere—please keep your timetable nearby to make sure any recipes you make ahead and will have to reheat are not going to change your order of operations tomorrow.

Whether your turkey was fresh or frozen, how is it doing? Is it fully thawed, or does it need some help to get there? You can use the water bath method to finish thawing your turkey for tomorrow.

Remember, no matter what, this is about sharing a meal and love. Even if you make mistakes, there will be successes. You can navigate any conflict. This is your home, your boundaries, and your peace. You’ve got this. You should be proud of yourself.