I took over cooking the Thanksgiving meal a few years ago. My parents, sister and her husband always come and sometimes some extended family. This year I have a set of grandparents coming down from New York.

Since I took over cooking the Turkey we started frying it and it's always a huge hit with everyone. I season the turkey the day before, then my husband does the actual frying on Thanksgiving day. Everyone always loves being here when he lowers the turkey into the fryer. It takes less than an hour to cook and everyone likes to sit around outside talking and playing with my son while they wait. During that time I'm inside putting all of the finishing touches on all the other food.

We usually eat in the early afternoon and then have a bonfire afterwards. We won't be having a bonfire this year though unless our county lifts the burn ban they put in place this past week.