When Doing The Thing IS The Thing.

This is where the memories begin.

Thanksgiving is almost here, which means many of us are staring down a to-do list long enough to qualify as a novella. If you’re feeling excited and overwhelmed, you’re in good company. Hosting is a lot — but it’s also one of the greatest gifts we give the people we love.

At The Truitt House this year, we’ll have one of our four children home, and we’re so grateful for that. We’ll have a few new faces around the table, too — the kind of addition that quietly reshapes a holiday in the nicest way. And of course, we’ll cook. All of us in the kitchen together, reaching over one another, telling stories, sneaking tastes… making the mac and cheese with evaporated milk, sweet potato casserole with the pecan topping, and the multiple stuffings everyone insists are essential. There will be turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and Brian’s baked beans — a tradition the rest of us are slowly warming up to, year by year.

Most of it can be made ahead of time, but we always save a few dishes for the day-of, because doing the thing is the thing. That’s where the good stuff happens — the unplanned laughter, the spilled flour, the last-minute adjustments, the familiar choreography of a family that knows how to make a meal together. Those moments turn into the million tiny memories that end up meaning more than anything on the menu.

So take a breath. Plan what you can. Let the rest be good enough. The magic of Thanksgiving has never come from the turkey. It comes from the people around the table… and the beautiful, messy, heartfelt work of getting it all there.