Dark meat Turkey, green beens, my wife's amazing curried cranberries (sugar free but... not low carb).

Sadly, no potoatoes, yams, stuffing, etc... will touch my plate.

This leaves a deprivation list that is very long. Particularly when we are having TG with my parents. My mom is is a kitchen wizard.

Here, that would be roast leg of lamb for Easter accompanied by green beans sautéed in butter, garlic and parsley.

For Xmas, there's a whole slew of traditions about the meal but the one that everyone seems to observe is the 13 desserts (candied fruit, dried fruit, white nougat, black nougat, various nuts, pompe à l'huile - a sort of brioche/bread made with olive oil, fresh fruit, etc.). 

We always had shrimp cocktail as a starter.

We had turkey for thanksgiving.. but would have prime rib/roast beef for Christmas.  turkey also came with stuffing and potatoes.. green beans.. (without the mushroom soup thank you very much..lol).  

I used to think I didn't like sweet potatoes, but found out I was cooking them wrong.  You think "potato", it makes sense to boil them, right?  Wrong.  Boiling makes them stringy and grainy and leaches all the flavor out of them.

This recipe is a huge hit, I'll be making it every time  https://media.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2006/nov/test_kitchen/sw...

The yams break down tenderly in their own steam.  For vegan, I sub the butter and cream for coconut cream, miyoko's butter, and 1 tablespoon water.

We don't do a traditional Thanksgiving meal. DH likes turkey on Xmas and HE'S in charge of the Xmas meal due to year after year of SD issues with food and I stopped cooking holiday meals for everyone. I'll bake when I'm alone and give the stuff away to neighbors and friends, but no meals.

NOW for Thanksgiving I do a gourmet meal for DH and I. We don't travel during holidays (too expensive and relatives live too far) so we make our own night. I never make the same thing. Three dishes, maybe an appetizer early afternoon, champagne with dinner and then a fancy dessert. This is also why I don't cook for Xmas because this meal usually takes two days to make.

Turkey with mashed creamy potatoes and GRAVY. No one has mentioned gravy yet so I will. I make it from scratch how my mother taught me. Giblets, roux, and mushrooms. 

For sides we have also done sauteed asparagus, and I like a variety of veggies. Kings hawaiian rolls for bread. Ill have to expand and start learning how to make pies...Im in love with my mothers pumkin chiffon cream pie...with connamon gram cracker crust. Time to start some traditions...for me.

Almost forgot my nope...oh because I dont really have any...oh wait...not a fan of stuffing.

Corn pudding (Which is this cheesey corn casserole) is one of my all time favorites, I also have a sweet potato casserole that is shredded (not mashed) and has coconut and yummy spices. For dessert my grandma's creme de menthe brownies are also something that is a must. I only make the brownies for Christmas. 

And stuffing, cranberry sauce (made fresh not from a can), green bean casserole. 

Won't eat marshmallows nasty.

DH and I are usually on our own for Thanksgiving, so that means we go out, cook something fancy, or ignore it.

For Christmas, usually we are at SD's. One Christmas she'd had the big meal the day before our arrival, so we were on our own to "graze." I was NOT going to go into her fridge and root through things, so I had cookies. Another year she made a big deal out of making at least one favorite for everybody. I was not part of "everybody."

Pardon my grumpiness. I used to love the winter holidays.

If I were cooking, my must haves would be fresh cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. My nope would be any vegetable that comes from a can.

made with fresh orange juice and zest.  Turkey at Thanksgiving, beef tenderloin or crown pork roast at Christmas.  We have some food allergies to deal with so mashed potatoes, dressing and sweet potatoes are all dairy free/vegan.  
The dish I won't have --stuffed ham and cooked to death green beans.  Stuffed ham is a southern Maryland thing.  In theory I love all of the components bit the end product not so much.

I'm handling the turkey. A stuffed butterball wrapped in thick cut bacon. We're doing mash with butter and sour cream, roasted carrots, and for a starter, I'm doing herbed goat cheese stuffed mushroom caps. For drinks, I've got a sparkling rose and a Pinot Noir red (Niagara region), and strawberry lemonade for the SD's.  Just for fun, I bought some McDonald's apple pies for dessert (we don't really ever eat dessert)  

I LOVE cooking. 

Fellow Canuck here. DH and I decided it will be just us for Thanksgiving dinner. We're having a roast chicken. We sometimes do roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. 

I adore Chinese purple yams so those are a must for every holiday dinner. The dish I make that people can't resist is a yam casserole with marshmallows on top. I can't think of anything I hate. 

It's such a relief not having to cook so much for the rest of the family. I was shocked when DH suggested a new tradition and that it would be just us. He said he hates how I cook so much because of catering to the vegetarians including SD33, with no help or thanks in all that I do. DH always helps me but it's when it's just us it's so much less work.

My paternal grandmother cooked a "clootie dumpling" for New Year's dinner every year. It's a sort of Xmas pudding wrapped up in a cloth and cooked by boiling Everyone had to stir the mixture "for luck". She would add a few small coins, again, for luck That would make my mother cringe, that being horrifically unhygienic according to her. 

I used to cook clootie dumplings but now, with a daughter who has celiac, I've stopped. Gluten free flour doesn't hold together right. 

For Thanksgiving, my must haves are Turkey, my grandmother's stuffing (a traditional bread stuffing with Bell's seasoning), gravy, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce from a can (the one that keeps the shape of the can - lol). 

For Christmas, my family traditionally had Turkey and ham, but last year it was just me, DH, and DD and DH made prime rib (which his grandmother traditionally made) and I quite liked it, so that may become our new Christmas meal. 

For Easter, a must have is ham for me. 

I am sorry If this is too late

CRANBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE (I love cranberries)

Ingredients

***Topping

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

4 tablespoons (58g) unsalted butter

12 ounces (340g) fresh or frozen cranberries

***Cake

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Scant pinch ground cloves

8 tablespoons (117g) unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus more for buttering the pan)

1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon orange zest

1/2 cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt)

1/4 cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven:

Set the oven to 350°F.

Butter a 9-inch cake pan:

Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan with sides at least 2 inches high.

Make the caramel topping:

In a small saucepan, place the 4 tablespoons of butter and the 3/4 cups of packed brown sugar. On medium high heat, stir the sugar as the butter melts. Once the butter is melted and mixed in well with the sugar, stop stirring and let the mixture simmer for 15 seconds or so.

Pour the caramel into the pan and top with cranberries:

Pour the brown sugar butter mixture into the prepared cake pan. Spread the cranberries on top of the sugar butter mixture.

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves.

Beat the butter, then add sugar, eggs, and zest:

In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until light. Add the sugar and beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Stir in the orange zest.

Alternate the flour mixture and sour cream, then add the milk:

Mix a third of the dry ingredients into the mixture. Beat in half of the sour cream. Mix in another third of the dry ingredients. Mix in the remaining sour cream. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, and then the milk.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake:

Pour batter over the cranberries in the cake pan, and smooth the surface.

Place in the preheated oven and lower the heat from 350°F to 325°F. Bake until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs. When pressing down on the cake, the surface should bounce back, about 55 to 60 minutes.

Cool the cake in 10 minutes, then invert:

Cool cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.

Run a blunt knife around the inside rim of the cake pan to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Then, turn the cake out onto a platter.

Cranberry Sangria (again I love cranberries)

Ingredients

1 bottle Red Wine

1 cup Cranberry Juice

1 cup Orange Juice

1/2 cup cranberry flavored liqueur

chilled sparkling water/ club soda (opt)

orange thinly sliced

lime thinly sliced

Directions

combine wine, cranberry juice, orange juice, liqueur, orange & lime slices in a large glass pitcher, chill for 2-8hrs before serving.

just before serving add 2 cups of sparkling water or club soda

pour into glasses and add citrus slices as garnish (if desired)

Hollyberry Fruit Dip

Ingredients

18oz softened cream cheese

1/2 Karo Light Corn Syrup

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 cup cranberries chopped

1 tbsp grated orange peel

Directions

In a small bowl with a wire whisk or mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese, corn syrup, and sugar until fluffy. Blend in sour cream. Fold in cranberries and orange zest.

Chill

serve with fresh fruit to dip.

Ingredients

7 graham cracker sheets –crushed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoon sugar

5 Tablespoon unsalted butter- melted

16 oz. cream cheese- softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 egg white

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoon all purpose flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and line standard muffin pan with cupcake liners (if you are using paper liner I suggest you to double them).

Crushed the graham cracker sheets into fine crumbs, stir in the cinnamon and sugar, then add melted butter and mix with the fork until the crumbs are evenly moistened.

Place graham cracker crumb mixture in the bottom of each cupcake liner (about 1 heaping Tablespoon in each cup) and press down the crumbs, set aside.

To make the cheesecake filling in the bowl mix softened cream cheese until it’s smooth, then mix in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until just combined. Add egg whites one at the time, but turn the mixer on low speed (DO NOT OVER BEAT IT), until completely incorporated.

To make the pumpkin swirl: in a medium bowl mix together the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, allspice and flour, then add 2/3 cup of the cheesecake mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir with a spatula..

Divide half the plain cheesecake batter evenly between the cups. Scoop about one tablespoon of the pumpkin mixture on top and cover with the remaining cheesecake batter (liners should be filled almost to the top)

Using remaining pumpkin mixture make 3-4 dots on each of the cheesecakes and swirl with a toothpick .

Bake for 30 minutes (rotating the pan half way through the baking time)

Cool them completely and store in refrigerator.

They are amazing when cooked to a slightly crisp level with pepper, a chunk of bacon or fat back in them, in ham broth.  

Drain and enjoy with whatever the center dish is (Turkey, Ham, Prime Rib, Rack of Lamb, etc...)