Find the perfect recipe
Whether you’re handy in the kitchen or not, online recipes can not only save the day when you have no idea where to start, but they can also give you new ideas to try out. If you make a good pumpkin pie, why not find new ways to edge closer to a great pumpkin pie? There’s a ton of recipes online, but here’s a few key starting points:
- http://allrecipes.com/
- Food Network
- Epicurious

Keep contact information handy
It happens every year. Most people are at the host house, catching up, helping set the table, etc., when someone asks where Uncle Bill is. Inevitably, someone ends up calling him to make sure he’s safely on his way and not lost. You can help out by just having everyone’s number handy in your phone. It’ll help if you’re the one lost or running late, as well.

Don’t starve your family
While preparing for this post, I came across something I hadn’t even thought about. It’s a Turkey Calculator provided by thanksgiving-corner.com. After punching in a little information about how many children and adults you’ll be feeding, it helps you plan your meal. Based on the information I entered, I would need 16.5 pounds of turkey and 33 cups of stuffing if I were going to host T-day at my place for my family. It also says I should have started defrosting (in the fridge) my bird this past Saturday morning. Good thing I’m not cooking this year.

Say “Happy Thanksgiving” face-to-face from far away
If your loved ones are far away, you can still give your “Happy Thanksgiving” message a personal touch by delivering it with streaming video. There’s a few ways to do this. The most rewarding is to have a web cam at both locations and connect live. This usually requires some forethought and a little experience (or luck), but if you and someone on the other end are comfortable enough with computers, it shouldn’t be too hard to set up ahead of time. If either of you don’t have a web cam, you can pick one up from Best Buy or a similar electronics store. Just about any web cam should work with many of the instant messaging client programs to stream video. Even if only one side can have a camera set up, it’s much warmer than just a phone call. If your family member isn’t very computer savvy, you could always record a small video and post it on YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, or any number of sites that allow you to post a video and easily send a link to that video to your family member.

Find your camera and juice it up
I have a Flip video camera, a DSLR, and a point-and-shoot digital camera, and I’ll have at least the smaller ones with me. You never know when someone will fling a turkey leg across the table or do something equally camera-worthy. The only thing worse than forgetting your camera is bringing it and then running out of batteries on the first shot. Make sure this doesn’t happen. If you have rechargeable batteries, recharge them the night before. If not, have fresh batteries on hand. Personally, I’ve always liked Energizers, but that’s me. Whatever your brand preference, it’s best to have at least one set of new batteries per device.

How is technology going to make Thanksgiving better or easier for you and your family?

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