The Top 10 Things To Do Before Thanksgiving

Oh boy, here we go, this holiday roller coaster is in full swing — and there’s no stopping it! Halloween is over and you know what that means — Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, etc. It’s totally on with almost no rest in between.

So we thought it would be great to put together a list of tasks for you to run through in the next few weeks.

1.) Get rid of your Halloween candy to make room for pumpkin pie.

Seriously, you know you can either take it to work and let everyone else deal with the calories, or dump it on some child-heavy affair, say an activity meeting or birthday party.

2.) Clean up your Día de los Muertos altar.

Not that it would be bad to leave it up, but maybe some of your Thanksgiving guests might not get it? No need to freak out the neighbors with so many holidays to get yet.

3.) Locate your Christmas decorations.

I didn’t say put them up — just make sure you know where they are. Or you’ll risk being like my family and leave them up until February just because they didn’t go up ’til New Year’s Eve.

4.) Buy your Thanksgiving foodstuffs now.

You know they jack up the price of that cranberry sauce just for Thanksgiving — seriously, who eats that the rest of the year? — so it is with all the other festive food. And don’t forget the masa for the post-Thanksgiving tamal session.

5.) Clean your fridge, kitchen.

It will be utter madness in your kitchen/fridge in just a few weeks. You can save yourself stinky food-induced headaches by tossing that old pizza you didn’t even know was there.

6.) Coordinate now.

As a single gal, I usually hit up multiple Thanksgiving meals in a day. But when people invite me at the last minute, then get all sad face on me ’cause I can’t make it, or change venues without telling me, it’s hard to go for a repeat visit. It is complicated, if you figure it out now it can be less so.

7.) Buy your travel tickets.

They jack up those prices just like the cranberry sauce. This also includes checking your car out, oil change, air in tires, etc.

8.) Workout — as much as possible.

As much as you tell yourself you will practice moderation or self-restraint, we all know this will not happen. Might as well start working out now, so as to combat the negative consequences of your lack of self-control.

9.) Strategize for Black Friday.

You know what you want to go for, if anything. Carpool, figure out the best route, what stores have the best stuff, who can actually stand to shop with you, who’s got coupons or phone apps. Do you really want to have this conversation post-turkey?

10.) Prepare yourself emotionally.

Just a bit too much turkey, whipped cream, aperitif, who knows, but there always seems to be drama revolving around Thanksgiving. Perhaps it’s just karmic restitution for all that gluttony, but if you do one thing on this list, this is the one I’d recommend the most.