Ramp up to Thanksgiving

Last year was our first Thanksgiving back in Italy.  I had big plans: Max was born at the beginning of November, my Mom arrived shortly after, and I had planned to make turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and a pie while she was there.  WRONG! I was a new parent, and so my Thanksgiving consisted of me, the day before, telling Emanuele that if Max would just sleep for two hours then I could get the stuffing done -- a sentence that was immediately followed by Max crying and waking up.  Emanuele did manage to cook the turkey in Nonna's oven, and so five of us ate turkey and beans on Thanksgiving. 

This year I am determined to make up for last year, and probably I'm in over my head.  The old daycare building in our town is an event space, so I reserved it for a dinner of 15-20 people.  I've bought ingredients for the following menu:

Turkey/gravy
Smithfield Ham
Sausage Stuffing
Cranberry relish
Sweet potato casserole
Broccoli casserole
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

I'm outsourcing green beans, mac and cheese, apple pie, rolls and wine to Italian friends and family.  So somehow all this food will be cooked by me and Emanuele on Saturday, reheated on Sunday, and the room will be beautifully decorated by noon.  We chose to have it the Sunday after Thanksgiving, since it's not a holiday here and what Italian wants to get off of work on a Thursday and go eat a huge American meal? 

My sister-in-law and her sister seem really excited about trying the food because they've always seen the turkey and cranberry sauce in the movies/television.  Everyone else has heard of the holiday, but no one knows quite what to expect.  I think they are all a little wary of our 24 pound turkey.  The one thing that I know will be hard for many folks to swallow is the American love of mixing sweet and savory -- in Friuli sweet things can only be eaten as dessert.  These dishes will undoubtedly be the most controversial:
Sweet Potato Casserole -- hands down the top offender, could only be served as a dessert in Friuli
Cranberry Sauce -- It's like putting jam on a steak!  I'm preparing a cranberry relish instead to make it less "marmalade-y"
Stuffing -- my recipe calls for dried cranberries and APPLES!  Will I have the nerve to add them both in? I'm imagining certain guests will pick them both out.

I've promised myself to be true to my American roots -- I'm not making anything that I wouldn't serve in the US.  I'm so excited to be sharing this holiday with my Italian family and friends -- delightful anecdotes and cultural confusion abound!