Is it too soon to talk turkey?

So, I've been receiving emails from stores and restaurants describing/advertising their pick-up Thanksgiving meals. Most are just the common T-day foods. One in particular came from a local restaurant and their menu looked good and more interesting. We sent an e-gift card to our son and daughter-in-law from this restaurant a couple of years ago, and now we're on their email list. Anyway, it's very expensive ($57 per person, not including dessert), but it did get me thinking about what I want to serve our 6 at our little Thanksgiving meal.

For the mains

When you have just 6 people, a whole turkey sounds like far more turkey leftovers than we would want. I've done bone-in turkey breasts before, and those are a good size for a smaller group. They're not as budget-friendly (priced per pound) as the whole bird. But it's an option.

Last year we did a whole chicken, roasted as I would a whole turkey, and a smoked pork loin. I have both whole chickens and a pork loin in the freezer. So if I went the same route as last year, I wouldn't have to buy the main meat. 

The restaurant I mentioned above is providing roasted turkey breast, sliced turkey leg confit, and honey glazed ham as their mains in the package.

For the sides

I think I want variety in texture as well as flavor. And I don't want too many starchy foods. So, I think I'll have purple mashed potatoes (from our garden's purple potatoes, everyone loves the color surprise), roasted sweet potato chunks, and bread, celery and sage stuffing. I have everything for those dishes except sweet potatoes. For vegetable dishes, I have canned green beans, dried mushrooms, and onions on hand. I could make a green bean casserole in a homemade mushroom soup binder and topped with homemade onion and bread crumb topping. I do our green bean casserole this way every year, due to my dairy intolerance. I would like to do a salad. I don't know if we will have anything to make a salad from on hand. So I will have to buy ingredients for a salad. I will make a gravy with the chicken drippings and homemade chicken stock. I may just skip any sort of cranberry sauce, and instead serve home-canned chutney alongside both the chicken and smoked pork. And I'd like to have olives. We all love olives and I haven't been buying any lately due to price increases. I'll get some for Thanksgiving.

The package with the restaurant includes a four cheese mac and cheese, vanilla yam puree, garlic mashed potatoes, brioche truffle stuffing, roasted seasoned green beans, country gravy, and orange cranberry sauce.

For dessert

I will bake an apple pie, using frozen apple chunks and homemade pie pastry, and a pumpkin pie, using our pureed pumpkin, soy milk, sugar, eggs, spices and homemade pie pastry. I will need to pick up whipping cream for the pies.

The restaurant does not include dessert with the package, but offers an add-on of $16 for either an apple or pumpkin pie.

For beverages

I can ask our son and daughter-in-law to bring some sparkling cider and/or mineral water for our cold beverages, and I'll serve coffee and tea with the dessert.

So, it looks like I will need to buy sweet potatoes, salad ingredients, olives, and whipping cream for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Have you given thought to your Thanksgiving meal for this year? Is turkey a must for your group? Are you hosting or guesting this year?