14 days is all you have before your family and company all sit down together to break bread and celebrate your Thanksgiving holiday. It may seem like a long way away but two weeks can go by in the blink of an eye.

By beginning your planning early and following along with the Thanksgiving calendar you began three weeks before the holiday you will stay cool and collected all the way to your celebration.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving:

Settle upon your final menu. Will you be serving turkey and ham or simply a traditional Thanksgiving meal? Will you be accommodating any special request from your family or guests?

Compile all your recipes. Make a check list of all your ingredients. You will have a lot of items that are used in more than one dish. Make sure that when you put your list together you mark down all the quantities needed. This way you will not get to your cooking and baking and discover that you are almost out of a key ingredient for you Thanksgiving dinner.

Call your guests and ask if they would like to do some of the cooking. Many of your guests may have specialties that they would be delighted to make and bring. This will relive you of all the pressure and allow your guests to feel needed and appreciated.

Place an order for your fresh turkey or buy your frozen turkey and put it in the freezer. This way you know that the turkey is taken care of and you will not have to worry about the stores being sold out.

Shop for and buy all your beverage needs. Your soda and liquors will keep the two weeks and you will be sure that everything that needs to be chilled is nice and cool by Thanksgiving.

Shop for all the non-perishable items on your list. Buying items such as flour, stuffing mix, sugar and canned goods will help with your rush in the days before Thanksgiving. You will be surprised how many items can be purchased two weeks before hand and how many of these items will be on sale. The grocery stores are ready for shoppers at the beginning of November and you will be able to take advantage of both time and money savings.