We need to take that boxed stuffing mix away from you! Stuffing is easy.

Take a big loaf of cheapish white bread, something along the lines of Columbo sour dough. Take a much smaller quantity of something with more oomph. Could be rye bread. Could be whole wheat. Doesn't really matter. Set the least-skilled cook in the household to pulling the bread into bite-sized chunks. You need enough chunks to fill the largest casserole in the house.

In a large pan, saute in butter as many of the following as you like (the more, the merrier):
--Diced yellow onion
--Cut-up apples, preferably the more sour kind
--Raisins (soak them in wine first, if you like)
--Diced celery (but not a lot)
--Nuts (walnuts or almonds work well)
--Chopped mushrooms (though if you have a lot of fruit in the stuffing, you'll barely notice the 'shrooms)
--Dried fruit of any sort (heck, any form of trail mix that doesn't include candy is a good add-in)

You want the onion to go limp and start to caramelize. Sprinkle well with poultry seasoning whenever you feel bored with stirring. (If seasoning mixes are Not Done in your circles, hum a little Simon & Garfunkle and sprinkle the mixture well with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Nutmeg is also helpful.) If you want sausage or bacon in your stuffing, fry that up separately.

Dump all your goodies into the chunked bread. If your casserole dish is very, very full, you may want to put the bread out onto the cutting board and do the stuffing in layers. At this point, you'll often discover that you need a second casserole dish. Wash your hands well and mix the stuffing in the manner approved by James Burke.

Pour canned chicken broth over the mixture of bread and goodies until it seems just short of being damp enough. (If you've gone vegetarian, veg bouillon is fine, too.) Make up the remaining dampness with the dregs of whatever white wine is open in your refrigerator. (This is also a good use for unwanted donations of Two Buck Chuck.)

Bake in a 350-degree oven until you like the texture when you muddle it up with a big spoon. An hour will probably do it. If you want to leave it in the oven longer, you may need to dump some more broth or wine over it every hour or so.

People will eat this in preference to anything else on the table (except maybe the Cook's Illustrated Incredibly-Tedious-To-Make Pumpkin Cheesecake), so it's a good thing you went to that second casserole dish.

Yay, thanks Alec! I'm always amazed at people who think cooking is hard (and I know many of those people). Restaurant cooking for 200 people, yes; pastry chefs, yes; but dinner?
Damn people, just stand facing the stove. And practice.

You know, it's probably because of my poor-white-trash upbringing, but canned cranberry sauce is like my #1 most-looked-forward-to Thanksgiving side. Still, though, I think I'm going to try this cranberry relish for the guests with more sophisticated tastes than myself.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000086cranberry_relish.php

I'd add some orange juice and orange zest. The recipe I have also uses star anise and allspice. Deeee-lish.

One of the real challenges of cooking a big meal is making it all come out at the same time (still marvel that Mom could put nine molten-hot dishes on the table with only four burners...) Luckily, the cranberry sauce is a do-ahead. Even more reason to make it yourself. And DEAR GOD it smells good when cooking.

Cooking cranberries is a really "visual" cooking experience... the recipe I have says "they're done cooking when most of the berries have popped." And damned if that ain't what happens! So cool.

And there is no color on earth quite as glorious as cooking/cooked fresh cranberries.

Hey, Wende, your dressing is almost exactly like mine. I use both dark and light raisins and prefer cornbread to white bread. I also like water chestnuts for the crunch. I used to put in whole roasted chestnuts, as well, but after several years of moldy chestnuts I gave up. I also use pecans because I'm allergic to walnuts. I agree that the mushrooms aren't noticeable but they do keep the dressing moist and they have a wonderful aroma. Pears are also a good addition. Of course, my cooking motto is "don't leave anything hanging around.'

... but I LOVE the cranberry sauce out of the can! I love how it wiggles and jiggles and slides across my plate. I love the impressions of the can ridges that tell me exactly where to cut a slice. I love that it's translucent and crystalline...

Don't be hatin' on the canned cran!