Want to simplify your Thanksgiving? Take your turkey out of the freezer and stick it in the refrigerator today. That way, it's defrosted before the big date with the oven — or grill, or fryer, or imu or whatevahs — and you won't resort to that awful water bath that uses precious resources.

Also: If you haven't done your menu and grocery list, sit down right now and sculpt the meal plan. If you squeeze in a trip before things get too harried, you won't be caught on Turkey Day facing empty shelves.

— Advertiser Staff

SAVE THE PLANET

DECORATE FROM YOUR YARD

Pull a Thanksgiving centerpiece from your own backyard? Lucky we live Hawai'i — we're awash in tropicals. A branch or two of colorful bougainvillea in a tall glass vase is always pretty, as is a monstera placemat. One old-fashioned trick for displaying pretty leaves from the yard so they keep their color and flatten: Arrange them between two sheets of wax paper, then iron (on low!) until the wax melts. When you peel them off, you can pin to a board in a nice arrangement or sprinkle around the table.

— Advertiser Staff

FINAL WORD

"I believe that if you can learn to focus on what you have, you will always see that the universe is abundant, and you will have more. If you concentrate and focus in your life on what you don't have, you will never have enough. Be grateful."

Oprah Winfrey | in her 1997 commencement address to Wellesley graduates