This post is part of my attempt to post daily between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. That means, if my math is correct, I will have offered 37 different topics about my favorite time of the year. Learn more about 37 Things for the Holidays.

My first post talks about Thanksgiving food.

I like to tell people I gave up eating meat cold turkey.

But the reality is that it took many months. While I officially mark May 2012 as the period in my life when I went meatless, it is November 2011 where the quest began.

It was the first Thanksgiving in, I assume, all of my life where I did not consume one piece of turkey — or any meat product! There was enough commotion at the table for nobody to really notice, but my mother asked me later if I had any turkey and I told her I had not.

Instead, I chose to savor the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and more.

Though I enjoy good tofu, I’ve yet to experience a tofurkey. I considered making tofu this year, but my mom made pasta for me.

While turkey is the focus of Thanksgiving tables, there are a number of people who I’ve encountered over the years who either don’t have turkey or whose side dishes are not traditional (at least to what I think of).

Last week, a friend told me she enjoys macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving — a dish I could eat daily.

Later on Thanksgiving, I ventured to Sheetz (of course!) after visiting Target and Macy’s and discovered a number of people ordering MTOs. They could have been college or high school students just looking for something to do, but some of them seemed to have been coming from work and picking up a quick, late-night bite.

If I could choose my own Thanksgiving dinner menu, I’d likely stick with mashed potatoes, green been casserole, macaroni and cheese, maybe some cornbread and a pasta dish. Someone else can bring the turkey!