Stress-Free Thanksgiving Feast

Turkey
You could buy a pre-cooked turkey at the grocery store, but that is rather expensive. Cooking a turkey isn't actually that difficult. Buy your turkey a few days before your Thanksgiving feast, and put it in the refrigerator - do not freeze it. If it's already frozen, stick it on the bottom shelf of the fridge several days ahead and let it defrost. Believe me, you do not want to unwrap that thing on Thanksgiving morning and find that big hunk of meat still half-frozen.
Before you throw away the plastic the turkey came in, check the weight of the bird and the amount of time it recommends for cooking - then give yourself another 40 minute's leeway. Turkeys are ornery critters and it's difficult to know exactly how long it will take them to cook to perfection. Make sure you remove any innards and organs and the neck before you begin cooking it.
Lay your turkey out in a roasting pan, and sprinkle salt and pepper all over it, and on the inside. If your roasting pan has a lid, use that. Otherwise, cover the turkey lightly with a 'tent' of aluminum foil for the first several hours. This keeps moisture in. For the last hour you can remove the cover to let the skin crisp up a bit. When you stick a fork into the breast, and the juices that run out are clear, your bird is done.
Voila! There's your turkey.

Potatoes
You have several options for you starchy dish. If you don't mind the taste, feel free to buy boxed mashed potatoes and whip them up just before the meal. However, since you oven is already on for the turkey, it would be quite simple to throw baking potatoes or sweet potatoes into the oven along with the bird.
What you need to know about potatoes of any kind:
Wash them before baking
Always, always poke several holes in each potato before putting in the oven. Your simple meal and saved time will be eliminated if a potato explodes in your oven.
Brush potatoes with a little olive oil before baking, to hold in moisture and soften the skin.
Put into the oven 1 1/2 hours before you'll want to eat them. Potatoes are ornery too.

Stuffing
This can be the simplest part of your meal - buy your stuffing in boxes. That sounds so common I know, but if your goal is simplicity, you don't want to be chopping up stale bread, messing with raw sausage, mincing vegetables, and trying to fit it all into the inside of the turkey somehow.
Just follow the directions on the box. All you need is some water and 1/2 stick of butter per box.

Vegetables
Ok, maybe stuffing wasn't the simplest. Vegetables can be easy, if you resist the urge to embellish them with fancy vinegar and crumbled bacon. Buy several bags of frozen green peas or green beans. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add vegetables and simmer until tender. Drain of the water and serve.

Cranberry Sauce
No Thanksgiving meal would be complete without cranberry sauce. All you need is a few cans of the stuff, a nice serving dish, and you're set. Place your canned sauce on the serving dish, and use a knife to slice it into rounds, which you can arrange aesthetically if you so desire.
If you'd like to look fancy without actually doing fancy, buy canned cranberry sauce with whole berries, and mix it up with a few mandarin orange slices.

Bread
Buy a few packages of nice rolls at your local grocery, and warm in the microwave before serving in a nice basket. Come to think of it, that may actually be the simplest part of the meal.

Drinks
If you want to keep your feast kid-friendly, buy a few bottles of "sparkle juice" which will be available in most stores from the beginning of September. You usually have three flavors to choose from - grape, apple cider, or cranberry.

Put away the magazines with their new and stunning recipes, and keep Thanksgiving simple this year. You'll be better able to give thanks if you're not hovering over a hot stove dripping sweat into stuffing that doesn't seem to have turned out right.