Thanksgiving 2k17 Recap

In case you missed it, last week was the Super Bowl of the PJP baking year:  THANKSGIVING.  And in a perfect world, I would give Team PJP a major trophy, overly ornate championship rings, and take us all to Disney World like a group of legit winners...because we did AHHHHMAZING.

And here is how I know that we've officially cracked the Thanksgiving code:  I WENT HOME AND SLEPT FOR A FEW HOURS ON TUESDAY NIGHT.  People, that's never happened before.  MARK IT DOWN IN THE PJP HISTORY BOOKS.

So this year, we baked and sold more pies than ever before.  But it was less stressful than ever before.  What?  Here's a few thoughts on how it happened:

1. We were prepared.  Our fourth time at the Thanksgiving rodeo meant that we all knew what was coming our way and with the exception of just two rookies, Team PJP was staffed by veterans who could give me feedback on ways to plan and prepare from their perspective.  And I'm a smart enough girl to listen to that feedback.
2. We provided the frozen pie option this year, which went exceedingly well.  Hundreds of customers picked up their pies by the Saturday before Thanksgiving, allowing us to accommodate more orders in a less stressful approach.
3. We closed orders early enough to have solid data to plan with for our three busiest days.  This was one of the most difficult decisions to make because we turned quite a few people away in those last days before Thanksgiving week.  But, it was one of the better decisions because it helped us know exactly what needed to be done each day without any doubt.  (The road to Thanksgiving failure is paved with trying to accommodate last minute orders to keep people happy.  TRUST ME, I KNOW.  Please refer to the Thanksgiving blog post about our second Thanksgiving for the full story.  I would link it here but I can't even go back and read about our wayward Year Two selves.)
4. Everyone knew their job exceptionally well.  We even held team meetings each morning to discuss a plan of attack on the baking schedule, which is exceptionally NOT like us on the regular.  And without any surprise, every member of Team PJP helped out in every way possible...from dishes to trash duty to baking to whatever it took to get our baking schedule done.
5. We had fun together.  We couldn't help ourselves, even when the hours were long and our to-do lists were ridiculous...we are pretty lucky that way.  And while that sounds like a small and obvious detail to the Thanksgiving story, our ability to work well together is one of the biggest pieces that made our Thanksgiving puzzle come together.

So, all that said, I'm calling last week an unmitigated success.  That could be the most beautiful post-Thanksgiving sentence I've ever typed.

(And speaking of beautiful things, our Kickstarter campaign for our adorable pie truck is still moving along thanks to some insanely generous support.  As of this evening, we have raised $4,110 of the $18,000 goal and we have 18 days to go (that's 22% funded).  Maybe soon we will be calling this adventure an unmitigated success as well.  Can you even imagine?  Check it out here.)