Great idea to do the dinner!

Most of America cooks frozen turkey anyway, and they take a LONG time to defrost. You'll need a hard-sided cooler (no styrofoam) carefully packaged and it shouldn't be a problem for someone to fly with it in October and you could keep it frozen until near Turkeyday. Heck, FedEx the thing overnight if cost is no object.

Agree the pies are so simple you can't go wrong. Nonesuch Mincemeat in the jar at the grocers makes a really good pie. Yumm.. . our family doesn't do Pecan Pie because it is just too sweet and too southern. What about the sweet potatoes (yams)? And the little-bitty marshmallows and bourbon?