1. Green Bean Casserole

The king of all side dishes, green bean casserole makes me absurdly happy, especially my mom's recipe using french-style green beans. One of the only things at any Thanksgiving that I wouldn't mind multiple people accidentally bringing, green bean casserole is one of those food items that is always a hit, because it's fantastic and can also be justified as healthy, because technically it's a vegetable, so people never feel guilty for chowing down on copious amounts of this fantastic side dish.

2. Sweet Potatoes

In all their forms, whether as a sweet potato mash or casserole with ample amounts of brown sugar marshmallows, as candied yams, as baked sweet potatoes you can load yourself, or as a pie to die for, sweet potatoes are a versatile and necessary staple of any successful Thanksgiving dinner, and one I will always look forward to.

Sweet potatoes are a year-round treat but they really come into their own when made into these great Thanksgiving dishes and served alongside everything else.

3. Cornbread

Cornbread is beautiful. Muffins, loaves, pans, any form it's baked into, all equally beautiful and fantastic. Whether your cornbread has various things baked into it or is just itself, whether your cornbread is sweeter or more savory, whether you top it with butter or eat it plain, there is little more versatile than cornbread and little I look forward to eating more during the holidays (or year-round). Big love to you, cornbread.

4. Pie

Pies are a fantastic dessert, especially in the fall. Thanksgiving is just one of many times you're likely to see a table full of various pies, but it's arguably the best of them.

Apple pie, pumpkin pie, and sweet potato pie are especially popular for Thanksgiving, and sweet potato pie is one of my absolute favorites, but there's no limit to the kind of pie you could make besides finding fruit that's in season.

Pies are so great and I'm so excited to eat the equivalent of three full pies to myself as Thanksgiving season goes on.

5. Ham

While typically more of a Christmas dinner dish, ham can still be the star of the show on Thanksgiving. Hot take: ham SHOULD be the star of the show on Thanksgiving because turkey is criminally overrated and honestly not that good on its own. Ham, on the other hand, stands alone as a wonderful main dish and never fails to have several possibilities on how to prepare and cook it for maximum flavor, something turkey will forever fail at.

6. Stuffing

Stuffing is great, it's so versatile, it has so many options and recipes, it can be served as a side or be its own standalone dish. With or without gravy, with or without turkey, stuffing is still an amazing thing and shouldn't be limited to just Thanksgiving.

Whether your stuffing is just savory bread chunks, or it's full of sausage and nuts and fruit, or it's your own cleverly designed recipe, it is a beautiful and valid dish and I will definitely be eating it. I love getting stuffed on stuffing.

7. The Turkey

I know, I know. I just trash-talked turkey, but I have to include it because it is the thing that makes Thanksgiving for most people. If I left it off the list, people would get mad. And besides, turkey does have its merits. It's good with mashed potatoes and soaked in gravy. The dark meat can be pretty great sometimes.

It's not the driest meat even if it is super dry. But most importantly: It makes a damn good sandwich the days after Thanksgiving. A turkey sandwich with thick-cut carved turkey will beat its lunch meat equivalent by a landslide ever time, and for that reason alone, I am thankful that turkey is always included in Thanksgiving meals.