Jellied cranberry can make a nice spread for turkey, finger sandwiches. Cranberry makes the best kerfir water, it’s good help with the urinary tract. I’m not much a fan of cranberry with roasted turkey. Chilled stuff on my hot food—that’s like using chilled mustard or ketchup on hot food.
Green bean casserole: can’t be cream of mushroom or mushroom at all- it has to be the sour cream, butter and onion, topped with corn flakes. Yes, I like mushrooms, just not there.
Yams/sweet taters are fine if they don’t have a ton of sugar— that dish is usually something that’s sickly sweet.
Pumpkin roll not pie ftw.
Stuffing is bleh, dressing is yummy especially topped with homemade dumplings (homemade noodle type not doughballs) or giblet gravy topped.
Mac and cheese is yuck, I don’t care for it but will eat it.
I think the custom evolved of serving something acidic with a lot of Vitamin C in it to cut the effects of the fats in the meat course; hence, turkey and cranberry, duck with orange sauce, lamb and mint jelly, beef with tomato, fish with lemon... etc.