You've prepped and planned, now let's get that bird in the oven!  To keep it simple, we'll think about 3 things.  Simplicity, crisp skin, moist meat.  We've got a video showing the step-by-step process below, but here's the quick version:

You will need:
Your turkey, rinsed, patted dry and room temp
1 stick of room temperature butter or 1/3 c oil (sunflower, olive, canola, etc.)
Handful of aeromatic herbs of your choice ( I use sage, rosemary, thyme)
Another Tbsp(ish) of each your choice herbs, minced
1 lg or 2 small lemons
1 med-lg onion
Salt

Prep for Roasting

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Remove giblets from inside the cavity.
3. Quarter the lemon and onion and place in the cavity, along with the handful of herbs.
4. Mash your minced herbs into your room temp. butter or stir into your oil.
5. Run your hand gently between the breast meat and breast skin to make space to season the breast meat.  Generously season this space with your flavored oil or butter.  Some people like to slip herbs, lemon slices, or even bacon in the gap to flavor their meat!
6. Season the skin all over with the rest of your herbed oil/butter, then sprinkle lightly with salt all over.  If you haven't brined, be generous with the salt.
7. Some people like to inject their bird with butter, oil, spices, or maple syrup at this point.  For a brined bird this is pretty unnecessary (but still fun and tasty). If you haven't brined your bird, I highly recommend doing this with a mix of some type of fat+seasonings+maple syrup.
8. Truss your bird by tying the legs and tail together at the bony end of the legs, and by tying the wings close to the bird or tucking them behind the back (see video if you need explanation).  You bird will cook more evenly this way.
9. Set your bird on a rack in a roasting pan.

Roast

1. Place your prepared turkey in the 500 degree oven.
2. Immediately turn the oven down to 325 degrees. This lets the skin crisp and dry out at the high heat and starts the browning process. Keep the door shut in this first hour or you'll lose the benefit.  Roasting at a low heat keeps the meat moist and tender.
3. After 1 hr, start the checking and basting cycle.  You'll want to temp the thigh at the deepest point, next to the bone, to get a reference for how quickly your bird is cooking.  Fresh birds cook quickly, so don't be caught off guard.  Check every half hour if you'e got a ways to go, or every 15 minutes if you're approaching 165 degrees, which is fully cooked.
4. If you're cooking a stuffed bird, make sure the temperature of the middle of the stuffing reaches 165 degrees before you remove it from the oven.
5. You may take your bird out of the oven at 160 or higher, because it will continue cooking out of the oven for about 5 degrees more.
6. Cover the whole roasting pan with foil and let it stand 30 minutes before carving.  This allows the juices to reabsorb and equalize throughout the meat.  And you won't burn your hand when carving, which is a plus.
7. Remove to a large, sturdy surface.  Ideally something like a cutting board with a well for juices.  In a pinch, put a towel under your cutting board to minimize the mess and whole your cutting board steady.
8. Get a platter ready for your meat.
9. Carve (this is a great video to show you how to carve a turkey, but for the love of all that is holy do NOT remove the skin.  I can't believe he recommends that!  A little bit of me dies every time I watch him do it!  Otherwise this is the best explanation I've found).
10. Give Thanks.
11. Enjoy.

My father-in-law loves to joke about Thanksgiving.  "You spend all day cooking.  Stuffing, basting, roasting, sweating, stressing.. and at the end of the day, it's still just a turkey!"  And he's not alone in this sentiment.  There are a lot of folks out there who are perenially unimpressed by the centerpiece of the upcoming holiday.  This is the year you change their minds.  And all it take is a little salt, a little sugar, and some time.
If you've got a few minutes (13:50 to be exact - yes I know that's a little bit of an ask, but is it really, when the most honored meal of the year is on the line?) you should check out the  YouTube video I've made on the subject.  It goes more in depth about why and how we brine, with a step-by-step example. But for the rest of you, scroll on.  I'm giving the quick and dirty rundown here.

Brining Basics:
Brining simply means soaking in, at minimum, a saltwater solution.  This can be as basic as salt and water, or as complicated and fancy as your nuanced personality. Most often brining refers to a salt and sugar solution. Typically this is done for 12 hours, at a minimum.  But, in a pinch, you can do a quick brine and still get a lot of benefit.  We often thaw pork chops or chicken cuts in a brine around lunchtime, cook them at dinner  (so maybe a 6 hour turnaround) and can taste a huge difference.

Our Recommended Ratio:
1/2 c Salt : 1/2 c sugar : 1 gallon water 
Stir together, cover meat and store in fridge.
Soak 12 - 72 hours. 
*For a shorter soak, you can try increasing the salt and sugar each to 1 cup per gallon.  This helps make up for the reduced soaking time.  I find this ratio too salty for longer soaks, though.

Optional Adds for Experimentation: 

• Savory Herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.
• Classically Sweet Spices like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves
• Vegetables like garlic, onion, or even tomato
• Fruits and Juices such as citrus, apples, apple cider, cranberry juice, pineapple

ShireFolk Farm's Thanksgiving Turkey Brine Recipe:
Makes 2 gallons of brine, enough to cover a 16lb turkey.

You will need:

• 1 c brown sugar (white is fine if you're lacking brown)
• 1 c kosher salt (or whatever you have on hand)
•  1/2 gallon warm water
• 1.5 gallons cold water
• 3 washed and quartered oranges (squeeze juice into brine and toss the whole fruit in the mix)
• 5 washed and quartered lemons (treat the same as the oranges)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tsp whole allspice berries
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• Fresh sage as much as you like (My advice is - don't go too heavy on the sage.  It's already all over the Thanksgiving flavor palate)
• fresh rosemary, as much as you like
• fresh thyme, as much as you like

​1).In a large bowl, stir together salt and sugar in the warm water until fully dissolved (or see the video above for the blender trick).  Then stir in the spices. Sitting in the warm water will give them a jump start to diffusing their flavor since they'll be in cold water the rest of the time.
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2).  While the spices are soaking in the concentrated brine, prep your bird.  Give it a good wash and find somewhere to put it. A big pot it'll fit in, a cooler you don't mind sanitizing before and after the brine, or line a big bucket or pot with a brine bag (I'm a fan of this method.  Go to the very end of the video to see why.

3).  Once your bird is in it's final brining destination, pour the concentrated brine over it, then top with a gallon and a half of cold water.  Stir it all around to distribute flavors, salts, and sugars.  If you're using a cooler, top it off with ice and store it out of the sun.  (If you're using a lot of ice, it's worth considering a slightly stronger salt and sugar concentration in your brine to offset the melting water from the ice.)  

4).  And wait!  We recommend at least 24 hours, and up to 3 days of brining.  When it's all done, rinse in cold water, pat dry and bring to room temperature before cooking using your desired method.