I'm not a cook so can't give personal experience on cooking poultry, but here in Australia we're told never to defrost poultry on the bench due to the risk of salmonella.

So I went looking for US recommendations - How to Safely Thaw a Turkey & UK regulations - Let's Talk Turkey: your guide to Christmas food safety

My usual evening meal is soupy-stew - throw lotsa vegs in a saucepan, boil & add seasonings/flavourings, add something proteiny, pour into a bowl & eat with a spoon. I gave up using my oven decades ago cos it is too hard to kneel down & to clean it, so bought an electric frypan & used that until a few years ago when I invented soupy-stew.

The friend I'm spending Christmas with is planning to roast a couple of turkey pieces, I hope the day won't be too hot for roasting.

sandra