I've smoked a bird the last few years -- this year it's in the oven. The extended weather report was iffy, so we planned for the oven. Christmas I plan on smoking ...
The bird brined overnight, this morning loosely stuffed the cavity with onion, celery, and lemon zest; added 1/4 cup lemon juice to the bird, pouring it in the cavity. The veggies don't do much for the bird, but once the bird rests 15 minutes I completely debone it and start turkey soup with the carcass and the veggies. The soup is cooked before we're done eating. This way we do 2 cleanups -- a preliminary in the morning and one after the meal.
IF anyone is hungry this evening, soup is nice and light to contrast the extremely heavy dinner.
Next time I smoke a bird, I'm going to cut it in half. That looks a LOT easier to deal with!