Fuss-free and fuss with the bird

[elianet]

Hello, I've just been sent an email from OpenTable with the following sentence:
"Give Thanks for a Fuss-Free Thanksgiving. Dine out on November 27, and let someone else fuss with the bird".
Both "Fuss-free" and "to fuss with the bird" struck me as very interesting expressions. What do they exactly mean? Thanks a lot!

[Joe]

The verb to fuss means "to show excessive or unnecessary concern about something" or "to move around or busy oneself restlessly".

The noun fuss means "a complex procedure" or "trouble/difficulty".

fuss-free: something that has or needs no fuss

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day (in North America) is an annual national holiday with a traditional meal including turkey (a bird like a large chicken).

So instead of you have to "fuss" around making your own turkey dinner for Thanksgiving Day, OpenTable is suggesting that you eat your dinner in their restaurant. It will be fuss-free for you and they (not you) will have to "fuss with the bird" (the turkey).

Of course, you will have to fuss with the bill because the dinner won't be completely free

[elianet]

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation, Josef. Fussing with the bill would be a problem indeed