I want to surprise my family with T-Day pie...please help me find good recipe

I like this one. It's not too obvious, but it's always a great success. You might want to cut down the sugar if your family doesn't like things too sweet. I find this a bit heavy, but the little ones love this.

Mystery Pecan Pie

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 C. plus 1/4 C. sugar (divided use)
4 eggs (divided use)
2 t. vanilla (divided use)
1/4 t. salt
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
1 1/4 C. chopped pecans
1 C. corn syrup

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Beat softened cream cheese with 1/3 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and salt until thick and creamy. Spread this mixture in the bottom of a prepared pie crust and sprinkle with pecans. Set aside.

Mix by hand remaining 3 eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and corn syrup. Pour this mixture over pecans.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

It really depends on what your family likes, you might want to consider making small personal pies for each one. It might take you longer but the surprise will be bigger. I like this pie simple easy to make. 

Cranberry Banana Pie:

1 1/2 cups cranberries
1 cup sugar
2 bananas -- (2 to 3) 

Wash cranberries. Remove stems. Combine cranberries and sugar. Cover.
Cook slowly until fruit is tender and clear. Cool. Line pie pan with
plain pastry. Cover bottom with thinly sliced bananas. Pour cranberry
sauce over bananas. Cover with strips of pastry to form a lattice. Bake
in hot oven (425 F) 15 minutes. 

For anyone who's vegan ("my girlfriend's a vegan, which pretty much makes me one too"), I found a great article here that can come in handy...you never know when you've got a family member with a limited diet.

I cant give a specific recipe but there would be loads on the net for sweet potato pie, which beats the cr@p out of pumpkin in my opinion, any day of the week. You basically need sweet yams, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg and a good crust. The shortcuts are: canned yams, which eliminates removing "string" and also cooking them down; ready-made crust. You can also forgo the crust and make "pudding" instead which is just the filling and can be poured in any size-shape baking pan (well sprayed with cooking spray). My secret is to whip the daylights out of the ingredients with a good hand or stand mixer 'til it has the texture almost of whipped cream. By doing so it bakes like a souffle and has a gorgeous caramalised skin, perfect fixed in muffin pans for individual snacks.

A guideline for starting out is:

*1 40 oz. can of yams

*1 stick butter

*3-6 eggs (depending on size)

*At least 1 cup of sugar

 A bit of cream wouldnt hurt. Be willing to experiment! Be sure to cover the edges of your pie crust with foil once it's reached perfect goldness to prevent burning. Be sure to do a practice run of any of these recipes well in advance to fine tune everything so there wont be any ugly surprises. Good luck whatever you decide. And Happy Thanksgiving in advance.