Since the year my hubby and I got married I’ve hosted Thanksgiving. Mom had informed me that she had put in her years and was handing it off to me. I being full of myself thought, “How hard can it be?” Then on Thanksgiving morning my mom got a phone call at 6 am of her crying daughter because she couldn’t get the turkey to cooperate.
A lot of years have passed by and I pretty much have it down. Each Thanksgiving looks a little different. Sometimes we have a bunch of people and sometimes we don’t. This year we do and I’m very excited about it. We will have about 18 people here.
Through the years I’ve learned to delegate when I can and not try to do things all by myself. It makes it a more enjoyable time for me. I’ve also learned that you can change things around. Just because my mom always had Thanksgiving at 1 doesn’t mean I had to. I changed that about 5 or so years ago and never looked back. By eating later, I could enjoy the day more. I wasn’t rushed and had plenty of time to complete my tasks. I only regret not doing it sooner.
Another thing you can do is prep. Do as much as you can ahead of time. Pies can be made ahead, potatoes can be peeled and covered in cold water ahead of time. Cut up your celery and onions and whatever else you can. Doing this helps so much.
I’ve also learned to keep my table settings simple AND that it’s okay to use paper plates. Gasp! I know right?! But at the end of the day, no one cares. Paper still looks pretty on the table and as long as you get the nice sturdy ones, you won’t have a problem.
I mean after all it is all about the food right?! Go on, admit it. Yes it’s nice to get together with friends and family but if you’re honest with yourself you know you start drooling over that favorite pie of yours as soon as Fall arrives.
And if you’re blessed enough to have a cousin with a sense of humor that can also carve a turkey you might end up with this little creation.
The best thing you can do for your sanity is to plan ahead. I start planning my Thanksgiving by mid October. It really is a life saver to have all your recipes ready, your grocery list made, side dishes delegated and your extra things like place cards made. Speaking of place cards, I’ll be blogging about this years easy peasy place cards soon. That way if you feel so inclined you can whip them up for yourself.
And let me share with you one of my favorite FREE Thanksgiving planners that I love to use. Sylvia is such a blessing to offer this great planner for free. Make sure you thank her. 
Well that’s it for now. I hope you found a little encouragement for hosting your next Thanksgiving dinner.
Tell me? Do you usually host, go to someone else's home or eat out?
Have a lovely day!
Kim
Hope you and yours have a most wonderful Thanksgiving feast and family /friends time. I'm totally with you on using the paper plates and doing as much prep work ahead of time as you can. Delegating certain dishes to other family members is good too. My daughter does the deviled eggs, my son will frequently cajun fry the turkey, another daughter is great with salads. That leaves me to concentrate on pumpkin pie and/or pumpkin roll and hot rolls, stuffing, and cranberry jello salad. Now I'm starting to get hungry! :)
ReplyDeleteYou have a great plan; my husband and I host Thanksgiving at our house. Your turkey looks cute on that platter.
ReplyDeleteYou make it sound so easy :)
ReplyDeleteI will be hosting this year, and our guest list is about 2 dozen. Last year, Gabrielle and Scott hosted. My philosophy is "no one should be alone for the holidays," so I invite tons of people who don't have family in town. Thankfully, Gabrielle has adopted that philosophy, by which she was raised, so she does the same thing when she hosts.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a burden at all, and part of the reason is that we're not trying to impress people---we're trying to love them. And loving them can certainly be done with paper plates! I am SO with you on that. When we have 2 dozen people for dinner, I don't even have enough plates for everyone anyhow. And even if I did, who wants to wash that many dishes. So, I took the burden off myself two years ago, and I said, "Paper is fine."
Blessings, my friend,
Patti