When I was little, I never appreciated just how much work goes into planning a family get-together. The perfect turkey meal just magically appeared and as far as I knew, everything was free.
First of all, if there are people in the family who work on holidays, you must find a day when everybody is available. You will clean the house, straightening out messes that shouldn’t be seen and put away dangerous items that children might get a hold of.
I enjoy planning the meal. My husband lets me buy whichever food items I want to prepare for holidays, so I just go hog-wild. First I make a list of what I want the menu to be and then I go to the store and purchase the items needed to make those dishes. Sometimes I prepare traditional meals, sometimes I make something unexpected, but usually I do a little of each. For example, on Easter I prepared a traditional ham, but also prepared meatloaf as something totally unexpected just in case a family member just ate their traditional ham at their in-laws and was tired of holiday food. I made green bean casserole, corn, homemade potato salad, sour cream potatoes, Oreo cookie desert, cheesecake, pumpkin pie and it just occurred to me that I forgot to make rolls! There are a few other things I purchase and set out on the table, like potato chips—I’m not going to make those from scratch (too much work)
After all the food is purchased, one must time the temperatures and cooking of the foods so that everything is ready on time, cooked or chilled appropriately.
I like to have as much done as possible so that when guests arrive, I can give them my full attention. Also, it is easy to forget things like napkins, ketchup, butter, and salad dressing. (And rolls) You must decide if you are going to use paper napkins, paper plates, and plastic ware, or cloth napkins, china, and real silverware.
I hope I am able to give my children and grandchildren a wonderful holiday experiences similar to the one that my own mother provided me and my siblings.
