ALT-5 How to have a Stress Free Family Thanksgiving Dinner
It is possible to have a stress free Thanksgiving, it just takes some planning. I used to be exhausted at the end of the day, tired, grumpy, and would swear I would not have Thanksgiving dinner at my house ever again. I was angry because after all that cooking and preparation, everyone stuffed their faces, and then got up, and either left or sat on the couch and watched football or slept, leaving me with the clean up. Well, that does not happen anymore. I decided that if I was going to host dinner, there were going to be a few rules.
There are usually about twenty people that come to dinner. This includes my sister and her family, my mom and her husband, my dad, and my three sons and their wives. There may be a few small children scattered about or not, depending on whose day it is to have them. My husband would get so upset at how tired I got, that he almost banned dinner at our house. I told him I had a plan.
I called a meeting with my sister and my mom and told them I needed help. That was the mistake I had been making all along. Not asking for help and trying to do everything myself. They, of course, were glad to pitch in. Even my dad offered to buy the turkey for the next year. So with my mom making the pies and my sister bringing the green bean casserole and buns, things were looking up. I then called each of my sons and assigned them with various food items to either buy or make. No one fussed and everyone was happy to help. Big head slap to me.
I then approached the problem of everyone getting up and running after dinner. I told my sons that in no way were they getting out of the house without helping to clear the table and dividing up the leftovers and taking some home. That seemed to help encourage their enthusiasm. Anything with food involved seems to do that. My mom and sister said, "Well, you should have asked." And once again, they were right. Instead of stewing away in my own juices, so to speak, all I had to do was ask.
The next Thanksgiving, all I had to do was to cook the turkey my dad had brought over a few days earlier. My mom was even going to make the stuffing. I had outsourced everything else. I had no stress at all except to make sure there was enough toilet paper in the bathrooms and that the house was clean enough. It was great! Everyone pitched in after dinner and the food was put away and divided up for people to take home later. With a clean dining room and kitchen, we all sat down to watch football, and were soon snoring away with my dad and my husband.
We all do the holiday dinners this way now. Everyone is assigned something to bring and we know we better not leave without helping out and taking leftovers with us. It works and helps whoever is hosting not feel so stressed. I don't dread any holiday now and all it took was asking for help.
