I come from the land of a thousand holiday side dishes. In the past, I have spent almost all of christmas day in the kitchen. By the time dinner was on the table I would be frazzled, resentful and exhausted.
This year I kept the meal very simple, meat, potatoes, veg, rolls, dessert, wine. When Max said he really wanted refrigerated crescent rolls, I said sure, no holiday bread baking for me! I made both desserts the afternoon before.
So on christmas day I got to play and skateboard with Max and knit with my mom. When we sat down to dinner, I felt happy and grateful.
My new holiday rule: don't martyr yourself in the kitchen.
I did similiar things--pared way down, decided everyone DIDN'T need a million stocking stuffers--that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteI found myself continually thinking about what you wrote in a comment on one of my posts--that it's my holiday, too. I think we too easily forget that--we're so busy making sure that everyone else has the best Christmas ever that we forget about our own joy.
And the thing is--I bet your family enjoyed it way more with you calm and sane. I know mine did.
Congratulations, Laura!!
P.S. I like crescent rolls in the tube, too! (And apparently they're accidentally vegan!)
ReplyDeleteI overheard my mom say "Laura is so calm" on the phone over and over as she talked to our relatives. It makes me wonder how stressed I must have seemed in the past.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice to do things simply? I had all these things I wanted to make but Dave said...his kids eat simple things...VERY simple. So ... we kept it simple and it worked very well :-)
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