That stress thing is what takes so much of the fun out of the holidays, especially when the kids are small–you have to prepare for the holiday and take care of them. Now that our kids are teens, we handle that by dividing up responsibilities in advance, that way the burden of the day doesn’t fall on one or two of us.

We bake several apple and pumkin pies just before Thanksgiving and have them ready when ever we need them, that way at least dessert is covered. The night before the holiday, we’ll set the dining room table, and make sure both the kitchen sink and dishwasher are cleared out and ready for use. As many of the entees as possible are cooked in advance or at least prepared up to the point of being oven ready. Finally, we’re over any hesitancy about asking guests to bring a hot side dish. No one ever refuses!

We intentionally set out to make the day as stress free as possible so we can really enjoy it. I think we forget to do that in our efforts to make the day perfect. And what is it that JD Roth at GetRichSlowly always says?–”the perfect is the enemy of the good.” Amen.
.-= Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last blog ..Finding Work by Working for Free =-.