Please Excuse Our RenovationsIf a gremlin happens to surprise you this Christmas, guess what. With your conscious awareness in the present moment, nothing can disturb your peace. You have most of the bases covered already. Plus you have extra time on your hands to double check your lists to be sure you haven’t forgotten anything.
Have you checked your Successfully Aborted Gremlins yet? You’ve accomplished so much and it’s only October. You’re the best! And you’re headed in the right direction to avoid the Christmas blues this year. If none of the above is true, then please get in touch with me at Contact Brenda. I will get you back on track. Just landed? Thank you for visiting. You've arrived at an easy 12-month plan to ensure that you have your best-ever Christmas Day dinner party. You've missed more than half of this plan. Catching up is easy, and so important, so please start at the beginning at
Last Christmas? What Stress?
Gremlin Prevention
The Gremlin of Christmas Cards Case Scenario Early in December, Christmas cards begin coming to our house. Some people are way too organized! Imagine sending out cards that early in the month. I had decided not to send cards that year. I would make a special effort to phone my friends and family and extend a personal greeting. But I would make it really special and wait until the week before Christmas. Bad, idea! One night I sat down with my telephone list and made the first call. One hour later, after a very interesting and lengthy reunion with my friend, I wished her Happy Christmas, and hung up the phone. Another look at my list warned me that I would never have enough time to call everyone and I then regretted not sending cards. The cards kept coming in and each time one came I felt more and more guilty. I did get some more calls in, but not to everyone on my list and certainly not to everyone who had sent me a card.
Gremlin Prevention Email has become acceptable, and definitely easy. Perhaps all your Christmas greetings can be sent via the internet. There are some delightful animated cards to send, if you are somewhat computer savvy. Emails are kind to our environment and save on postage. If you do decide to make phone calls, this year, you will have more time because you are on the plan. Personal calls are wonderful – just remember to keep them short and sweet. If your decision is to send cards, make your life easier and attend to those cards this month. Begin to prepare your list. Do a little research for complete addresses now. Addressing a few cards at a time, especially if you enclose notes, while listening to your favorite Christmas music and sipping a little wine, may be just the ticket to enjoying this task. If you have not already purchased packaging materials for advanced out-of-town Christmas gifts, now is the time to get this out of the way. What about a postal weigh scale to minimize your trips to the post office? The Gremlin of Kitchen Knives Case Scenario Dull knives in the kitchen at any time of year is just plain dumb. It wasn’t until I sliced my finger instead of a tomato, that I made a very quick and definite decision never to have dull knives in my kitchen again. The dull knife I was using slipped off the tomato and you know the rest. Funny thing about dull knives, they may not be able to cut through the skin on a tomato, but they don’t have any hesitation when it comes to my skin. Gremlin Prevention Keep a sharpening stone handy in your kitchen. Either assign someone to keep the knives sharp, or do it yourself. Ask an expert to show you how, and then you are the expert. The Gremlin of Kitchen Cookware Case Scenario Being a traditional kind of hostess, I wanted to serve a variety of cooked vegetables like one sees on a banquet table. Everything was chopped and already to go. They had to be perfectly cooked, to retain their brilliant colors, so they were left until the last minutes before serving. It was only then that I realized I needed six cooking pots - I had only four. My stove had only 4 elements to cook on. Duh? (I often learn the hard way – by experience. Gremlin Prevention Take inventory of your cooking pots, and lids. Did you have enough last Christmas? To save on cooking space, multi-layered steamers are great. Was the turkey pan large enough? What do you carve your turkey on? Do you have enough chopping boards and knives? Food storage containers – did you have enough, in a variety of sizes, to store all the leftovers in the refrigerator? And, in what condition are your kitchen appliances? Do all the elements on your stove work properly? Does the oven keep the required temperature? Do you have a second cooking appliance to bring out for extra cooking space? Do you have one or two hot plates for keeping food warm during the serving stage? Now is the time to organize this. Perhaps you could borrow from an invited guest.
The Gremlin of Holiday Season Entertaining Case Scenario Three weeks before Christmas, a great idea is born! It’s our turn to entertain our travel group of friends. Let’s have them over for dinner this weekend. Bad idea! Only two of them are available. The rest are busy with other holiday season activities. Now we will have to wait until after Christmas, or even next year to see them again. Gremlin Prevention It seems so obvious now that you are working the plan. People get very busy when it’s so close to Christmas. Start now to plan your holiday entertaining. November is the time to invite friends to December events. Try not to double book with others who hold annual parties. Gremlin Prevention Prepare your Christmas dinner menu. Are you serving a brunch as well as dinner? Prepare a list of tasks to be done during Christmas Day. Make up your guest list. Remember, this Christmas your style of entertaining has a new flavor or theme. Your guests will be invited to fully participate in the entire event. Recommendations for assigning tasks… In the interest of keeping the event lighthearted and fun, check out the character roles and tasks assigned for Christmas Day. This is just an idea for you to consider. Feel free to revise it in any way that better suits your preferences. If you treat it like a game, or a party theme, your guests are more likely to accept your new style. Christmas dinner party invitations could begin with a phone call to each guest describing the theme and their options for participation. Once you have their acceptance to attend, you could email, or mail their formal invitation. Each invitation will include clear instructions of the character role they will play and the task assigned to them. One option for assigning tasks is to consider each guest’s individual talents and preferences to determine which task to assign to them. Your daughter-in-law may make delicious gravy – she’ll love you for asking. Another is to add some mystery to the game by inviting each guest to accept a role by the luck of a draw. Be creative, assertive, and as humorous as you can, to let everyone know about your intention to enjoy Christmas as much as they do. Need a little help being assertive? If you want some support, why not call your closest friend or relative on your guest list. She/he may wish to help you with invitations and other pre-party planning. One cautionary note: Do not allow anyone to talk you out of this plan. Others may not remember, or even understand stress at Christmas. My friend, Anne’s husband was not even aware of how much grief she suffered on Christmas Day, nor did he know about her Boxing Day burnout. Some host/hostesses are amazingly adept at hiding their grief. Keep up the great momentum you have created so far. You are doing great! Take nothing seriously! You will laugh your way through this Christmas.
Next, please move forward to the October To Do List. Case Scenarios:
January,
February,
March-August,
September,
October,
November,
December
Glossary of Terms Character Roles and Assigned Tasks Return from October Gremlin Prevention to Last Christmas? What Stress?
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