Planning a Christmas meal can be just as stressful as the Christmas shopping, but it doesn't have to be. With careful planning, you can enjoy a nice, relaxing Christmas dinner with the whole family. Here is what you need to do.
Plan a location
Figure out how many people will be there. (This will also help you determine how much food you will need.) After you determine how many will be there, you can decide on your location. You don't want to have it at a place that will be crowded. It will make your guests feel claustrophobic and stressed out.
Plan a time.
You will want to decide a time, as well as the location, well in advance. This will give your guests time to plan their day. Let them know where dinner is going to be and what time everyone should be there. Deciding on a time can be tough. A lot of people go to more than one dinner on Christmas day. You can ask some of your guests what time would be best for them, but remember that you are not going to be able to please everyone.
Plan your menu
When you are the hostess of the dinner, you will provide the turkey or ham as well as some vegetables and a dessert. You can purchase a lot of the food you will need a week before. You will want to wait to get your salads or fruits. Also, clean out your refrigerator a week before. The more room you have in there, the better! You can ask your guests to bring a side dish such as a salad or breads. The last thing you want to do is to wait until the last minute to plan this. Determine who will bring what dish and notify them right away. Christmas is a big holiday. Everyone is busy and stressed out. You don't want to cause your guests any additional stress by asking them at the last minute to bring a dish!
Do as much as possible in advance
To reduce stress the day of your dinner, you will want to prepare as much as possible a day or two before. Here are a few things that can be prepared early; vegetable trays, cheese and cracker trays, breads, salads, and desserts.
If you have decided to have your dinner at your house, do all of the cleaning on the day before. Get your kids and husband to help you. Be sure to let them know that once it is clean, it must stay that way. Christmas day will be very busy and you will not have time to redo the chores.
Christmas is a time to be with your family and friends at a wonderful Christmas Dinner. It can be stressful to plan and prepare the meal, but if you plan ahead you will find that you and your guests will have plenty of time for visiting and celebrating. I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Amy Royce has been married since 1995 and she has two wonderful children.
She is an affiliate marketer and she has a blog that you can view at http://amyswordsandthoughts.blogspot.com
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