How stressed is your Thanksgiving?

Is Thanksgiving, or the way YOU do Thanksgiving, a source of stress to you, your body, your relationships?

I had a divorced friend who told me his ex-wife used to plan Thanksgiving dinner for noon.  This meant she had to get up at 4 am to stage the whole event so everything was perfect by noon.  One year I cooked for him.  He was amazed at how stress-less my schedule was!
I plan dinner for 4-5 pm (ish).  This allows me to get up at a decent hour (a morning person I am NOT, and on a holiday….).  I can get the bird in the oven by 10 or 11, have it done by around 4.  Depending on the size of your bird, of course.

Another thing I do is cook several things the day before.  This year, that’s the sweet potatoes (baked and mixed with apricot jam, the most delicious and easy combo I’ve ever tasted) and the pumpkin pies.  I cheat–I get a really good premade pie crust that is all butter and flour, from Whole Foods, and then make the filling myself.   They’re sitting there baked and beautiful as I write this.

So all I have left to do is put together the stuffing (the chopped up bread has been drying out for a day already, ready to soak up those great juices), stuff the bird and put it in the oven and keep an eye on it while I relax.  About 90 minutes before count down I’ll prepare the vegetables (asparagus, another easy one, just steam and butter it up).  My husband is in charge of the potatoes–mashed and roasted.

How does it get even easier than that?

I also planned a stressless shopping time.  I shopped Tuesday morning before 9 a.m. and didn’t even have to wait in line.  Ease, ease, ease, was my target, and I promise you delicious will not be sacrificed!

What would it take for you to create ease-filled holidays for yourself and your loved ones?  Does doing it the stressed way benefit anyone?

Buying into any version that does work for you does not serve you in any way.  And that version could come from the movies (they have professional set designers and prop folks, remember!  And the people in them are ACTORS…) or it could come from aythig conscious or unconscious you’ve absorbed from your family. How many of your “Thanksgiving has to be done this way” thoughts have you absorbed without questioning them from your mother, your other relatives, your in-laws?  How about destroying all that garbage you bought and figuring out what works for you?

What does work for you?  I’d love to hear!

Now I’ve got a bird to put in the oven!