Christmas is nearly upon us and I assume that you have everything organised and you are relaxing and waiting for the special day. Yeah right, me too. Food plays a huge part in the Holiday Seasons activities. The main Christmas Day meal and desserts are the highlight and you might find yourself worrying about how you are going to make it special this time around. The fact is that it can be a very stressful time, and if you don't get it organised right you will not be able to relax and enjoy the day itself. Now is the time to start planning exactly what you are going to do. Sit down and make out a list of what you would like to have for the meal. Just write out the different types of food items that come to mind. Don't try to make your menu exact, include whatever comes to mind initially. Then over the coming days you will revise and adjust your list until you have the core idea about what you want to do. In this way new and different ideas will spring to mind as you look at your initial list and the food groups on it, and a basic plan will form in your mind.
Now is also the time to involve other members of the family. Maybe someone would love to take on the task of preparing the desserts for you. Everyone loves desserts and lots of ideas could spring up while looking at the items on your list. Possibly someone would like the idea of preparing something really exotic and would relish the challenge. There are literally hundreds of dessert dishes from pies to fruit and everything in between. Check out the Internet for recipes and ideas. The same applies for starters such as soups or prawn cocktails. Involving other members of the family at this early stage will get the ideas rolling, and maybe even result in different dishes for everyone if they are willing to have a go themselves.
Think about how you will organise your kitchen area also. See in your mind's eye where you will prepare your raw ingredients and what you will use to store them in. Be as specific as you can when you do this. It can be a great time saver and take away a lot of stress on the day. You will not be caught by surprise when you suddenly find you actually needed another pot for instance or another roasting dish. Make a list now of all the stuff you could prepare in advance the previous day. Make sure you will have enough room to store items in your fridge overnight by careful planning. Stuffing and dressings can be prepared in advance too, so do not underestimate the advantages of writing out your list and then ordering it logically. Leave it all until the day itself and you will be inviting a lot to go wrong, and I am sure you can remember previous holidays all too vividly.
It is also a good idea to plan and write out your seating arrangements, and where you will store dishes and utensils as they come back from the table. If elderly persons are present you may want to sit them nearer to the kitchen so that you can easily serve them first. No more trying to negotiate around the kids who are sitting on the wrong side of the table for instance. All these little tips add up to taking away a lot of the stress that can be experienced. The trick is to write everything down and do not trust to chance. When you know you are prepared and organised, you will really look forward to the occasion as will any others who opted to give you a hand and know exactly what they have to do. Start now and enjoy the experience.
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