Now I have been known to be a "Bah Humbug" around the holidays. I don't handle stress well and I am even worse at handling stressed out people. My family is LARGE and holidays have always been a big deal. Lots of food, lots of presents, lots of hugs and kisses from people I only saw once a year. The food prep for the holidays always began the week before. My mother would prep as much as possible because with limited kitchen space there was no way we could cook the turkey and the pies at once. Most of the time this meant stress mode for my mother to pull things together! There has NEVER been a holiday where the meal wasn't perfect or incomplete, so it all works out in the end. There have been however screaming matches, tears, things thrown and words exchanged that clearly were due to stress and in similar situations I typically take a step back and contemplate. When I see a stressed out person, I RETREAT! Well I couldn't just leave my mom high and dry while she was preparing the amazingness I was going to be consuming... So here's what my siblings and I have done, we removed some of the stress from my mother... Actually I think she did this but I'll take the credit since it's my BLOG (xoxox mom)
Make a List
An email goes out about three weeks before asking what everyone is requesting for dinner (apart from staples like turkey and pumpkin pie). I always pick cranberry sauce and yes the jelly kind that slips out of the aluminum can. I just can't get enough of that stuff!
If you own a stove you cook something
Ok so I AM by no means a chef and my family is well away. In fact my older brother always tells people how I burned a frozen pizza, cats outta the bag Jere!!! Anyway so I typically get the assignment that requires the least amount of effort! A pre-packaged quinoa and cranberry medley. I can really follow directions well!
If mom tells you to do something, do it!
Ok so this should go without saying but some of the request you get form a crazed holiday chef are weird. You nod and smile and get the task done. Should you find a more efficient way than how she explained, YOU DO NOT TELL HER!
Even when she says "you sit" you get up off your ass and do it
Ok the woman has been on her feet for 24 hours straight and its time to clear the table for dessert. You get up to get the plates and you hear "I've got it. You sit". This is really mom/chef code for "I can't believe the plates are still on the table and dessert is ready. Get up off your ass and clear the dishes." She will deny this until the day she dies but it's true because as SOON as you start clearing she sits down with her little "I got what I wanted smile". No yelling, no disappointed looks, just pumpkin pie
Team up
When you have at least 4 siblings together at one holiday there is a job for everyone. For example, everyone hates washing dishes! I mean my mother invites nearly 20 people to dinner (I'm no good at math but I do know that's a ton of dishes). My mother's house doesn't have a dish washer so that's right ladies and gents it's hand washing and drying for the DeHaven's. My sister Kelli and I have a system and I must say it kicks ass... The brothers do the leg work, carrying dishes from the dining room to the kitchen, they also scrape what wasn't eaten into the trash (those are obviously guests because the DeHaven's are always members of the clean plate club). Kelli washes and I dry. Plates first, silverware dumped into the sink to save until the end. Fastest system we have come up with yet!
When it is all said and done...
Enjoy the time you have with your family because they next day people go CRAZY trying to get awesome deals on holiday presents or rush to get the after holiday markdown prices. That is a CRAZY I just don't understand!
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