Reducing Stress at Thanksgiving

 First of all I have to say thank you to all of my readers who have stuck with me despite the fact that my posts have been very sporadic. Life has been crazy. Having three kids has thrown me for a loop and of course life had several curve balls on top of it. Blogging was pushed to the back burner, but I'm finally feeling a little more on top of things. This week I went to a RS meeting on getting organized and I thought I would share some of the things that I learned. (And then I can have all the info here and toss the handouts so they aren't cluttering my house.)
 Here are some suggestions they gave to make the big Thanksgiving meal go a little smoother and more enjoyable.

• Plan the meal in advance, divide up assignments between guests that are coming. Just because you are hosting the party doesn't mean that you need to stress over everything. Assign someone to bring snacks.
• 2 weeks ahead of time- order a turkey (hope you've done that already)
• 1 week before- clean out the fridge, use up any leftovers and mostly empty bottles of condiments
• 3-4 days ahead- if using a frozen turkey, put in the fridge to thaw (1 day for every 4-5 pounds)
• 2 days ahead- make pie dough and refrigerate, toast bread for stuffing (if you're not just using Stove Top, ;) ) and pecans for pie.
• The day before- trim and peel vegetables, caramelize onions and make pies
• The morning of- prepare potatoes and refrigerate, make sure everyone has breakfast so they're not irritable all day
• 3 & 1/2 hours before- bring turkey to room temperature, start roasting, make glaze
• 2 hours before- cook side dishes, put egg beaters & a bowl in the fridge so they can fluff up whipping cream faster
• 30 minutes before- while turkey and potatoes are cooling, cook stuffing and make gravy
• After the meal- get everyone involved in putting away and cleaning up.

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!