Sunday in the Kitchen: How I am Preparing for Thanksgiving

  Holidays in general are...chaotic and we can tend to overwhelm ourselves with the tiniest things.  Time is non existent and once the day has ended we feel like we have ran a marathon that we didn't train for.  This year I am NOT going to do that.  Don't get me wrong I still find that enjoyment of family and friends, that ambiance of magic and love however I want to increase that but a million.   So, I am going to buckle down and SIMPLIFY my holidays, first, by organizing myself.
  Hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year was a last minute assignment for me.  I have done it before so I have relief in that.  I have sat down and given myself a schedule with just a couple of things to do each day leading up to Thanksgiving.  Rather than over doing it and sending me and my husband in every direction we can sit down and enjoy the holiday with our families.

What I did step by step:
 1.  I wrote down all of the service and dinner ware that I will need.
       Everything from appetizer trays to utensils got put on a list.
2.  I printed out all of the recipes that I found that I didn't have already.  If you already have them on a card or in a book pull them out or mark them.  This will keep you from fumbling around trying to find them and driving yourself crazy. (Don't be the crazy one at Thanksgiving.)
3.  I wrote down everything that I needed to do and decided on which days I could do them on.  For example, I can make my appetizers a couple days ahead of time but I have to pull my turkey out 4 days ahead to thaw.  Make a rough draft then finalize it and print (or write) it out. 
4.  I have placed everything in a folder with a highlighter.  As I get the things done I need to, I highlight them.  

My folder

My schedule

Everything in my folder

  Now, this is all after I have gone grocery shopping.  I am assuming everyone has already done that by now but if not I hope this helps.  Enjoy your holiday, your family and your friends, that is the reason why we celebrate.  Happy not being the chicken with it's head cut off!  ;)