What I did Right Last Christmas (part 1)

Last Thanksgiving good friends bravely invited all three generations of our family to the north woods. Our hostess was incredibly organized. Over a month before we came she sent me a copy of her menu for every meal during the time we would be there so I could choose some things to bring to fit her plan. I was amazed at that amount of organization.

I was also motivated.

When we came home I started scouring my cookbooks for meals I could freeze to make ahead for Christmas. My slow cooker cookbook was great for this. So I made huge quantities of food, most of which I fed to my freezer.

Then about 5 days before Christmas I sat down and took stock of what I had in the freezer and came up with a 12 day menu from then through New Year’s that would cover from that day until the last guest left. (Do you also find it ironic that the very last meal, after all that planning, was “frozen pizza”.)

It took me two hours to organize every meal. (They didn’t all come from the freezer, but there was enough of that and easy meals to make time for me to enjoy my then 7 month old granddaughter.) This included meals of an unknown quantity of people (anywhere from four to nine on a regular basis) plus 15 on Christmas at our house.

Having so much food on hand and a complete menu enabled me to go grocery shopping and get everything I would need for a week and also make up a list for shopping the next week of things I didn’t want sitting around too long before we ate them.

I’m sure Karen would have planned her menu and then cooked for her freezer. But we can’t all be super organized. This was an amazing step ahead for me.

I'm hoping to repeat this feat this Christmas with even more people around--my parents will be here, we'll include our future daughter-in-law in many meals, I hope her family can come at least once, and a new grandchild (you knew I'd have to mention him!) 

I also hope that my success will inspire you to do all you can so you can truly enjoy mealtimes with your family this Christmas, and everyday.

In two weeks I'll post the menu and my comments on how it went. I'd love to hear from you. Tell me what you are doing to get ready for Christmas!


For part 2 click here.

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