Recipe for a Stress-Free Celebration

Dear Friends,

This is a friendly reminder. If your turkey is frozen then it needs 3 days to thaw before you cook it. Since I will be cooking my turkey on Wednesday, I will be taking it out of the freezer to thaw on Saturday. I will place the bird in a trash bag to keep it from leaking in my refrigerator. That has happened to me before. Sometimes we just need to laugh. Before you start cooking be sure and read some of our Thanksgiving SHE Shouldn’ts.

All of us are required from time to time to host Thanksgiving or any other holiday dinner. Unless you have declared your home off limits to your family and friends: that way no one even bothers to ask you. Then there are times that your family just descends upon you without even giving you a chance to say no. Are you tired of hiding from your family behind your locked front door? Wouldn’t you just love to be able to volunteer your home without the pain and suffering that goes along with getting ready for a party? Well we can help you with this. It is quite simple.

What is the first thing you think of when you realize that the party is going to be at your home? OH MY! How will I ever get our home clean enough to have guests! Your next thought could be how can we afford to feed 30 people or what in the world am I going to cook. OK it is time to stop your mind from racing and sit down and put your feet up while you take 15 minutes to gather your thoughts and put a plan into action.

Ingredients for a stress free celebration.

Plan
Clean
Shop
Cook
Decorate
Take care of you!

Follow these directions for your Easy Celebration!

Nothing is ever going to get done if you run screaming through your home without a focus. Get dressed all the way to shoes and fix your hair and face right now if you have not done this yet today. Now grab a piece of paper or set up a section in your control journal for this. This is something that you can keep in your control journal for the next time you have a party. We have had people take our Holiday Control Journal and adapt them for any special occasion. We are just going to go over the basics here.

The first thing you do is write down the day that the event will happen and figure how many days/weeks you have to prepare. This will determine just how fast you need to get your franny in gear.

Under the section CLEAN:
Put what rooms need the most attention. Are you having overnight guests that need the bed that is somewhere in the middle of that junk room you call a guest bedroom. Do you have hot spots raging all through the house? How is your entrance and your front porch? How about your back yard or deck? How is your bathroom and guest bathroom; Towels and bed linens, napkins and tablecloths?

Note the link to Crisis Cleaning 101 on our website.

Crisis Cleaning Podcast.

We have some great tools to make Crisis Cleaning a breeze. Get yours out.

Print this Crisis Cleaning for your control journal so you will have it.

Use the Crisis Cleaning to tackle the worst part of your home. Do not skip the last 15 minutes of each hour. It is most important that you take care of you or you will not be a very calm hostess. Remember we are just planning now. Don’t jump up and start cleaning yet. There will be time. We can do anything for 15 minutes.

Next let’s start a shopping list. But first you need to decide how much you can spend without it hurting your budget. Don’t forget that it is OK to have a pot luck to keep expenses down and allow everyone to feel like they are a part of the celebration.

Leanne put together a great Thanksgiving Menu Mailer for you. Click on the link and you have two menus to pick from. She has the best turkey, you will ever cook.

Make your menus and Grocery list; If you have overnight guests you will need to plan for breakfasts, lunch and snacks. Put these items on your list too. When you are planning your menus; include dishes that you can make ahead and keep in the refrigerator so you are not stuck in the kitchen when your guests are arriving. A little planning now makes for a calm hostess. Most everything can be put together a day or two before and kept in the refrigerator or freezer. Don’t forget about using your crock pot. Remember your favorite beverages! Bags of ice and rolls.

Decorations: Keep them simple.

Taking Care of you: What are you wearing? Do you need a haircut? Anything else you can think of! Make an appointment now.

Now that you have a plan and we are all good at making plans; it is time to implement these plans.

Here is the key to making this all work. Get the house out of the way first, so you are not cleaning 5 minutes before your guests arrive. I want you resting with your feet up when that doorbell rings. This will relieve most of your worries. Use Crisis Cleaning to get the worst of it. You will be amazed at what you can get done in 15 minute segments if you will just get up and do it instead of playing the martyr role. Then maintain it with your small babystep routines. You are going to feel awful if you run around screaming at your whole family to help you the night before. If you get it picked up and then practice picking up after yourself(we are the worst) all day long it will not get back in the shape it was in. It is much easier to maintain then it is to Crisis Clean with 12 hours to go. Do not put off cleaning till the last minute. Do you understand this???

Next Go Shopping, buy all you can early so you will not have to run to the grocery the day of the celebration. Then the week of the celebration pick up the fresh produce that you will need.

Three days ahead start your food preparations. Desserts can be made ahead. I have one rule for cooking ahead of time. Only prepare one dish at a time and have a sink full of hot soapy water ready for clean up. After you have finished preparing the dish; clean up after yourself and take a break and check things off your list. Also start with a clean kitchen. It is never fun to cook in a dirty kitchen.

The day of the party all you will have left to do is pretty up yourself, decorate the house with the items you already have and get stuff out! Don’t forget to ask for help from your family and your guests. If you are not running around with your head cut off then you will be able to give kind orders. Remember you are the hostess with the most-est because you are FLYing!!! Strut your stuff baby and show them just how easy it is to have a party without all the stress.

Now it is time to have fun! One last warning. Don’t forget the rolls. It has become a family tradition for one of us to always forget the rolls. Laugh and enjoy yourself. You deserve it because you are so good!!

Sit Back and Enjoy the Festivities!

FlyLady

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