I never do Christmas cards. My friend Patrick sends one faithfully every year and we only get to see each other every 2-3 years so I go to Postable.com and make one just for him. It takes me 5 minutes and the website sends it for me and everything.
One year I said to the extended family "I'll host Christmas but I'm not making turkey...." We had baked pasta that I prepped ahead of time in disposable trays with Caesar salad that comes it a kit from the store. It was lovely.
This year at Thanksgiving (in Canada two weeks ago) I roasted chicken pieces instead of doing a turkey. We still had cranberries (canned) and potatoes and gravy (packet with dripping added) and all the fixings. But the chicken was ready in about an hour and I just piled on the pieces on a tray. No carving. No getting up stupid early or defrosting the bird for days in the fridge. And again - disposable baking trays. No one missed the turkey and I was way less stressed.
Sadly invitations to events is something I wish we had more of. We are in a season of loneliness and I wish we had enough events that we had this problem. Maybe I should plan an event....
It’s funny how seasons shift. We used to be inundated with invitations to things during the holidays. Now, it’s a trickle. (But I’m okay with that). Fewer invitations gave me the bandwidth last year to host a really fun Christmas party for our church friends—and plan to do it again this year. I would have NEVER had the capacity to host anything for the 20-or so-years prior. Also, good for you for setting “turkey boundaries.” It really simplifies things, doesn’t it?
I never do Christmas cards. My friend Patrick sends one faithfully every year and we only get to see each other every 2-3 years so I go to Postable.com and make one just for him. It takes me 5 minutes and the website sends it for me and everything.
One year I said to the extended family "I'll host Christmas but I'm not making turkey...." We had baked pasta that I prepped ahead of time in disposable trays with Caesar salad that comes it a kit from the store. It was lovely.
This year at Thanksgiving (in Canada two weeks ago) I roasted chicken pieces instead of doing a turkey. We still had cranberries (canned) and potatoes and gravy (packet with dripping added) and all the fixings. But the chicken was ready in about an hour and I just piled on the pieces on a tray. No carving. No getting up stupid early or defrosting the bird for days in the fridge. And again - disposable baking trays. No one missed the turkey and I was way less stressed.
Sadly invitations to events is something I wish we had more of. We are in a season of loneliness and I wish we had enough events that we had this problem. Maybe I should plan an event....
It’s funny how seasons shift. We used to be inundated with invitations to things during the holidays. Now, it’s a trickle. (But I’m okay with that). Fewer invitations gave me the bandwidth last year to host a really fun Christmas party for our church friends—and plan to do it again this year. I would have NEVER had the capacity to host anything for the 20-or so-years prior. Also, good for you for setting “turkey boundaries.” It really simplifies things, doesn’t it?