Ahhh… the holiday season is upon us. If you’re not travelling from one family members house to another (sometimes across state borders), you’re hosting. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s pros to hosting. You don’t have to travel and you get to stay home. But, with hosting comes the cleaning, the prepping, the shopping, the cooking, and the clean up. (Bonus: you get the leftovers.)
We host Thanksgiving every year. It’s our holiday. Four years ago we hosted for the first time and I went bonkers. I’m talking table setup, centerpieces, candles, crafts/activities for kids, appetizers, tons of food and desserts. Now, all that stuff might sound standard for hosting a holiday, but I took it to the max. I was striving for that Pinterest perfect spread. While attempting to do so, I ended up spending tons and going a bit crazy.
After all was said and done… I looked around at all I had planned and prepared and noticed, more than half of it gets thrown away. Whether it’s the centerpieces, the unsalvageable kids crafts, the leftovers that weren’t enough to save, were left out too long, or weren’t eaten in the days following the holiday, so much was wasted. It was like I saw my dollars and sanity being poured into the trash can.
The following year, I did the same thing. Because, ya know… the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. The result was NOT different. I felt wrong about all of this and I wasn’t enjoying my time with my family because I was worrying about the lighting or the china, or if the crazy dessert recipe I was trying for the first time was going to pan out.
The next year, I said ‘No’ to myself. I vowed to have a basic Thanksgiving. I am a basic mom after all. No crazy amounts of food. No crazy table setup or displays. I cooked the basics and everyone brought a side/appetizer/dessert. I enjoyed myself and my family. Now, I did still have a craft for the kids, making placemats, because that is a tradition from when I was little that was my favorite and I want to keep it going.
And what happened on my basic Thanksgiving? Well, for one, I spent A LOT less money. I felt good about hosting, not super overwhelmed and didn’t feel awful when I saw how much waste there was compared to years past.
With Thanksgiving upon us, I’ll prep this weekend by doing some deep cleaning. I picked up a sweet pack of dinner plates, napkins and silverware from Costco a couple weeks ago. I’ll stop at Dollar Tree and get supplies for the placemat craft. I’ve started the menu to see what people can bring and what I need to cover. I’ll enjoy having family from near and far around for the day or the weekend, and soak in the moments of spending time with our family.
How do you simplify holiday planning? Let us know in the comments.
I love this and I couldn’t agree more, my first pinterest Thanksgiving was celebrated at the expense of my sanity! I’m much more low key these past years. Actually enjoying and not yelling at my husband bc he used the fancy hand towels to dry his hands like some sort of savage. I will remain being super extra on my centerpieces bc it’s something that I actually enjoy and I leave it for last so that it calms me down and helps me remember what I’m actually thankful for!