In a couple of weeks, one of my favorite holidays will be here. Growing up, we always had a traditional turkey with all the fixings: mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and of course pumpkin pie. One of my core memories is my grandmother ‘Nanny’ making homemade egg noodles with a fat Cornish hen. After getting married, I still continued the traditional Thanksgiving and had my ‘routine’ of getting up at 6 am and getting the turkey started. Boiling the neck and organs for the dogs, and somehow trying to master the art of stuffing a turkey. I still use my Christmas Martha Stewart plates and serve ware that I purchased after getting married….and that set already holds sentimental value for me. However, I found that as my family grew, my appreciation for disposable plates did too.
One neat thing about traditions, is that they can always be changed. I think I was a stickler in some ways, thinking that it had to look like Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving scene, but we actually decided for everyone to bring a pasta or lasagne dish this year. With Christmas coming just a few weeks afterwards, it’s nice to do a different menu.
I also feel like the meal itself is something that is eaten in a dinner setting, but then picked on the rest of the day….if not a couple of days afterwards. Gone are the days of taking an afternoon nap after eating, my kiddos make sure of that.
It’s so easy to get stressed with everything you think you have to do. I see so many bucket lists of things that make it ‘the perfect holiday’. Once I stopped thinking everything had to be perfect, the holidays actually became fun! I think as a mom you have certain expectations of how you want your kids to remember their childhood holidays, but it’s important to remember that it’s yours as well! As long as you’re surrounded by people that you love, that’s what makes the holidays truly special.
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