Relief and a Soapbox

This must be what hope feels like. Not that hope was entirely absent, just that four years of unbridled greed, corruption and hate had somewhat smothered it. This is what hope with a decent basis for it feels like.

I’m not saying things are going to be all beer and skittles from here on out, just that now we can start the very hard work of trying to fix things. I have some small hope that enough people on the Republican side of things may have had their eyes opened a little bit by the current administration’s utter failure to control the spread of the virus and the complete disregard its members have shown for those infected or killed by it. I can understand dissatisfaction with politicians and thinking that someone outside of politics might do better for people but unfortunately the GOP chose very, very poorly and we are now in a FUBAR situation because of it.

We need to remember that all of us actually do have much in common. We all want a safe and peaceful world for our kids, that is the ideal. We want our kids to be healthy, we want to have a chance to have a satisfying life, surrounded by good neighbors, we want community, we want economic security, decent schools, good jobs, and so on. Some people have been mislead to believe that in order for one to succeed, others must fail, if one prospers, others must do poorly. But that isn’t how things have to work, there are other ways to do things. When I, as a person who values human rights and equality, say that I want people of color to have opportunities for education, jobs, safe neighborhoods etc, I am not saying I want white people to lose those things, I am not saying that even a little. There is no reason we cannot all have decent working conditions, a living wage, proper healthcare, safe neighborhoods and satisfying lives.

There is enough for all of us. The reason things are so messed up is that the hyper-rich are literally hoarding almost all the money and resources and they don’t think they should have to pay their fair share. We need to fix that. We can fund everything we need to fun if the hyper rich pay the taxes they actually ought to. We can have well funded police, fire fighters, and military as well a schools, well maintained roads etc. And don’t worry, the rich will still be really, really rich! The poor however will not be so poor anymore, they will be able to live decently and with dignity, they will no longer be a few missed paychecks from disaster. There is no need to exploitation or hatred.

just forget the world…

I’ve done all I can and I need a break from stress and worry so I’m here to talk about things that are bringing me joy in some way, things that take me out of myself and distract me, all that sort of stuff. So, onto that! First things first: Books. They are my sanctuary, my education, my consolation, and my many, many other lives.

Current/Recent Reads:

The Ballad of Black Tom; by Victor LaValle (fantastic mythos-related story)
Adventures in Opting Out; by Cait Flanders
Disfigured; On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space; by Amanda LeDuc
The Library of the Unwritten; by A.J. Hackwith
The Only Good Indians; by Stephen Graham Jones
Dirt to Soil; by Gabe Brown
A Deadly Education; by Naomi Novik (The latest Fantastic Stangelings Bookclub read)
Beowulf; by Maria Dahvana Headley
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet; by Becky Chambers

There are other books, of course, but these are all the ones seriously in the flow at the moment. Other wonderful things I like to fill up my senses with: Shows!

Community. (Hulu & Netflix) My current comfort watch. Brilliant show with a ton of laughs and lots of heart.
The Haunting of Bly Manor. (Netflix) Pure gold so far. Atmospheric, subtle horror, perfect storytelling. I think I’m on episode #5 and I am having such fun. As always, my brain is whirring on ahead of the story making guesses and trying to expose the whole picture. I spotted a few things before they were revealed but, wow, there is so much here to unpack and it is glorious.
Liziqi. (YouTube) My ultimate escape from my own reality mixed with my ultimate life goals. Somehow relaxing and inspiring at the same time.
Good Omens. (Amazon Prime) We’re on our own side. Perfect.
Vienna Blood. (Dvd from the library) Very cool, entertaining, a bit like a Sherlock Holmes homage. Victorian Vienna. Hitting a bit close to reality with the superior race nonsense but a good crime procedural with interesting characters. Some absolutely stunning voices among the cast; loads of deep gravel in varying flavors. Particularly the lead detective and his rival. (I’m a sucker for a really good voice)
Shetland. (Dvds from library) Love, love, love this. I love the way this show is paced, the slow unraveling of the clues, the deep sense of Place. The landscape as another ever-present character. I have sadly finished all the available seasons of this and…
Vera. (Dvds) The same author wrote the books this series and the series Shetland are based on. Brilliant TV, just brilliant.
Videos of babies laughing hysterically, goofy pets, etc.

There are many more shows I could list that are excellent distractions but these are the ones I’m currently living inside. I’m also playing RPGs, of course. I am currently playing in; Hell’s Rebels (Pathfinder) on most Tuesdays, Azartia (a friend’s homebrew D&D) on Thursdays, and Age of Ashes, (Pathfinder) on Sundays. I am also running; Extinction Curse, (Pathfinder) on Saturdays and The Slithering, (Pathfinder) randomly, and my hubby is running the teens from the library through Age of Ashes as well. I’m playing 2 Human Druids and one Gnome Bard multi-classing into Druid and experiencing whiplash between characters. My bard is level… 12? 14? Something, and in Pathfinder which is designed for characters to be heroic. She is a blast to play, and absolutely good time. My Pathfinder Druid is low level, fun but kind of a letdown after playing the high level bard. The D&D Druid is… fine. She has a few pretty great spells that are fun/effective but… D&D 5e is just, well, it’s awful. Simple to play? Try; Over simplified, broken, frustrating. Cat, my druid, is level 9 with a 15 AC… The champion in our party has only a 20 AC. We get hit constantly, just absolutely constantly. The game is just not on a heroic scale at all. It’s dumbed down to the point of, why am I playing this? But yeah, it’s a distraction for a a few hours a week and time spent with friends. There are a lot of laughs as we play. Many laughs come from failed saving throws.

Other:

Knitting: one big project for a present, over half done now. ^_^
Work: 2-3 shifts a week, busy, on my feet, frustrating with Covid restrictions but, hey, I love it anyway and I’m lucky to have a job at all.
Baking/cooking: my daily chore and sometimes creative outlet.
Macrame’. I just got supplies to start doing this. I’ve been wanting to try it for ages, since like the 70s. Just getting around to it!
Holiday planning: well underway, constantly on my mind, so much to do!
De-cluttering. On the back burner but always on my mind. I want to get the excess out of here and have a semi-orderly, uncrowded, welcoming home.
Writing. Blogging here, jotting down ideas that keep coming to me, writing for work, which is fun and cool that I get to write for work at all. It’s mostly instructions for craft kits I make up or promotional writing for said craft kits, but still.

Sigh, and now the world is calling, I’m afraid, and I must answer. Stay well, be safe, see you soon.

Banner photo credit: “Contemplation – Dartmoor, Devon” by Faborsky Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Remember, Remember…

So, to catch me up to today: democracy still hangs in the balance, we topped 100,000 infections yesterday, wow, and my hometown voted over 90% for the side of sanity, human rights, and compassion. A mixed bag. I don’t know how many died of Covid19 yesterday but it’s usually around 1,000. One thousand, it’s just a number, so abstract to hear it like that: 1,000 died yesterday. That is 1,000 people, 1,000 human lives cut short in a horrific way. 1,000 people dying pretty much alone, isolated, every single day from just this one disease. I say all that to remind myself of the 10s of thousands of broken hearts happening because of those deaths. I need to be patient, be safe, keep everyone safe by continuing to wear a mask, keeping a nice 6 ft distance from others, staying the course.

Still no word on whether democracy will be renewed for any further seasons. I’m trying not to think about it. I’m trying not to think about the awful people out there threatening the poll workers with guns to try to get them to stop counting votes because they don’t care about democracy or freedom only the continuation of their orange faced baboon in chief’s reign of idiocy and destruction. So, good job me, there I go thinking about it!

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Think about art, think about gardening, think about books and reading. It’s all good. It’s all good. Everything will be ok, sanity will prevail, it will. When it does there will be a fuckton of work to do to get things back to anything approaching normal or good, again. And there will be even more work to do to bring about universal healthcare, racial justice, and human rights for all. Things are bad, and the flames have been fanned by a madman for nearly 4 years now, so it’s going to suck, and be a huge amount of work to fix it, but we can fix it. Ok, here’s me not thinking about it again.

I’ll be stress-eating if anyone needs me.

The 4th of November

Laying low today with a horrid knot in my back, watching Liziqi and trying not to know anything about politics today. Final word will not be for a few days yet as all votes are counted so… I just can’t take the ups and downs right now, my stress is pretty well maxed out.

So I lie on this heating pad and I watch Liziqi and the world falls away. Here is a short video of hers to brighten your day, just in case you need it as bad as I do. https://youtu.be/d1MLIw6mP2k This woman inspires me and her videos calm me when my nerves are jangling.

Life continues, I am now working on getting ready for Thanksgiving. There is so much to do and I’ve already tried to get a turkey once and found none in stock. I guess I’ll just try each week until I get one. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get everything we need, so many traditional dishes to make.

My boss will be working from home after a possible exposure to Covid19 so that will be a bit of a strain on the library. She really keeps things on track and level around there and I know being short staffed is going to mean we can’t do as much as we usually do. Hopefully she is fine and will test negative. She’s an awesome boss and a truly good person.

Ok, that’s it, that’s all I’ve got today. Be well all of you.

Was I too Calm and un-stressed?

So, I’m avoiding social media for obvious reasons. Today and the next few days are pretty much a giant stress-factory for many, many, many people. I’m just trying to keep my stress to a minimum. I was doing pretty good this morning, I have to say, I started a fire in the wood stove, fed the cats, had some tea, finished the book I was reading and got an email from my boss….

My boss, along with the thousands of other things she does, helps out with voting. The library is the voting place for the town and she pitches in alongside whoever else is volunteering to keep things running. She emailed to cancel tomorrow’s staff meeting because a couple of our patrons, who recently tested positive for Covid19, came in to vote. So that is a potential exposure for my boss and currently is not a potential exposure for me or my coworkers. The problem is we are a small staff and if any of us, say me, is not comfortable working with someone who might have been exposed it throws a wrench into everything. We are on the verge of opening for limited browsing along with our continued computer appointments and even with the doors locked we are required to have two people working at all times. Our boss works full time and overlaps with everyone else, which obviously makes a great deal of sense, but if she needs to stay away… oof.

Yeah, so, I am stressing out anyway, even without whatever ups, downs, and mayhem are happening today in politics etc.

Temporary Snow

We have a shower again, we can bathe and smell nice, and I am very happy about that. The water control in our shower/tub broke Monday and we could not turn the water on. Now showers, no baths, just your’s truly washing her hair in the kitchen sink. Our wonderful plumber came and fixed it all up for us and it didn’t even cost us too much! So, Yay! One thing going right after going wrong.

I am slowly working on projects for xmas/Yule and making slow but steady progress. It would help if all the flotsum and jetsum from my husband’s work could finally be gone, but I am doing the best I can. We have our first snow of the season and it’s lovely. There’s a fire in the woodstove, coffee cake in my belly, and tentative hope for the future that the U.S. won’t become some kind of hellscape.

Hello Darkness

No matter how I try I just can’t seem to drum up much enthusiasm for Halloween this year. I don’t have the mental energy to come up with the wonderful ideas to salvage this one. Or so it seems today, with only 3 days left to pull a rabbit out of my hat. Normally I would be busily working on costumes, making zombie sugar cookies, decorating with our Halloween stuff, and ordering some scary movies from the library or planning a one-shot horror run for the family. I’m tired. I’m drained right now. I know my sweet husband feels the same.

We started this year with the horrifying wildfires in Australia and California. Gods, those seemed like the worst thing, didn’t they? I have loved ones in Australia and CA and I was so worried about them and about all the animals and other people caught in such shockingly bad situations. Obviously the year had to get better from there but it so Did Not. The fires in Australia were brought under control eventually, and even CA had something of a respite but the world situation just got worse. CA is on fire again, has been for what feels like ages and that is almost the least of my worries, not really, it’s still a big worry. Most of my worry time is used for the newest rise in Covid-19 cases and the political unrest in the US. Watching a sitting president fan the flames of hate and violence is not something I ever thought I’d see. My son came of age watching it, and hearing how the climate is collapsing, and now a global pandemic… and people wonder at the nihilistic sense of humor Gen-Z has. My son literally turned 18 in quarantine. So did a lot of kids.

This year horror is all too real and it’s everywhere. I feel like I can’t turn on my computer without finding out yet another unarmed POC has been blatantly murdered by police. The protests over police violence continue but get less and less coverage even as the police use tear gas on peaceful, unarmed pregnant women, small children, and everyone else who dares ask that POC be treated as human beings. I can’t open my computer without seeing yet another highest cases per day report as thousands die and other thousands flock to the President’s super spreader events and refuse to wear masks and scream their approval of the continued denial of science. And there is so much more. So much hate and violence, so much despotism and inhumanity. Even my dreams are filled with stress.

So, I don’t even know why I want to salvage Halloween. Horror is the new normal. 2020 is such a shitshow. And yet, whatever distractions we can manage should be managed. My son, a freshly minted adult, needs me to find the good, to focus on the brightest hopes I can, to provide whatever structure I can in this, the upside-down I never thought we’d live in. Things are crazy enough for him without mom abandoning the rhythms of the seasons and all the celebrations that mark the passage of time. So I keep fighting to stay as positive as I can. I cook our meals, plan and run RPGs, provide the little luxuries of favorite foods when I can, and talk about the future as if everything will be alright because he, and my girls, need to believe the future is worth showing up for.

So I guess I have a Halloween feast to plan, some zombie cookies to bake, and I’ll need some pumpkins to carve into Jack O’Lanterns too. The bridge to the future will lit by candles and guarded by leering pumpkins.

Creeps

What is up with creepy dudes? I just had to block someone on Twitter for the first time and I hate it. I’ve blocked dozens on Facebook, of course, something about the format there invites creeps to post and message I guess, but this is the first time I’ve done it over on Twitter. The dude in question is also the first stranger to message me. This was nothing overt, nothing threatening, I didn’t even let him get to the point of being actually inappropriate because this is not my first rodeo.

He started with: “Hey, how are you doing today?” He had just followed me and his profile looked normal, his politics seemed sane, people I follow also followed him, so I followed him back. Then I get: “There are no words to express the gratitude that I feel in my heart for having followed me and how your beauty makes my day so special.” And like the generally kind person I am I assume the best intentions of friendliness and respond w/ a neutral ‘That’s kind of you to say. Thanks! Have a great day.” That’s just manners. It is not flirting. Flirting would be more like, ‘wow, thank you, you’ve made my day! You’ve got a great smile… ‘ or something. I feel like I have been polite and kind while signalling that this is just friendly. He comes back asking where I’m from. I wasn’t on Twitter at the time so he offers that he’s from wherever etc. Days go by, I’m not usually on Twitter very much, and he says, hello, how are you today? I respond with, fine, thanks, I hope you are staying safe. Yep he is. Asks about the weather, where I’m from again. I respond non-specifically, give him a region. (like, 1,000 miles from where he says he is.) He asks if I’m married, if I have kids, tells me he’s divorced etc. Tells me something tragic, I say that’s rough, like a person does.

Now, I’ve been increasingly feeling like his questions are not quite right, they feel a little invasive and I’m hoping he’s about to chill but the needle goes into the creep zone with his next and last query: “Hope I can be your very good friend?” Dude, WTF. That is not ok. Starting out with a compliment I can understand, (my pic is now a few years old and it’s cute) testing the waters with a compliment is ok. But after a woman tells you she is married you need to chill. You can say ‘lucky guy’ which he did, and move on either to being an online acquaintance or move on and look for a single chick. Right? He could have said he hoped we could be friends and it would have been better but he asked, immediately, for a big jump in intimacy, to be my “very good friend.” This would honestly be creepy if it came from another woman. It feels like a tactic, it feels like grooming, it feels like being tested for weaknesses.

At this stage in the game, having been through the mill a few times now, having dealt with my share and then some of abuse, I see it for what it is. I am done doubting my instincts. I am done allowing myself to be manipulated. Yeah, I hate having to put up barriers, I’d rather be friendly and be friends with loads of people but I am not going to put up with overt or subtle creeps. I am not full of myself, I don’t think I am ‘all that’ but I’m cute and I look pretty good for my age. I’m at a point where I don’t feel beautiful anymore, time is having it’s say, but I am still a target for creeps.

I was playing my Harry Potter game on my phone last Summer (2019) in the park and two guys went and stood at the head of the path. They had their heads together and every time I glanced at them they were looking at me. I kept them firmly in my peripheral vision because my inner alarm was silently pulsing. They walked down the path, I was off to one side giving myself plenty of room, they were looking at me as they went past, I nodded politely. They hit the end of the path and began walking along the road back toward where they’d started. They stopped halfway, where there are a lot of tall bushes. Again, I could see them talking, eyeing me and my alarms were no longer saying ‘Be Alert.’ My instincts were beginning to howl at me to get the hell out of there. I walked quickly to the head of the path and went home, some 200 yards to my house. Of course I second guessed myself. I ran it by my 17 year old son and he said; “No, no, that is legit, they were clearly doing something creepy.” (He then said he would go to the park with me whenever I wanted to play Harry Potter on my phone because he is awesome.)

It’s ok to give a woman a casual compliment: “You look great today.” or, “You have a really nice smile.” Something we can just say, “Thanks.” to. It’s ok to look at a woman and think she is pretty but don’t stare. If you look too long, and accidentally creep a woman out say, “Oops, sorry! I was just noticing how pretty you are, didn’t mean to stare.” and then turn your attention elsewhere. It’s not difficult to not be creepy, loads of people, some of them men, do it every day. Think of it this way: Do you love your mom? Or your auntie? Let’s say Mom (of Auntie) is single for whatever reason. She’s out an about, walking in a park, in coffee shop, waiting for a bus, or something. There’s a guy there, he thinks she’s pretty, wants to get to know her, wants to ask her on a date. What do you want him to say to her? How do you want him to act toward this woman who is precious to you? How should he approach her so that you wouldn’t think he was being a creep? Think about that for a bit and next time you want to give a woman a compliment let it be your guide.

Seasonal Rambling & Gift Ideas

Okay, so I looked around trying to find Christmas crackers, the fun surprises not the ones you put cheese on, and none of them are acceptable. There are plenty in my price range but they are full of plastic junk and there are plenty that are not full of plastic junk but they are way out of my price range. So, for the second time ever, I am going to make my own. I made them once before, without the “pop” and without the paper crowns but discovered that both the paper crowns and the “pop” are very important to me. I was never going to make my own again but it turns out you can buy the pop-strips and the paper crowns so… How cool is that? I am going to have fun making sure these are topnotch Christmas crackers, oh yes, there will be chocolate. Here’s a link to a video on how to make them if anyone’s interested: https://youtu.be/XtohLHq3SCw (the 2nd way is simpler so don’t get discouraged by the 1st!)

As of today, October what? 21st? I am nearly done with my holiday shopping, except for food, and am making my way down my to-do list. My eldest daughter gave me her list at last so I have started on it and I’ve ordered almost everything for everyone. Stocking stuffers are mostly collected, I think one or two items might be left to gather. I have some crafting ahead of me, for sure, but not as much as previous years. Lets all pray to the old gods that my sewing machine doesn’t need a tune up and will perform its duties tidily and well. I have a fair bit of sewing ahead of me. I want to make Hogwarts themed cloth napkins for the Yule Feast. I’ve had the fabric forever just never got around to making them. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the project for our friend Savannah. (muahaha) And I’ve just got a few little bits and bobs to make. Once all the presents arrive it’s down to wrapping them, decorating the house and all things feast-related.

Killing it on the organization this year. Requested a couple of strategic shifts off in December to have a week off over the holidays and my boss approved it. Then she asked were there any days in November anyone wanted off and I asked for the 23rd because it’s our wedding anniversary and it’s also the Monday before Thanksgiving, and the anniversary of the first showing of the first episode of Doctor Who. I got that off as well so I am very happy. I anticipate an even more relaxed holiday season than I was expecting. ^_^ This never happens to me, never. I am always the one who ends up working the day after Christmas, the day after Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day etc. I always forget to ask ahead of time.

Holiday celebrations, and all celebrations, are awesome but one thing I hate is the attendant waste. I understand the relative “need” for paper plates and such, I try to avoid them whenever I can but I get it. What I hate is all the throw-away junk that gets bought, given, and very soon-thereafter tossed. All those cheap little pieces of junk that seem darling for like, an hour maybe, and then end up choking a sea turtle. This year wasn’t going to be too big on junk anyway but something in my inbox gave me just lovely ideas for stocking stuffers. Really good stuff that I feel like I should share with you, the dear people who stop by and read my silly blog. Here’s the link: https://modernmrsdarcy.com/stocking-stuffers/ It’s an old blog post for MMD and it is an excellent guide to stocking stuffers you won’t regret. It’s got practical items, useful items, consumables, and all that sort of thing. There are items on the list for everyone. Some broad ideas, some specific links that’ll do for inspiration at the very least… just check it out if you’re short on ideas. I tend to fill stockings with certain traditional items, at least traditional in my family, like; toothbrushes, a pair of socks, mittens, or gloves, a bit of candy, travel tissues, mini shampoo or conditioner or other toiletries, and I try to add some more individually targeted items like maybe a small paperback book, gaming dice, minis to paint, or other little items I know the receiver will especially appreciate.

On to presents! I love looking over curated suggestion lists. I don’t always find the perfect gifts on them but I do find inspiration and ideas that make for good jumping off points. This year the MMD (Modern Mrs. Darcy) has come out with a really nice list for book lovers: https://modernmrsdarcy.com/mmd-2020-gift-guide-for-book-lovers/?utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%F0%9F%93%9AThe+MMD+2020+gift+guide+for+book+lovers%20-%204645164 I think the socks and the little notebooks are particularly on point. This list for gamers has some ridiculous pricey items on it but a few nice little gems that are budget friendly: https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/gifts-for-gamers/ The $10 arcade style light switches make me want to rewire my house so there are more light switches. They are adorable! There are lists out there for all kinds of people. Google search is your friend.

Lists are cool, I usually find some good ideas, but sometimes they do fail me or my brain fails to engage while I’m looking at them and that’s when I switch tactics to something really fun. Gift Baskets absolutely rule. I used to put one together for fundraisers at my kid’s schools to be raffled off. They are easy, cheaper than you’d think, and so much fun to put together as well as to receive. They can be themed to cover almost anything, any interests, any occasion, etc. You could put together something fun like a “Movie Night” (for 2) basket. I’ve made these for a few people. I took a big plastic movie popcorn bucket, ($1) and filled it with: a few bags of microwave popcorn, ($1/3) a few box candies, ($1 each)and a couple of Virgil’s Rootbeers or a bottle of wine. I get everything but the drinks at Dollar Tree. Under $10 for the Virgil’s version, less than $15 for the wine version. (I tend to buy Apothic blends for $10 because they are both tasty and not too expensive) I get everything but the This year I’m considering making one or more “Sick Day” baskets with a fleece throw, cough drops, some cans of chicken soup, a couple of bottles of ginger ale, a book that’s a nice, light read maybe, or a book of crosswords or sudoku puzzles. I think I could pull that off for under $20 easily. You could make a nice food basket with some fresh fruit, block of nice cheese, some dried fruit and some packets of cocoa, a box of tea, etc. These things can be as practical or as silly as you like they are very flexible.

Let’s see… Do you know anyone who isn’t happy to receive home baked cookies as a gift? I make a few different kinds and put about a dozen cookies into each ($1) Christmas tin to give to coworkers or neighbors I don’t really know but want to spread a little cheer to. I also give them to friends if I know they don’t get time to bake much. Lemon bread is another good gift, I’ll try to post the recipe sometime soon, it’s awesome. I don’t get to eat it anymore because I am allergic but it still makes a good gift.

You probably have some great ideas for gifts, stockings, etc too, please feel free to share them. I am always looking for more ideas. ^_^

Stress-Free Holiday Feasts!

Good Morning. Since the house is still buried in boxes to some extent I am not focused on decluttering. Instead I have decided to focus on activities and areas of my life where I am currently feeling more accomplished and competent: stress free holiday planning, crafting, and reading.

I pretty much straight up brag about how I pull off the holidays and bragging is not really my thing at all. Like pretty much everyone I used to stress out over all things holiday and pretty much had a pretty stress-filled miserable time. I worked my butt off decorating, shopping, wrapping, and pulling off ‘the big meal.’ I would spend Thanksgiving day cooking and cleaning up and be utterly crushed when the meal took about 30 minutes and then everyone went back to video games or football or whatever. Christmas was similar but more so. I would get so stressed that I was miserable and I was also no fun to be around. Part of that was perfectionism, that insane mindset that makes you feel like one little thing going wrong negates Everything Else that went right, another part of it was that I was disorganized and going about things the wrong way.

It took a while, it didn’t happen overnight, but over the years I have completely transformed my experience of the big Fall/Winter holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas are now virtually stress-free for me and I have way more time to relax and enjoy them. The crazy thing is that what I do to have these stress-free holidays isn’t complicated at all. Normally, I would shop for Xmas presents over the course of a whole year, squirreling away gifts one by one as I found perfect gifts at very low prices and carefully noting down each gift and who it was for in a notebook. 2020 being the non-stop dumpster fire that it has been so far, I haven’t been out at the charity shops or stores running crazy sales, I just started shopping about 1 or 2 weeks ago… when I finally realized it was October and I was rapidly running out of time. So this year is different. I have started shopping at the same time I have started planning the feasts. (I started thinking about the feasts about when I usually do)

Stress-free celebrations are easy:

Plan Ahead
Stay Organized

Right about now is a good time to be finalizing the menu for Thanksgiving. This is the easiest part, just make a list of all the foods you want to serve for your feast. Here’s my list:

Gordon Ramsey’s Christmas Turkey & Gravy
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Broccoli casserole
Cranberry sauce
Rolls & butter
Butternut squash
Chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake
Apple pie
White wine
Sparkling cranberry juice
Hot cocoa

There is plenty to do there, and I do spend the morning cooking, but I am calm and happy anyway. The obvious thing is that I do everything ahead of time that I possibly can. I make the cranberry sauce a day or 2 before, I do all the baking a day or so before, I oven roast the squash ahead of time and use the stovetop for reheating and the final touches. I assemble the broccoli casserole the day before, and peel and chop the potatoes in between turkey prep steps. At this stage, I would also note on my list the cooking temps and baking time for each item that needs to go in the oven that day. Then I pick a sort of average temp, since I have just the one oven, and adjust all the cook times down the list. Then I make a note of what time each thing will need to go into the oven on the day of the feast in order to have everything ready all at once. If I had too many things needing to go into the oven at the same time I would have to rethink things a little and do a bit of oven tetris. With what I have planned above my son and I will spend the morning using Gordon’s YouTube video to prep and cook the turkey and make the gravy. I will also make the mashed potatoes, rolls and stuffing and do the final steps for a few other things. I’ll have music on, I’ll be sipping white wine, and I’ll be relaxed and happy as I have been for the past several years.

Our Christmas feast is similar, really, some of the foods will be different, but the planning and making ahead are the same. I should have the xmas feast planned shortly after Thanksgiving. This is the planner I used to use: https://christmas.organizedhome.com/printable/christmas-planner/holiday-menu-planner I just ignored the fiddly little categories and put all my ‘sides’ wherever. My form is a lot simpler.


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Feast Plan:
 
 
 
Drinks:
 
 
 
 
Sides:
 
 
 
 
Main:
 
 
 
 
Dessert:

Tune in next time for a rundown of my simple plan for keeping Christmas craziness at bay. ^_^