Preparing For Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone!

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away! Everyone has their own way of preparing for Thanksgiving. I personally love to spend time planning a gorgeous centerpiece for the table. I have always been the kind of person who loves a beautiful setup. Even as a tween, two of my favorite things to do, were to redecorate my room and plan events. I know I was a super cool kid! 😆 I do think it's pretty amazing that I already knew my passions in life by then though: beautiful homes and events. Which brings me back to the topic at hand, Thanksgiving preparations.

Today, we're going to go over 5 things you can do to get ready for Thanksgiving and all of the fun and festivities that go with it.

1. Get Started with Food Prep Early

As far as food goes, obviously you want to purchase groceries before Wednesday, but Thanksgivings are won and lost by food prep. The best way to not be stressed out on Thanksgiving Day is to have the majority of the hard stuff done before Thanksgiving. Are you making homemade mashed potatoes to go with the turkey? You can peel and dice the potatoes 1-2 days early and just soak them in water and refrigerate in the pan you plan on cooking them in. Then, all you need to do the day of is put them on the stove to start cooking. This will save you both time and clean up on Thanksgiving. Many other recipes can follow this kind of early prep approach as well.

2. Get Mentally Prepared

Unfortunately for many people, the thought of getting together with all of their family can be stressful. Let's face it, even if you have the best family in the world, having so many people in your home at one time is enough to put anyone a little on edge. The best thing you can do to avoid mental breakdowns is to prepare yourself mentally ahead of time. I find it very helpful to take time beforehand to stop everything and remind yourself that this time of year is about family and thankfulness and not about you or any of your crazy family members. Remind yourself that although it may be loud and crowded there is a bigger reason behind everything. It won't be the end of the world if you burn something, or if someone in your family is a little obnoxious, or if your home isn't spotless, or worse it WAS spotless before everyone arrived and is a complete and utter mess after everyone leaves. Tell yourself everything will be okay and when the time comes you will better be able to roll with the punches.

3. Get Your Home Ready

Obviously, when it comes to getting your home ready, you can do as much or as little as you want. Some people clean the house from top to bottom and some take a much more relaxed approach. Keep in mind that if you are the one hosting, most likely it is because no one else was willing to do it. This means that you are already the rock star of the group! So don't have a panic attack if your closets aren't magazine-worthy. Typically speaking, general tidying is all you really need. Don't worry about people judging you. Most people are just going to be thrilled that they aren't having to host. If they are the kind of person who is a little more judgemental, they probably won't say anything anyway so you'll never know. And if they do say something, just give them a little extra grace.
Here are a few things to keep in mind that you may or may not think of.

1. Make sure you have plenty of toilet paper and soap on hand.
2. If you are having guests spend the night, it might be nice to buy some new towels for them to use. 
3. If you don't want to mess with so many dirty dishes, there are plenty of elegant disposable options

4. Set the Table

For this section, I'm going to focus more on pictures to help you generate ideas rather than writing an instruction manual.

Pottery Barn


House of Harper


Cover Styless


Home Decoration

5. Relax and Have Fun

This step is the most important step of all! Whether you are doing Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving, be sure that you take time to relax and enjoy yourself and the time you have with those you love! Be thankful for what you have been blessed with. Sometimes you may have to dig deep to find something, but there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. And even if your family and you don't quite see eye to eye, take the time to put your differences aside and appreciate that you have them. There are many people around the world who have far less and yet are far happier. Learn from them and see your cup as half full rather than half empty. Happiness is an emotion, but joy and peace are a choice!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chrissy Myers