Holidays can be difficult.

Hi Chutz: Great subject!

I'm certainly not an expert--these are just a few things I've done that seem to work.

First, if there's a lot of cleaning to be done--I cheat and "stash" things in an extra bedroom. I've also been known to put my sewing, etc. projects under the couch. Sneaky, huh?? I no longer "deep clean" any room. I use a spray carpet cleaner a few days before company comes, then spray a (mild) air freshener the day they come. I spot clean the kitchen floor and countertops. Mostly, the bathroom gets all the attention!

As far as food, I like to make veggie trays and start cutting those up a couple days ahead. I buy dip or make the sour cream/onion soup store-bought type.

I'm always glad when people volunteer to bring food as I tend to overdo, otherwise.

We're going to have baked ham, sliced for sandwiches, summer sausage, little smokies in sauce, the veggies, and crackers/chips. Maybe an easy fruit salad with a few drained cans of fruit mixed with a little instant vanilla pudding. And some Christmas cookies. This year is my first gluten-free Christmas, so it'll be a challenge. I did make some GF brownies that turned out well so I froze those--they'll be my dessert (well, one or two!).

I may put together an easy punch recipe--that seems to go over well.

Maybe for the kiddies coming to your house, you could have a board game or two ready for them. Or even materials for a super simple Christmas craft? Stores like Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann's likely have something like that and there are lots of sales going on at stores like that. You could always put them to work and give them little jobs, too.

I recruit family help when I can. Sometimes that's easier said than done, though.

You sound very organized and I love the menu you chose! My husband likes the store-bought dinner rolls, so that's easy for me.

Hope all goes well and you have a wonderful Christmas season!

Why don’t you get a spiral cut ham a few days before Christmas Eve. They are fully cooked and will keep in the fridge for up to five days. Christmas Eve morning, you can layer slices on a oven safe platter, cover and then pop them in oven for about a half hour to warm them up. I love to serve scalloped potatoes with ham so I buy three huge baked potatoes. I only have to peel three potatoes but that will fill my three quart casserole with scalloped potatoes. I add onion, heavy cream, Swiss cheese and salt and pepper and nutmeg.

You can make your lasagna the day before and bake it on Christmas Eve.

I make a delicious ice cream pie. I came up with this idea when my children were small and they absolutely love it and so do any adults who have had it. You can make them now. To make one pie you need a prepared chocolate cookie crumb pie crust from the store. The crust comes covered in plastic. I remove that, take the label off it and wash and dry it. Inverted, that becomes a cover for the pie. Soften a pint of green mint chocolate chip ice cream and fill about half the pie crust with that. Then cover it and pop it in the freezer for an hour or two. Meanwhile, soften a pint of pink strawberry ice cream. Once the ice cream in the crust is set, put the strawberry ice cream on top. Cover it and freeze until set. Lastly, when the strawberry ice cream is set, top with softened Cool Whip. Cover and freeze until ready to use. Take the pie out about fifteen minutes before you want to serve it. When you slice it, it is the Christmas colors! I buy Hershey’s syrup and drizzle a little over the top. Adults and children love this pie. Last year, the ice cream I bought made enough for three pies. So in October, I made the three pies, froze them, and used them over Christmas last year!

I’d make a huge salad if I were you using the bagged salads. Salad would go great with ham as well as lasagna and that’s a snap to do.

So, if you look at these suggestions, there isn’t a lot of work at all for you. Making the lasagna would take the longest but it’s still not that long. You’d do that the day before and on Christmas Eve you would only have to stick the lasagna in the oven and when it is cooling you can heat the ham slices. Plus whatever side dish you plan on having with the ham. The salad would take about five minutes to throw together and your dessert is awaiting for you in the freezer. So this is what I would do.

I’m big on making things ahead of time. Thanksgiving is the holiday I have the family over. I’ll let member’s know what I did in case they are planning on serving turkey for Christmas. I made my bread dressing a month before and froze it. The day before Thanksgiving, I roasted the turkey and cooked the giblets. (Do have hubby there so he can wash and dry the pans used. That’s the least he can do. Since I don’t have a hubby, my daughter came over and washed the pans.)I strained the broth from the giblets and also from the cooked turkey and mixed them together and put it in the fridge. I tented the turkey and let it stand for forty-five minutes and then I carved it. I removed the entire leg...thigh and drumstick together. All you do is give it a twist and it comes out of the joint. Then I separate the thigh from the drumstick. I take the bone out of the thigh and slice the thigh and put it on a large cookie sheet. The drumstick goes on the sheet also. Then I remove the entire breast and lay it on a cutting board and slice it and put it on the opposite side of the cookie sheet. I repeat this with the other side of the turkey. I now have beautiful slices of white meat and dark meat. Lastly I remove the wings. The wings helped keep the carcass stable. The wings, minus the tips, separate the white and dark meat. I covered it and refrigerated it. On Thanksgiving, I took a little of that wonderful broth I made the day before and drizzled some on the turkey and heated it for one hour in a 350 degree oven. I had no mess at all. I also drizzled broth on my thawed dressing that I put in a casserole dish and that was yummy too. Part of the remaining broth went to make gravy and the rest is in my freezer to make turkey and rice soup later on. Yum!

Sherrine

Yes,do try the pie! It’s festive and everyone loves it. I came up with that idea about 35 years ago because I didn’t want to serve Christmas cookies for dessert. We had been eating them for weeks. 😂

I think it’s Edy’s Ice cream that I use that made three pies. You want the mint chocolate chip to be green and the strawberry ice cream to be pink. The pies keep for months. We cut a couple of slices off and stick it back in the freezer. Plus it a lovely dessert to serve if someone pops in during the holidays. If you try it, let me know how you liked it.

Sherrine

Oh Darla! That is such wonderful news about your son. Feed tubes are a nightmare at times. Our grandson is 9 and has a very single-minded attitude about what he will eat and do. He will go hungry rather than eat most foods. But, his mom has learned to sneak tons of good food into his diet without his knowing it. And he's found things at school he likes to eat so that helps. Pizza, lumpia and jasmine rice are what he considers a 'balanced diet'. Oh, and anything sweet. ..lol

Only problem is Mom has lupus and it's ravaging her body. She's the one with the feed tube. She's had sepsis 3 times and we almost lost her each time. Three beautiful kids, even the boys with different types of Autism, and I pray that she lives to see them all graduate from high school. She keeps going down hill and we have no idea where it will end. Anything is possible, I guess. She has a beautiful attitude and her life is dedicated to helping others even from a hospital bed.

She is not a biological daughter. We met her when she was 18, I think it was, when she was in her second year of college. She became engaged but once 'he' found out she was pregnant he bailed out on her. about the time baby was born he threatened to take her to court and get custody since she was unemployed at the current time. Then he said when he got the baby he'd give him back to her. This was his plan for not having to pay child support. Most of his work was 'under the table' so he didn't want anyone snooping around his income so he's kept hidden. She and others know where he is but don't care. Baby is now 12, mom has been married for about 9 years. During that time her biological mother passed away from drug overdose. She's had a wild ride of a life. We told her she and baby could stay with us for as long as she wanted/needed so within 48 hours of her panicked phone call she was here coming from CA to WA. Long drive but she needed to get away from any more threats. So we gained a daughter and grandson. Quite a change for us since all of our kids had grown up and moved on with their lives. But having a baby around here was a delight for me.

OK, I've gabbed long enough and probably got off topic. Keep hoping and praying for those miracles. They do happen.

Warmly,
Glenda