{"id":220,"date":"2008-11-26T14:16:34","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T14:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=220"},"modified":"2008-11-26T14:16:34","modified_gmt":"2008-11-26T14:16:34","slug":"stress-reducing-secret-no-5-put-the-party-before-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/stress-reducing-secret-no-5-put-the-party-before-perfection\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress-Reducing Secret No. 5: Put the Party Before Perfection"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve hosted countless holiday fests. <\/span>Many of those were less fun than they could have been for one simple reason: <\/span>I had a vision that “good” hostesses always had everything done in advance, so when the guests arrived everything would be calm, everyone could sit down to a conversation-rich happy hour, and then a perfect meal would appear from the kitchen. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, gatherings at my house were far from this ideal. <\/span>The food was never done in advance, much less when dinner was supposed to happen. <\/span>They would come together in a frenzied rush about an hour after the appointed time. <\/span>The conversation was intermittent and hurried, kids were underfoot, guests were coming and going\u2014and I was always in the middle of the mess trying to transform the cacophony into a symphony. <\/span>And it was very stressful. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My sister-in-law first gave me the idea for a different kind of holiday feast, a “community-cooking” model that wouldn’t fight the natural bedlam but would put it to good advantage. <\/span>So the next time a holiday gathering rolled around, I assigned everyone a dish and said, “Bring your ingredients and join me in the kitchen. <\/span>You’re responsible for your dish from its start to its arrival on the table.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It took a while for everyone to get accustomed to community cooking rather than Mary cooking while everyone else partied and waited anxiously and stressfully for dinner. <\/span>It also took me a while (but not that<\/em> long) for me to let go of the June Cleaver party hostess standard. <\/span>Interestingly, our holiday feasts are even more crazy now, with everyone cooking together. <\/span>But they are a lot more fun\u2014and a lot less stressful! <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more in the Stress Less Holiday Series:
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