Recipe for a Great Life:
1. Live, Laugh, Love!
2. Work, Play, Dream!
3. Cook, Eat, Enjoy!
from More to Love, © Elizabeth Patch, all rights reserved
I have a complicated series of feasts to attend and cook for this week.
My husband’s family and my family live hundreds of miles away in different directions. Our children and step-children split holidays with our ex-spouses, and we rarely get the entire tribe all together at the same table. So we’ve come up with a system of multiple Thanskgivings in order to celebrate with our scattered parents, kids, grandparents, siblings, cousins, etc.
For many of you too, this is a week full of cooking, traveling and a whole lot of eating…
And a good serving of stress!
If your stress is because you are nervous
that you will burn the gravy,
or drop the hot pie on the kitchen floor,
or find the cat standing in the middle of the fully set table,
chewing on the centerpiece,
Here is my simple hostess advice: Ask for help!
And try to have a sense of humor.
Funny stories and memories are almost as good as the food!
Sometime the stress is about eating all that holiday food.
Its the annoyance of your aunt insisting on a second helping
of her “famous” stuffing when you really don’t like it,
or the stomach ache you always get because of the wine and coffee,
cheese and turkey, butter and sugar rich food combinations.
Its worrying about “cheating” on your diet
or losing control and going on a binge.
Its the snide remarks family members make about your weight.
Remember:
Its a holiday!
Allow yourself to enjoy all the hard work & love that went into the food.
Remember moderation. Remember to stop when full.
Compliment the cook, but don’t eat to please someone else.
Ignore the snide remarks ( but feel free complain about it to your friends later!)
For anyone who has issues with body image or disordered eating,
Thanksgiving could be terrifying to think that you might gain weight,
or that you will lose control and binge until you hurt yourself.
Please seek someone who can help you through this week!
I am thankful for so very many things in my life,
but this year I must add how thankful I am to share my art and writing with all of you
who have connected with me since More to Love was published 9 months ago.
Many blessings to you and your loved ones!
Cook, Eat, Enjoy!
PS: an interesting NY Times article about fighting over food at Thanksgiving
Another really good post.
Fantastic piece and great post.
I love the sleepy cat in the foreground.
My cat insists on sleeping exactly where I will step on him whenever I am in the kitchen!
Amen! What wonderful advice. Enjoy yourself and avoid stress as much as possible : ) You always have the most perfect things to say! I love that!
i love the sketch! my dog is always great at laying right where i step on his feet (they're big feet, so pretty easy to accidentally step on!) what awesome advice! it's great to read reminder's to enjoy this holiday! so many of us let it get stressful and that's not worth it! i hope you have a fabulous thanksgiving!
Thank you so much for your wonderful advice–it is so sensible, but it really does help to have you say it. I hope lots and lots of poeple are reading this.