I hate to break it to you, but we are one week away from Christmas Eve. I know, I’m behind, too! The Christmas cards are still sitting on the shelf, and I have a slew of presents to wrap, but what gets done, gets done. I think I should be OK, though, with a couple late nights in between. (Tonight, I whipped up two more dinners for my Mom’s present.)
But apart from me, I wanted to reinterate that this is crunch time, so I am going to do a re-post of one of my Thanksgiving planning posts, which all come into play again. …
I have the menu planned for Christmas Day dinner, have scouted the ads, so I am ahead in this regard. So please use this as a checkoff list so that you, the Christmas magician — as one of my fellow bloggers was deemed — enjoy the holidays, too!
Oh, and feel free to post any question you may have!
Without further ado:
We are now down to the crunch period — one week before!
Now is the time to focus on the shopping, the dinner-timing countdown and the cooking. If you need to come up-to-date, refer back to this post, this post, and this post — these are all items I am assuming you took care of.
I am going to reinterate, the only way you will have a stress-free holiday is with planning, and that means doing a little every day, so let’s cut to the “to do” list:
Scout ads and plan your shopping – Know which stores have the best deals and where to hit for what. I shopped one today and the other tomorrow. The coupons are cut, using the database at Couponmom, and I saved myself $31.26 just today in store specials and coupons on a $36.21 order! Get the shopping out of the way early!
Wash the produce that comes in the door – You will so thank me for this later. Wash the produce as it comes in the house, store in zipper bags, and you will be ready to cut and dice. Along those lines, squeeze this task in, too, and you will be even happier.
Pre-measure what you can — Let me tell you, this is what TV chefs do, and it makes cooking quick, quick, quick. I already have the crumble topping set for an apple crisp, and the dip herbs will be all set before I go to bed. Just store in foil, mark, or put in Gladware and stick a Post It on it. Aim to have the dry goods pre-measured. It makes whipping out several dishes in no time a breeze.
Have those recipes to go – I’ve got mine all printed out with the tips noted and the measurements all pre-adjusted. Do the same, and you will be able to whip dishes out like an assembly line.
Do AS MUCH as you can ahead of time — Hosts always think they have more time than they do. Do as much as you can possibly do ahead of time — and I am talking days or the night before. The rule is: “If you can do it now, do it now.” Many holiday dishes can be prepared in advance up to the point of cooking. Take them out of the fridge an hour in advance to bring to room temperature, and then just pop in the oven. No mess, no fuss! Put the butter in the dish, cover the cranberries with plastic. Just do it early.
Set the table the night before – This is absolutely the latest you should set the table. Otherwise, you are going to be sidetracked and rush through what should be enjoyable. Plus, guess what? Something always comes up when you expected to have time to set the table. I’ll give you a cheat sheet tomorrow.
Clean the day or two days before – Plan to do the big clean two days in advance, and then a secondary pickup/touchup clean the day of the holiday. Focus on the guest bath and the living area on the final day.
Prepare the oven and serving areas – Test your cooking dishes in the oven, and adjust the racks as needed. Much better to do it now, than when it’s heated to 350 degrees. Pre-clear all serving areas the night before, much better than the day of when your friend or spouse will put something right where you need to place something else.
Back out the times of dinner – This is the most important tip for easy entertaining. Type out exactly when something goes in the oven, what to set the timer for, when to take it out, etc. Just take your stack of recipes and start with the item that will take the longest. Type all of its necessary times, then do the same with each remaining dish (you’ll see how many come out and go in the oven at the same time). It takes some time, but it will make the cooking process brainless so that you may enjoy your guests. Honestly, you will thank me for this later. I did it last night, and it took about 15 minutes, but the best thing I will have done!
One final tip — You enjoy yourself. You are a guest, too, so make it look effortless, and people will be amazed, and you will be so much more relaxed! Good luck! 
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