It’s that time of year again! The holidays are fast approaching. Sometimes we need a GPS to navigate Thanksgiving dinner! You know…who to sit next to who, what topics to AVOID like the plague, what foods to serve that everyone can eat, how to navigate all the homes we have to visit.
Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for our family and most of us end up popping a few aspirin and trying to grin and bear it through the day.
I am sharing with you today some tips on how to navigate your family this Thanksgiving:
- Find out ahead of time if there are any allergies for your guests. That way you can plan around that.
- Keep topics for the dinner table general and if anyone is heading into dangerous waters, redirect the conversation or stop it all together.
- Find out if there are any new guests that may not have been to dinner previously and try to get to know them. Don’t put them on the spot, but take a few minutes to chat and make them feel welcome.
- If you have several homes to visit, come up with a travel plan and an eating plan. Your travel plan should include who to visit and in what order, how much time to spend there, etc. With your eating plan, think about what to eat where. I love my Mom’s turkey, so I’ll focus on that at her house. I love my mother-in-law’s desserts, so I’ll eat a small entrée and focus on desserts. I love grandma’s veggies, so I’ll have a veggie plate there.
Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy our family and catch up, not spend your time miserable and wishing you were somewhere else.
If all else fails, take the time to be grateful in your head. You can always walk away for a bit and think to yourself all the things you have that you are grateful for. This will put you in a better space. You can’t be grateful and angry at the same time, so try a little gratitude!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
