Have you ever dreamed about having the perfect holiday dinner? Have you ever seen those Norman Rockwell-type photographs in magazines and cookbooks showing a holiday dinner that looked almost too beautiful to eat? Have you ever promised yourself that some day you would set a table like that?
Guess what? Even though food is a huge, traditional part of celebrating the holidays, it will always be more about the people who are eating together than it will be about the food being eaten.
If you try too hard to make your holiday dinner just right, you may cause yourself more stress than you need—and you may miss out on some special moments. It isn’t about following mom’s instructions to the letter and measuring just right when you and she are cooking together. It’s about the laughter and memories you share as you’re chopping and mixing. It isn’t about being able to declare that you made that pumpkin pie from scratch (including growing the pumpkin yourself), it’s about the stories that are told around the table as the pie is being eaten.
Don’t worry about what foods complement each other or whether a certain dish will be aesthetically pleasing. Call Aunt Sylvia and ask her if she’ll bring some of her famous key lime mini-tarts because they’re so delicious. Don’t worry if the bright green clashes with the cranberry sauce; you just made someone very happy.
Worry less about what is going on the table and focus more on your 12 year old son’s face when you tell him that this year he’ll be sitting with the adults. Don’t worry about those few lumps in the gravy; it was your brother’s nervous new girlfriend’s first attempt, and as far as she knows you have never tasted better.
Burn the rolls because you spent too much time hugging your nephew–who just recently came back from Iraq.
Care enough to make good food for them to enjoy, but never let them forget it’s the fact that they are with you that really matters.
Have a wonderfully imperfect holiday season.
