... to cook or not to cook ...

Cooking for the holiday meals falls on my shoulders – as it has all my adult life. At this point though, I find I have less energy to deal with it. Even though there are only 4 or 6 of us for those occasions, I’m finding it more and more difficult to cook holiday meals without becoming exhausted.

One year I decided we’d go out to eat for our Holiday meal. My mother and I thought it was a most splendid idea. Unfortunately my father balked and simply refused to leave the house. HE wasn’t going to a restaurant on a holiday, no siree. He’d rather sit at home. (I almost left him.)

Then I invoked plan #2 and drove to the “Yummy Ham Store” where I bought: Yummy Ham, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables. Everything was frozen and ready to reheat. If the side dishes tasted half as good as they looked on the packaging photos, we’d be all set. Of course they didn't. It was not one of our finer holiday meals.

The following year, still determined not to cook, I ordered a cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegies, pie and rolls from our neighborhood gourmet food store. THIS time, I figured I was set – I’d certainly paid a premium price for the meal. Imagine my horror to find the turkey WAS fully cooked, albeit frozen. The meal went downhill from there.

THIS year I decided to try something completely different: to cook the meal myself. But I would cook it a couple of days beforehand, and just reheat it on the holiday.

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On Thanksgiving morning, I awoke with a sense of pleasure. I set the table and scanned the ads for promising sales at the mall. Then an hour before my parents were scheduled to arrive, I pulled the food from the fridge and reheated it. No muss, no fuss. Everything was delicious. (Yes even the store-bought mashed potatoes!)

Okay, there was no aroma of roasting turkey. But everyone was happy to have a delicious holiday meal without me being exhausted. And oh yes, my husband washed the dishes. The end to a perfect meal!