Christmas menu plans + current family challenges
Hello! How is your week going? I hope it is going well. Before I get onto the newsletter, a quick reminder about a limited edition item I have for sale on Adapt Drinks at the moment. It is called the Christmas Calm Collection.
It is a thoughtfully curated bundle designed to enhance the festive season with moments of tranquility and relaxation. There is only a handful left now, so if you are keen to pick one up for yourself or as a gift for someone, I recommend getting in quick! You can place your order and read more about it here.
Christmas Menu Planning and My Christmas Afternoon Tea Plan
At around this time each year I share some Christmas menu planning inspiration. As I share in the post this year, doing some planning now means:
You can space out the workload if you are hosting Christmas this year. Many of the menu plans below have sections where they list off what you can do 4 weeks out, 2 weeks out, 1 week out etc.
Choosing a Christmas menu plan now that works for you means you can spend a small amount of time up front but then you can just check the list weekly to see what you need to do and set about doing the work. At this super busy time of the year, you won’t have to think about what needs to be done as you have already sorted that. It saves you a significant amount of mental energy.
You can delegate tasks easily with advance notice to others. It is much easier to get the help of others when there aren’t time pressures.
The more time you have, the more considered your purchases can be. You have time to place orders, search for the best value and don’t have to pay more because you have run out of time and options.
In this post I share over 35 Christmas menu plan ideas, so you are sure to find one you like or you can pick and choose to pull together something that is unique to you. I also share a very simple Christmas Afternoon Tea plan I have created and a preparation plan I am following this week. You can find it here - Christmas menu planning 2023.
Current family challenges
With our youngest kids now 14 and 17 life really is quite different from when I started writing Planning With Kids back in 2008 when we only had four kids! I would say it is definitely easier in so many ways but it still does have its challenges. I can’t imagine there is a stage of family life that doesn’t. Here is what is challenging in our house at the moment:
The shower situation - after having stages when you have to force the issue for the boys to have a shower, many of the household now shower twice daily and many want to shower at similar times! Let’s just say that they are all learning the great life skills of negotiation and patience.
The leftover food situation - if you follow along with my weekly food prep on Facebook each Sunday you will see that I aim to make quite a bit of food so there is plenty left over for breakfasts/lunches/snacks. This has very much become a situation of first in best dressed and some will be smart enough to pack their lunch the night before to get in first to make sure they get what they lunch for the next day. On the flip side it often means someone is disappointed when the food they thought was going to be there is no longer there (sometimes this is me!).
Knowing how much to cook - Sometimes everyone is home for dinner and then sometimes it is only three of us! While leftovers are great, some meals don’t work well for having leftovers so I can find working out how much to cook at the moment quite challenging.
The older vibe - we have three adult kids living at home and I do sometimes think that the youngest has missed out on some things that we did with the older kids at the same age. We don’t do as many family activities outside of the home anymore which I miss a lot. I still offer to do things with the youngest but because it would just be me and him, he declines. I think if he had a sibling coming along he would be more keen.
Putting stuff near the dishwasher - this one drives my husband especially crazy. For some reason, the kids can bring their protein shaker in from the gym, bring their bowl from the table at breakfast and place it on the bench but they can’t quite seem to get it in the dishwasher! Many times they are called back to put it where it needs to go which they do but this is up there with the challenge of getting them to pick up their towels from the bedroom floors 🙄.
I would love to hear what you are currently finding challenging about family life at the moment. Leave a comment below!
Next week, I will share some of the new processes etc that we have going that work for us in this stage of family life. Have a great week.
Nic