Today, we’re going to focus on all of the other things we do with food during the holidays.

First, we’re going to make a menu for any parties that you will be hosting over the holiday season. For us, that’s just one big Christmas party that we generally invite 200 to 300 people to, and have close to 200 show up over the course of the day. 

We choose to provide all of the food for our Christmas Party. You, however, can coordinate a potluck, or ask everyone to bring their favorite Christmas dessert to share – you don’t have to supply all of the food if you don’t want to! Share the burden of hosting by asking everyone to bring a dish and suddenly hosting a Christmas party becomes much easier. Don’t miss out on the joy of hosting family and friends for a celebration because it’s too much work or money!

So, like we did yesterday, make a menu for any parties you’ll be hosting with everything you’ll have to provide. Whether you’re making a full meal, providing finger food, or just setting out a few bags of chips and pretzels, write down what you’re planning on doing. Don’t forget any special drinks, even if that’s just a big serving container of ice water. 

Our second (and last) thing we’re going to do today is create a list of all food related activities, gifts, and traditions you will be doing this holiday season. Here are a few examples:

• Drinking apple cider while singing Christmas carols (tradition)
• Making homemade marshmallows as a family to enjoy with hot chocolate (activity)
• Baking cookies from scratch or pre-made dough to decorate (activity)
• Homemade baking mixes in Mason jars for all the Aunts (gift)
• Decorating gingerbread houses (tradition/activity)

You don’t have to specify whether each item is a tradition, activity, or gift, though you might find it helpful to write down roughly when you will be doing all of these items.

Once you have all of these written down, you’re done for the day!