How to prepare for Christmas so you don't face Christmas night exhausted there are several answers to and the easiest is to be invited away. At some point, most of us become the one who is expected to have the most clue about Christmas food in the family. We have been celebrating Christmas at home, with guests over several days for many years now. I've eventually found my way to do it, so christmas time will be cozy and not just stress. You can get some of my tips here.
The most important thing is to make an overview of everything that needs to be done. I have an old Excel sheet, which I have been using and improving over many years and it looks like this:
The sheet has one tab, which is the shopping list and another tab that deals with all the meals, including drinks. I color the cells as the items are purchased and the tasks done.
I also have a tab with all tasks, divided by when it should be done, a tab for purchasing Christmas gifts and a tab for table placements.
The trick is to do everything as early as possible, so as little remains to be done towards the end. This means that I am always done with all gifts, long before December starts.
Advent:
I like to decorate with lilla for Advent, so there will be a bit of a difference between the time before Christmas and the Christmas celebration itself. The decoration has been bought over many years and it is always nice to bring it out again.
Christmas decorations:
I grew up with christmas decorations happening on Christmas Eve. To create some breathing room, I've started a little earlier and take the Christmas decorations over a couple of days.
Christmas food:
We have Mølje at 12 noon on Christmas Eve and The dairy bread, which is a kind of flatbread, can be made in early December and kept dry until it is to be used. If you don't have a roasting stack, or you don't have time, the bread can be bought ready-made in most grocery stores, at least in Eastern Norway.
When it comes to the Christmas food itself, it is ribs that apply with us and the accessories are made over time and frozen. For example, I make medister cakes and sauerkraut for Sunday dinner in early December. Then I make so much, that I have enough for Christmas at the same time and I freeze that. That makes it easy to pick it up on Christmas Eve and put it to thaw in the fridge. The same thing happens with Christmas sausage, which I also make myself, and red cabbage.
Rib:
Ribs are a chapter in their own right, since I have to cook the ribs, to get dairy power. My husband would rather follow his own rib recipe, so we make each spring. The ribs are seasoned and set cold several days before Christmas and the one to be cooked gets a few hours in the pan on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve:
In order for Christmas Eve to be as calm as possible, I peel the potatoes in the morning and leave them in the pan, completely covered with cold water, until they should be boiled. Those who want cod, pork chops, turkey or something else can also do the same.
Dessert:
When two Christmas traditions are to become one, compromise solutions are not always possible, so that's why we have two desserts on Christmas Eve, rice cream and caramel pudding. I start as early as possible with both, so the pudding is ready for decoration the day before. I also make the rice porridge and sauce the day before, so it only remains to whip cream and mix with the porridge on Christmas Eve.
Christmas cookies:
Christmas cookies can also be made early, because they have a long shelf life and only need a tight box to thrive. It's also smart to ally with someone, either to make preparations together, or distribute the baking of the cakes and switch afterwards.
1st of Christmas
Christmas Day 1st is the finest day of Christmas, I think. We eat "breakfast" from 12:00 – 24:00 and when the table is finished, the calm really settles down on me. This way of enjoying Christmas Day 1st is an old tradition in our family and both young and old enjoy themselves.
How to prepare for Christmas so you do not face Christmas night completely exhausted? I hope you have found some tricks here, but I would like to say in conclusion, that a pleasant Christmas celebration is more important than that everything should be homemade, or absolutely perfect.
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