What's For Dinner? (the post-Thanksgiving version)

I find the post-Thanksgiving menu the most difficult menu to create.

I was a glutton the whole weekend. I'm still full.

I spent hours in the kitchen preparing a feast. The last place I want to be is back in the kitchen.

However, a family has got to eat, right? So here it is, the "I know you are full and sick of the kitchen, but your family has to eat" menu.

And yes. It's Tuesday night and I'm just getting around to posting. The tryptophan in the turkey has delayed my brain-to-blog function.

Sunday: hamburger patties, sautéed mushrooms & onions, oven potatoes, roasted asparagus, fresh tomatoes

Monday: roasted pork loin stuffed with basil and garlic, roasted sweet potato wedges, chard

Tuesday: German sausage with 'kraut, boiled red potatoes, German cabbage, green beans

Wednesday: slow cooker chicken posole, cornbread

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: hamburgers, oven fries

Saturday: out

I'm not baking this week. The seams on my jeans are in need of a break. Plus, this is the one time a year we have open bowls of candy sitting about. I'm not a real big candy eater, but something possessed me to buy Christmas Sour Patch Kids. Darn those addictive, tart, little buggers. I am putty in their sugary hands.

I am in the midst of list making. And I am not feeling overwhelmed.

Yet.

I'm hoping to keep it that way. I expect a bit of holiday stress, but for reals, this year I want to enjoy it.

The Boy has a gift. He can work lines from the movie Elf seamlessly into *any* conversation. Whenever I lose my temper, he looks at The Girl and says, "She's an angry elf."

I don't want to be an angry elf this year.

Or a cotton-headed ninny muggins.

Or a son of a nutcracker.

So, I'm not.

I've read over this post from last year. I'm so glad I wrote it. It has served as a good reminder of things that worked well, little tweaks to make the holidays easier, and projects I want to work on. I've already marked a couple of these off this year's list. Go me. A few more are on the schedule, and a couple, realistically, will be put off until next year. And I'm OK with that.

How are your preparations going? Big projects in the works? Overwhelmed yet?

I find that putting on Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album can put all things in perspective.

Add some Christmas Sour Patch Kids and I'm a very happy elf.