How to to Survive a Family Thanksgiving and Make it Happy!

What can you do this Thanksgiving, to turn your home into the one that makes your entire family want to come there every year? There are several simple and easy things you can do to make your house the best one in the family for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Share the hostess role with the other women in the family. It is lots of fun to be the hostess, but by sharing this role, and the cooking, you will endear yourself to the other women in your family and help them enjoy their day too. It is hard to spend a holiday in someone else's home for women who are used to cooking and making a holiday special.

Part of sharing the hostess role is asking other women to bring something they enjoy cooking, something that they are proud to make. So what if you have 2 kinds of candied yams? Let each cook bring their own specialty. And be sure to encourage your guest to try the different dishes. All cooks like to see their food enjoyed.

Prepare every food item possible in advance. You can chop celery, clean mushrooms, boil and peel potatoes a day or more in advance, and pop into zip-lock bags. This makes assembly, and cooking, on Thanksgiving quick and easy. And it makes it easier for guests to lend a hand, and be involved in the cooking, since items will already be cut and cleaned appropriately for your recipes.

Set the table the night before Thanksgiving so that the table will be set the way you like it. This leaves no room for arguments about what-goes-where. You can mark your Holiday serving pieces the night before by tucking little slips of paper with what foods will fit in them.

Purchase take-home containers so each of your guests can bring a little bit of Thanksgiving dinner home with them. There are very inexpensive plastic containers with covers- by smaller ones so more people can take home prized leftovers. One of the number one reasons people give for not wanting to eat Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house is that they don't get to have leftovers the next day.

Serve everything that your guests bring to Thanksgiving dinner. Guests bring a food because they want to see it served, not to go into your freezer. If that makes your table more heavily laden, that's ok- it's Thanksgiving! And you can let your guests take home more leftovers this way. Everyone's cooking gets tasted and admired. Guests love to have slivers of different desserts. And even though you have cut a pie, it can still go into the freezer as individual servings.

Be sure you have enough dishes so you don't have to wash between dinner and dessert just to get enough plates or forks. Buy or borrow some solid color dishes that complement your best place settings. There are lots of great white dishes out there, many of which can be found very inexpensively at an outlet mall. You may only need dessert plates or extra forks.

Leave enough time to get yourself ready before guests arrive. Select and press your outfit a few days before, right down to the panty hose so that on Thanksgiving Day, you don't have to think about it. Then be sure to have your turkey in and other items well under way so you can pop into the shower and be fresh when your guests arrive, instead of harried.

Invite someone who would spend Thanksgiving Dinner alone. Even if your family wants to keep it "just family" extend your kindness and include someone. It will make their day, and may end up making yours.

Remember to enjoy the day. Enjoy your family, and go easy on yourself and your loved ones. Today is a day to focus on the gift of having a family to share this special day with, so let go of everything else. Recognize that you are all lucky to be together, and that many people won't have a family and friends to share this day with.