A laid-back Thanksgiving.

I usually tend to be a person who stresses out on/or before major holidays. It’s mostly because I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I want everything to be just right. I hate it though. I don’t always get the chance to enjoy the holiday as much as I could because I’m too worried about the details.

On Christmas I worry and stress about each individual gift. Will they like it? Will they use it? Is it just right for them?

For Birthdays I worry about making that person feel special and loved. Are they having a good time? Did they get everything they wanted?

On Halloween I stress about the perfect costume choice and what fun activity we should do.

And on Thanksgiving I stress about the dishes I prepare, especially since I am not much of a cook.

I think having Reese has mellowed me out in the perfectionism department. So far the holidays we’ve celebrated since she was born have been relatively less stressed. Maybe it’s because I have somewhere new to focus my energy. Or maybe it’s because there is just no being perfect when you are a mom. Whatever the reason I am enjoying this new relaxed feeling on holidays. Thanksgiving this year was no different. Granted, it may be that the dishes I was assigned to bring to our family’s annual Thanksgiving potluck were somewhat fool-proof (I think that they’ve caught on that I’m not much of a cook:)).

It is becoming a MacAskill family tradition to hold Thanksgiving dinner at my brother-in-law’s house, and everyone brings a few dishes. That way no one person has to cook an entire Thanksgiving feast and some of us can bring the dishes we hold most dear. This year I was assigned the mashed potatoes and fruit salad, which may sound easy-but that’s not necessarily true. Considering that my father-in law’s diet consists of nothing but veggies, legumes, whole grains and fruit, my fruit salad would be a major part of his Thanksgiving dinner. We are a fruit-loving family, so I knew it was important to make it good. The end product was a layered salad of fuyu persimmons, grapes, pineapple, blueberries, oranges, and raspberries. My other assigned dish was mashed potatoes. I figured if I was going to do potatoes, I was going to do the best darn vegan mashed potatoes I could make! I looked up recipes online and finally settled on Roasted Garlic Herb Red Mashed Potatoes. I did a test batch on Tuesday to make sure they were good.

I know it sounds like I stressed about Thanksgiving, but really it was such a laid-back day. I tried to get Reese to sleep a lot at home before we went to dinner, and she refused to do so:). But she was a pretty mellow baby that evening and my dishes turned out good. For once I didn’t worry about everything being perfect. I just sat back and enjoyed the time with family and the good food. And believe me it was GOOD FOOD! Some of it healthy and some of it not, but who cares? It’s Thanksgiving!

For a wonderfully summed up home video of my Thanksgiving, click here.

And now, on to Christmas! Hopefully it will be just as stress-free.