A Chic Paris Holiday Season – Day 2 – Challenging the To-Do List
December 4, 2020
In Chapter 1 of A Chic and Simple Christmas, author Fiona Ferris writes that she wanted to feel peaceful and calm as the season progressed. One way she decided to accomplish this was to pare down her December to-do list and get as organized as possible. She also wanted to think peaceful thoughts and let those thoughts set her mood.
Here in early December, my to-do list has been considerably shortened courtesy of France’s and my home nation’s (USA) recommendations to limit travel as much as possible. (France is quite strict about it.) The travel ban has both positive and negative aspects. On one hand, there will be no travel prep, no last-minute packing, no rush-rush-rush to the airport or train station. On the other hand, visiting loved ones or exploring new places is also on hold.
Examining the Thanksgiving feast list was the first challenge to my “declutter the to-do list” project. We will have our family Thanksgiving meal this weekend because my husband was on travel last week. The “pared down” list of the feast – those dishes that each one of us would like – is a bit optimistic – without full-time kitchen staff working all day. (We still have the rotisserie chicken and cornbread on the do-able list. French bread dressing and mac&cheese are up in the air. Pecan pie, mashed potatoes and brown gravy all got axed. My son says that he will make the apple thing that my mother-in-law makes. And both children want some type breakfast/brunch specialty food as practice for Christmas morning – that will probably be my daughter’s assignment along with the cornbread.) So, we need to revisit our holiday words and see how our expectations are supporting the idea of “relaxed” and “calm.” (“Harried, hot mess” is what it looked like to me.)
Happily for my peace of mind, the satire web-site Babylon-Bee published a humorous story (here) that made me giggle at all the “holiday stress” that I was feeling. The headline, “2020 Rated Worst Year Ever, Provided You Never Lived At Any Other Time In History. ” The article went on to list some truly horrific years & events in history that we have NOT experienced, like “Viking raids, Black Plague, famine, world war, using rotary telephones, needing to look things up in a physical dictionary, slavery, people being burned at the stake, walking miles to school, living in caves, sleeping on the ground, ice ages…” He, he, he, I actually remember using rotary phones and physical dictionaries. Please remember that this site is satirical – that is, it is the purpose of the article to humorously point out our human foibles and help us laugh at ourselves. Once I started chuckling at myself and my (self-induced) holiday stress, I did feel a bit better. My 2020 holiday stress hasn’t disappeared (sadly) but, at least I had a good giggle.
I just returned from a “big” grocery store run. I put the word “big” in quotes because just means you’ve filled your shopping “chariot” (little hand-cart) that you pull as you walk to the market. (And then there is the challenge to fit the chariot into the tiny building elevator (if your building has one) or carry it up the stairs. (I tell myself that this is part of my fitness regime!) Among other supplies, I got the onions and the celery and mushrooms for the dressing. In just a moment, I will run out to the boulangerie and pick up a baguette for tonight’s dinner (goulash) and a loaf of pain de mie to tear up and toast tonight (for the dressing). If I feel energized later this evening, I will sautee the onions and celery to go into the toasted bread pieces and fresh herbs.) Maybe I can do a little pre-work in advance while my husband is making the goulash. That way, we could, calmly, squeeze in a little dressing for the “great feast” without making the actual “day of” feel like a marathon cooking day.
