Holiday Hot Mess

The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy, warmth, and togetherness, but let’s be real—sometimes they turn into full-blown hot messes. Between the endless to-do lists, family drama, and the pressure to make everything magical, it’s easy to feel like you’re just one burnt batch of cookies away from a breakdown.  Unfortunately, this seems to be a regular occurrence for me.

I have discovered the art of being a hot mess during the holidays.  Trust me, this is true, and I have been perfecting it for the last sixty years.

Every year, I swear I am going to start shopping early, yet somehow, I’m still panic-buying socks and last-minute gift cards on Christmas Eve. Bonus points are earned if I don’t forget where I hid the presents that I actually did buy ahead of time.

You commit to baking and cooking everything, not expecting or wanting any help with the meal preparation.  Then I try decorating as if we live in a Hallmark movie and hosting a flawless dinner—only to end up stress-sobbing into the mashed potatoes or moving to Michelle’s house since she is super organized and ready for the holiday even when I’m not.

The classic Christmas for me was the year I was preparing a prime rib dinner.  I had done this the year before, and it was wonderful, tasty (and easy).  Well, re-reading, or so I thought, the prime rib recipe from last year I was assured that the meat was going to be really easy as it doesn’t take very much time.  As it turned out, I had misread the directions and planned on the meat baking for one hour when, in fact, it said one hour for each pound.  

The prime rib was at least eight pounds. (unbelievable, right?)  When my son-in-law discovered this little mistake, he went ballistic, went flying into the kitchen, turned the oven up as high as it would go, and saved the day.  (whew)

A frustration I experience when entertaining for Christmas is my vision of that wonderful holiday outfit and atmosphere.  I picture everything done, the fireplace going, the snow softly falling, and Christmas music playing softly in the background.  This is not to mention the house is spotlessly clean. and I am dressed in a soft, long, flowy skirt and pretty top.  In reality, it is lucky if I even get a shower and throw on yesterday’s outfit, jeans, and a sweatshirt, and call that my holiday outfit.

Then the family comes. I have to hustle and bustle like crazy to make sure the vacuum cleaner gets put away. It has been staying out undecorated to take care of those last-minute crumb accidents. The holidays bring everyone together, which is great. You end up hoping no one will bring up some of the less-than-funny events of the last year and that everyone will put on their best behavior. 

At the end of the day, the holidays aren’t about perfection—they’re about surviving with your sanity intact (or at least mostly intact). But in the end, dinner was served – later than expected, not as perfect as I imagined, but people were fed, and I will have a hot mess story to share for ages.  So you pour yourself some heavily fixed eggnog laugh at the madness, and remember: being a hot mess just means you’re making memories.

So, here’s looking forward to doing it all again next year!

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