Planning for the Holidays
I was watching the Today Show Wednesday and one of the topics of conversation was the K-Mart Holiday Ad that just aired. Apparently it first ran earlier this week, a full 106 days before Christmas! Despite the supposedly premature timing of the ad, it did one thing right: it made me start thinking about what my family will be doing this holiday season.
In our family, we never celebrate the same way twice in a row. For example, like many couples, Josh and I will alternate between spending Thanksgiving and Christmas between his side of the family and my own. Most years that means we fly up north, others, the family comes to us. Last year, we spent Thanksgiving with my side and Christmas with his. It was exhausting though! Why? We ended up going to them, which meant traveling twice, in less than a month, with two impatient children.
After I finished watching the Today Show I called my husband Josh and asked him what he wanted to do this year. My question was met with an awkward pause and long, drawn out “uuhhhh”. I asked him again but this time I asked, “Who do I need to bribe on your side to make them come to us?”
By the time we hung up, we had both agreed that this year, our families were flying south for the winter. However, there were a couple things I needed to figure out before broaching the subject with the ‘moms’. For one, we don’t technically have a guest room. When people come to stay with us they have to kick one of the kids out of their rooms. Two, we both come from rather large families and I know for a fact that my double oven can’t take on a turkey big enough to feed everyone.
Having had quite a few anniversary parties over at Sundial (not to mention actually getting married there) I knew that they had a talent for executing large catered events. Thinking this, I hopped onto their website and discovered a new addition to the Events tab: it’s now Events and Holidays.
I immediately clicked the link and found that they had already posted their Holiday Menus. Hallelujah! Scanning the Thanksgiving menu first, I saw all of our favorite traditional dishes plus a few delicious sounding bonus items. I kept my fingers crossed and went for the Christmas menu. Not only did it have all of the offerings that we would normally have, it also had Santa!
Relieved and just a little bit hungry, I called up both moms (my own first, then Josh’s) and laid out the plan. We’d be doing BOTH holidays in Sanibel this year. Both sides were invited to spend both holidays with us. Whoever came would be staying at Sundial and we would have out holiday meals there. I even added that the New Year’s menu looked pretty amazing too should anyone like to stay a full week.
In the end, both sides agreed and were actually quite excited, especially about getting away from the omnipresent chill that time of year.
Check out all of the Holiday Menus.
