Holiday Meals and More Free Printables

Is there anything more yummy than those special holiday dishes?  You know the ones I mean, the ones we wait all year long for; the ones that just don't taste right at any other time of the year?  For me they are right up at the top of my holiday favourites list, along with Christmas Music and eagerly awaiting Christmas morning when I get to enjoy watching the magic of the season sparkle in my kid's eyes.

Last year we were so lucky to be able to spend time with my Mom and Dad and brother and his family, and it was pure joy, but normally it's just Travis, myself and our boys.  Because it's usually just the four of us, we tend to keep things simple.  Over the years we've slowly added a few more dishes, bringing in our childhood favourites, trying something new.  But I really didn't have a system in place for keeping track of all of it, which is why when I decided to put together a Holiday Planner, I knew the menu part was going to be pretty important, and was more than likely going to take a few pages to encompass what I wanted.

One of these years I want to do up a BIG family dinner, and just like the baking and other goodies, I want to be able to include everyone's favourite holiday dish.

Favourite Dishes

So, I made the above printable.  When I made this, I had two uses in mind.  The first, being a way to keep track of who likes what, and the second one being that this could easily be used as a potluck planner.

Of course, this will only go so far, what about the main holiday meal?  Well, I whipped up a little something for that as well.

Holiday Menu

This is where I can keep track of what we're planning to serve, who we've invited, as well as what we're drinking, what I want to put on the table, (so I can make sure we have what I need, like say... candles!) and a place to jot down ideas or plans for place settings.  Plus a small area for those little reminders or other useful pieces of info that come along.

When it comes to making up a big meal, I know that having a time line, and a plan is always a good thing.  Many items can be made ahead of time, sometimes even a week or two ahead (depending on what you're making)  and I know that there are going to be things that I'm going to need to pick up from the store.  To help keep track, I borrowed a few ideas from my baking printables and combined them into my "Cooking Plan" form.

Cooking Plan

This one is pretty self explanatory too.  Like with the baking sheet, I included a spot for jotting down recipes we're going to be using and where we will find them, as well as spot to mark down if we can make the recipe ahead of time.  There's even room to jot down how early we can make it.  I also included and undated 2 week calendar, because I can't see being able to make anything much further ahead than that.

And there you have it.  I'm hoping these babies will help us plan our Christmas meal a little more carefully, and maybe even be able to fit in a few more dishes that we always mean to make but never seem to have time for.  And when that Christmas yet to come arrives, I'll be ahead of the game!  

As always, to grab a copy of your own click the captions.  (not the pictures)  And if you have any trouble viewing or printing the PDFs, send me an email and I will gladly email you a copy of the ones you want.  I am working on a better way to bring the files to you, it's just going to take a little more time until it's set up.  Until then, if you have any troubles with them, please let me know.

So what do you think?  Will these help you?  Do you plan your holiday meals or do you wing it?  Do you have favourite holiday dishes that you look forward to year after year?

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