Keep an electric kettle already filled with some water handy.  If you only have a little while to sit and relax between things you need to do, a cup of tea will go a long way.  Don’t count on being able to use a stove-top kettle either, if that is your preferred method.  You will probably have far too many things on top of the stove to fit a kettle on there!

There are also a few things that you will always want to have on hand.  What should you always have on hand?  Extra butter, for one.  You never know how much butter your guests will want to put on their mashed potatoes, or their dinner rolls, or…whatever.   You just never know.  However, you DO know that people will need to go to the restroom.  So, buy extra toilet paper.  This is something that you NEVER want to run out of with a house full of people who have just eaten too large of a meal.  You should also always keep a package of gravy mix on hand.  No matter if you usually make your gravy completely from scratch, a gravy mix is a great alternative if something…goes wrong.  You DO know something will go wrong, right?  It’s one of those ways that the Gods tell us not to take ourselves too seriously.

If you feel yourself getting stressed, as will happen, go into an empty room.  Bathroom, bedroom, or other empty room.  Burn some incense, light a candle and just spend five minutes with no one but yourself.  It will help.

What else?  Buy extra Kleenex.  As some friends of mine put it, Christmayulukah tends to be a time of year when people get extra emotional.  As long as they don’t bring the tree down with a brawl, (my husband has interesting family) everything will end up fine.

Blessed Yule, everyone!
Goddess Bless,
Stacy