Life on a Tuesday: Entertaining: How to turn a stress into a joy

I love having people over to our house.  

I really do.  

But, I can get stressed out by the all the things that I need to do in order to have people over...like clean the house, prep the food, manage the kiddos, set the table, get myself presentable, oh yeah...then simply enjoy the company.  

Well, just the other night we had some people over...well, like 10 people, so a little bigger crowd.  And we had a blast!  But here's a couple of small things that I did to make the night more enjoyable and less stressful:

1.  I prepped the chicken fajitas a couple of weeks earlier when we do our crazy once-a-month shopping & cooking extravanganza.  So, all I had to do was pull out the chicken in the marinade 2 days before to thaw.  Then I cut up some onions and peppers a couple hrs before people came and threw that on top of the stove to cook.  I want to make super yummy food, but keeping it simple is key!

2.  I love the look of an inviting table.  But I'm no Ina Garten, but I do have 5 lovely young ladies

who love to color.  So, we made little table cards for everyone.  Sophia, our budding artist, drew a little something for everyone and we placed that at the top of each plate for an extra sweet touch.  It never ceases to amaze me how such little things like that bless people.  I also cut some mini daffodils that had just bloomed from the garden and put them in small vases alongside some votive candles.

3.  When people came over, of course, I wasn't all ready to go like Martha Stewart says I should.  So, when people asked if they could help, I took them up on it.  I've come to believe that people really do enjoy helping out or they wouldn't ask.  So, Joe & Sarah were in the kitchen cutting up some dill and parsley for the basmati rice, one of my favorite, and super simple, side dishes from the Barefoot Contessa.  Bryan helped get all the drinks and a few others offered to bring things - like the dessert, guacamole..etc..  I have learned to never turn down anyone when they offer to help.  

So, these are just a few things that have helped me truly enjoy being more present when we have people over.