Right now magazines,ezines and tv programming focus upon the holiday season, but not just any old aspect of it, they go right for the jugular; stress. It’s almost as overwhelming to be bombarded with stress reduction techniques as reading the holiday gift guides published everywhere you turn.

Simultaneously we’re being encouraged to do for others as well as making sure we’re not leaving our own mental health in the dust. If we weren’t all so damn busy shopping, cooking, getting blasted by holiday music and doing whatever else is involved with the holiday season, we’d probably go insane, but wait, aren’t those magazine articles supposed to stop us from doing just that?

Let’s break it down into something a little more practical. Here are a few things we’ve come across that might help you cope with whatever it is you are dealing with, be it observing a holiday or trying to just do your thing, whatever that thing may be.

When Jennie-O offered to send us frozen turkey boobs for us to try, we agreed to try them, only because:

A. We remembered this company has a sense of humor. See for yourself:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRTYF88LzXY]

B.Figured if the turkey worked as promised, we could recommend it for families looking for a way to have a low stress meal over the holidays or whenevah.

After preparing em and eating em, we’re putting our stamp of approval on em. Maybe it’s not what you would serve for that New England style Thanksgiving your relatives demand, or you feel compelled to serve despite our best effort to absolve you of being the Guilty Gourmet. And if in these tough economic times you find you’re having a staycation? This is one time when your feeling like you want to give everyone the bird would not only be appropriate, but tasty.

Aviva’s 13 year old daughter came home from school, got the turkey breast out of the freezer, popped it into the oven. Then she prepared a bag-o-salad and tossed steam-in-the bag green beans into the microwave and gave em some radar love. That was dinner for the entire family and provided leftovers for turkey sandwiches the next day. Devra’s husband referred to the stuff as “Man Bird” take whatever you want from it, but essentially he liked it and found it easy for him to prepare and serve. Not that men aren’t equipped to prepare food, they definitely are. We’re in no way suggesting any father is doing something unusual or out of his element by cooking for his family. In fact Devra’s husband prepared most of the meals when Devra was in grad school and Devra’s dad is quite the gourmand. Aviva’s husband will be the first to tell anyone who questions his cuisine, “There’s no such thing as too much cheese.”

We feel an important component of finding Parentopia is having as many people involved with meal preparation, serving and cleaning up as possible. And with this current economy, we’re finding more people are eating at home. So why not make it fun? Put on music, burn a CD with song choices from every family member. Blast it in the kitchen as you work and dance like fools! Count it as cardio, use it as laugh therapy, show your kids how much (or little) rhythm ya got!

Keep this easy going attitude going throughout the year, but why not kick it off right now if the holiday prep is stressing you out? If people offer to help, let them. Decide to only prepare the foods you enjoy making and know it’s perfectly okay to pick and choose which components of a meal you will prepare from scratch and which you’ll delegating to another dinner guest or even the local grocery store.

Not too long ago Devra attended a media event where a grocery store chain’s consumer advisor offered up suggestions for making holiday meal prep easier.

One of the first things Andrea mentioned from her holiday checklist was “Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!” One of the last things anyone needs to serve up for the holiday meal is more stress.

We hope you enjoy the beginning of this season with a renewed confidence to make small changes which will have a big impact for you and your family.