What I want most for all of us is a pain free fourth of July weekend. I just wanted to pass on some of my ABC's of how to party the ra way.
No one must have a barbecue for the fourth although this tends to be the biggest barbecue day of the year. You can always do a pick up of food, use paper plates and have a wonderful fourth of July this way. Or you can take your fourth celebration on the road and eat at a park, the beach, or even out if you can find a restaurant open. We must be flexible with ra and part of that flexibility is being willing to change how we did things in the past.
But if you are hosting the barbecue this year...
Paper It! Buy all your serving things at the store for this holiday. Please don't try to fancy it up with regular china. Everyone will enjoy themselves eating off of paper products. And if you are a greenie like me...use the ones that are more environmentally friendly.
Buy Store Sides! Yes, I know how wonderful Gramma's coleslaw recipe tastes, how Aunt Betty's potato salad is your favorite and she won't be here this year....give in...buy out. Save your energy for your guests. And let someone else do the shopping for the groceries if you can. That is why we have grocery lists.
Or better yet, have every guest bring a dish with them. Your family can do the meat only and the rest of the guests can bring all the other sides and desserts. You can even ask them to bring those heavy drinks. You will just need to provide an ice chest with ice. Maybe someone can even bring the ice. I avoid all things heavy if I can.
Keep It Simple! You know me...I love KISSing things up, so of course I am going to KISS up the fourth. I am even wearing nice red lipstick for this KISS occasion. If you are hosting the party this year (Best if you are a guest in my book), keep it simple. I find that if I just add music, the party is on!
Divvy up the prep among as many people as possible. If you have other family members in your home, assign them jobs to do. And remember that this is suppose to be fun. Don't worry about cleaning all the nooks and crannies in your home....hopefully the party will be outside. One of my favorite tricks is to close all the doors to rooms that will not be used. That cuts down cleaning to a minimum. And assign the few rooms left to other family members to spruce up.
The most important thing to remember this fourth is that this is a celebration of independance. Declare your independance this fourth from your old way of doing things and try something more ra friendly! Even if that means staying in, eating bought food and watching the fireworks on tv.
Have a wonderful fourth of July. And for my US readers, I would love your comments on how you plan on making this fourth more ra friendly. For my readers that aren't in the US...I challenge you to try one new ra friendly thing this weekend and let us know how you celebrated your new found independance.
