Thanksgiving Manners Post Dinner

Thanksgiving is over...or at least the dinner. No one can seem to stuff one more piece of turkey, spoon one more scoop of mashed potatoes or fork in another bite of pumpkin pie. A little moaning and some groaning is going on and hopefully a burp or two of relief...don't forget to say EXCUSE me when bodily air escapes.

As a guest, it is your job to offer to clean up. When refused, carry some dishes to the kitchen anyway. Be mindful that the best china may have been used. Do not stack the dishes. Ask the host what they would prefer you do. Some hosts prefer to leave the mess behind closed doors. OBEY, that is what a good guest does.

People are leaving. A good mannered host, has plates of leftovers ready for their departing guests. A well mannered guest does not expect leftovers and may NOT ask for any, unless all the other guests have left and you are helping the host store leftovers away. Then if you notice an abundance of leftovers, you may ask.

As we say in the real world, "no pain, no gain". You didn't cook, you don't get leftovers.
xoxoAmanda

Thanksgiving is fast approaching gentle hostess with the mostess...

Of course you stress out over Thanksgiving. It's a holiday that you spend days preparing for, hours to cook and it seriously only lasts about 45 minutes depending on how good the table conversation is. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we are suckers for adulation. It is the one time when a commoner who doesn't have a publicist can become a celebrity. If we preare a sumptuous meal that people enjoy...and if you make them wait an extra hour, they will be starving so they'll love it, we are the stars.

In this day an age when we rarely feel appreciated, Thanksgiving offers accolades for cooks everywhere. At the end of the dinner take a bow and let someone else clean up. Trust me, the chipped plate or broken stuben glass won't be missed. You deserve to put your feet up and have that last glass of wine from the bottle you hid in the back of the refrigerator.
xoxoAmanda

More Thanksgiving Manners

Who doesn't love Adam Sandler's crazy songs...

Thanksgiving is fast approaching...it will be here before you know it, then it will be gone and all that will be left will be an abhorrance to anything pumpking and loss of memory from too much drinking.

Remember when you were little and couldn't wait for Thanksgiving to arrive. The whole family came and you sat down to a wonderful feast that was a hundred times better than the one you had to have at school to re-enact the original Thanksgiving.

Life was so much simpler then. You got to eat only your favorite foods, mashed potatoes and cranberry relish and finish everyone's glass of wine when you cleared the table. Life couldn't get any better.

But now you're an adult and you'll be criticized both for eating only mashed potatoes and cranberry relish and finishing other's drinks when you clear the table.

That's because we're supposed to know better. I'm not sure what we know better. Thanksgiving is not as much fun anymore and usually ends up with someone crying, someone drunk and someone yelling and ironically this can all be the same person!

What to do?
Have Thanksgiving dinner while watching the movie, 'A Christmas Story.' You won't have to talk; so everyone will enjoy their dinner, eating what ever they want and drinking how much they want because...no one will be watching them. Everyone will be watching the movie.

There will be more Thanksgiving manners to come...I promise.
xoxoAmanda

Table Manners

The Holidays are coming! While we all anticipate Thanksgiving, most times we are disappointed after the event. Why? Because Thanksgiving is like giving birth. We anticipate this delicious dinner with a Mom serving in her 1950's apron, the perfect turkey, the buffet table lined with all the side dishes we remember, prepared exactly like we remember and everyone sitting down in nice clothes with interesting converstation to go around.

In reality, when the dinner is finally put on the table, it is painfully not like anything we usually conjure up in our imagination. The turkey is full of antibiotics and practially glows, no one makes green bean casserole anymore. Who has a Mom that cooks? And all we can talk about is being laid off and pounding the pavement for job opportunites. So we drown our sorrows and get sloshingly drunk.

But it can be different...I promise and as you know, Amanda Piper-Smith, never breaks a promise. All this week I will give tips on how to have a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving...okay maybe a Picassoish one.
xoxoAmandahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OExMdKFhDNs

Basic Manners

Basic Manners are just that....basic. There seems to be a wave in the U.S. about getting back to basics. Not spending a lot of money on foolish items we don't need. Manners are basic ways of interacting with people and they don't cost a thing! Besides being free, they actually make you feel good and others feel good about you too, so they are priceless.

Here are some basic manners: You know all of them, you've just forgotten to use them. Some of them are as simple as a word.

Smile...who can resist a sincere smile. Whomever you smile at will smile back and before you know it, everyone will be smiling.
Hello....remember this? Try greeting everyone you come incontact with by saying hello.
Excuse me...this is a great one. It comes in ever so handy in many ways.
Open the door for someone.
Hold the door open for someone.

Practice at least one of these everyday and before you know it...everyone around you, including yourself will feel happier. I guarentee it.
xoxoAmanda