I have a confession to make. I was going into this weekend feeling Blah and Blech and Mad at the world.

You see, I had a perfect plan. I was going to end homeschooling last Friday, assign my kids work they could do on their own, and then spend a week working 10-hour days. I do that; I homeschool for a few weeks and then come back to my writing. I have a book proposal that I want to have finished in a few weeks, and I'm editing all my audio for all the talks I've ever done. I'm about half way through, but the talks are much better now with all the extra stuff that was only relevant for that day taken out.

Anyway, then I found out that family was visiting this week and wrecking my plans. I was mad. I was grumpy.

And then I got a grip. This is Christmas! It's about family! And they're only here until Friday. So what I've decided is that over the next four days I am going to go for hikes with my kids and my family, Christmas shop, finish all my presents, play a ton of games, and maybe knit a lot. All the stuff I was planning to do next week when my work is done. And then I'll just do my work on the 22nd and 23rd.

It's pretty stupid to feel resentful about family when family is what Christmas is about, isn't it?

So I'm also going to make some nice meals this week that my visitors will enjoy, and that my kids will.

Here we go:

Monday: Spaghetti. It's an oldie but a goodie, and the kids can make it themselves. That's a bonus!

Tuesday: Chicken in Honey Mustard Sauce. I made this last week and it was awesome.

Chicken thighs, skin & bone removed

3/4 cup honey mustard (I just mixed dijon & honey together)

1/2 cup orange juice

1 TBSP cider vinegar

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic

1/2 can green chilies (the small little cans you buy beside the salsa aisle. Or you can use a jalapeno instead. It really isn't that spicy in the end.)

Cook in slow cooker on low for 5-6 hours. It was so good!

Wednesday: Stew in the Crockpot. I'm big on crockpots. That way we can shop and hike in the afternoon and I don't have to worry about getting dinner ready.

Thursday: Grilled Salmon. The best thing about family visiting is that my family likes fish. My own kids and husband do not. But I can force feed it to them when visitors are here, so there! Ha!

I'm going to marinate it in a soy sauce-honey mixture and top with green onions. I like it better slightly sweet.

Friday: Baked Potatoes with toppings. My kids' favourite meal, and they can make this one, too! Just bake enough for two potatoes each, and serve with crumbled bacon, salsa, cheese, sour cream, green onions, butter, and whatever else you can think of. I choose the lower fat version and do mostly salsa and green onions, and they're really good!

This weekend is our anniversary, so I'm assuming I'm being taken out. The kids can have pasta.

And we will do some baking this week, too, if only because I think my family is visiting because they don't get real "family" experiences very often, and they like being with my kids. So we're going to do lots of family type things to get in the mood for Christmas. Plus I like chocolate!