How do you keep calm and relaxed as you prep for Thanksgiving?

Getty ImagesFor those of us who have several lists going in our head this week as we prep for Thanksgiving, Mark Bittman, the food writer for The New York Times, has some wonderful, calming words for us. Now, this is the kind of guy who could send us into a tizzy with things like his 101 Head Starts on the Day, but instead he puts all of it--the menu planning, the prep, the hard day-of work--into perfect perspective when Bittman tells hosts to...just chill.

"When did performance anxiety and guilt become prerequisites for offering family and friends nourishment hospitality?" he writes. "At Thanksgiving, cooking should be one of the more relaxing things we do. Everyone is aware of the stresses of Thanksgiving, and nearly everyone - the in-laws' odd friends aside - is appreciative of your time and effort. They really don't care if your serving spoon is a spatula."

Even Bittman admits, there are good reasons we get a little tied in knots over this holiday. Do the math and you realize there is just plain more to do. Often, there are more people at your table than any other time of year, and there are far more dishes than even the fanciest dinner party calls for. Bittman's math comparison of the Thanksgiving feast to weekly family dinner prep says it all: "At Thanksgiving, however, you have a party of 12, and you're preparing 10 dishes: That's 120 portions. In one meal. And if you have 20 people, well, now you're running a restaurant."

What the day is truly about is bringing people we love together to share a meal and give thanks, to stop and just be together. I am trying to keep that in mind as I come to grips with the fact that I only got about half of my hopeful weekend to-do's done. It will all come together, I know, and my one oven will once again accommodate a seemingly impossible flow of food, which will feed a table of family and friends we are so grateful to share the day with in our home.

What do you do to keep calm and relaxed while getting the house and kitchen ready for this meal on steroids?