This time of year can be stressful for many people. In the last month you’ve probably spent hours and hours in the kitchen cooking, baking and filling the house with festive flavours, you’ve wrapped dozens of presents after scouring hundreds of stores for just the right gift and then you’ve rushed around town to see all of your family and friends, and you’ve prepared your house for the stream of guests by decorating in your favourite festive colours, pulling out spare tables and chairs, and coordinating cutlery and crockery.

Food. Family. Matching decorations. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Yes, preparing for Christmas is a lot like planning a wedding. Both are a huge celebration of love and family, steeped in tradition where every family has their own unique traditions and preferred way to celebrate. Christmas is a time to be inclusive of others and whether there are disagreements, distance or a lack of time keeping you from seeing your friends and family as much as you’d like, everyone makes the effort to come together, and a wedding celebration has that same inclusive power.

However, unlike your wedding, you get to plan and celebrate Christmas every year, and as the years go by you get better and better at it – you know just how long to cook the turkey, exactly how many can fit comfortably at your dining table and the best places to buy table trimmings and wrapping paper. Luckily for me though, I do get to plan a wedding year after year, week after week in fact! At Cindy’s Classic Gourmet we plan, prepare, cook for, design and execute dozens of weddings each year and in

almost 30 years we’ve gotten better and better at it.

No matter how much work and thought is required in the lead up to a wedding, I always enjoy the opportunity to use my skills, knowledge and connections to execute the perfect wedding. And I’m sure it’s the same for you – just as the kids are loud, your brother drinks a little too much and you’re sick of the sight of your kitchen, you can’t wait to do it all again next Christmas.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas, see you in the New Year,

Love,
Cindy

Cindy Westphalen owns and operates award winning South Australian business Cindy’s Classic Gourmet.