Planning a holiday meal item #1) Decide what you want to serve

A good thing to start doing two to four weeks before the actual meal figure out what you might like to serve.  Once you have a target list of what you might like to serve find the right recipes for that meal.  It's important to find recipes you are comfortable making, taking into consideration working with different types of foods, seasonings or cookware than what you are used to working with. It's ok to experiment, but if you are using something new or trying something new you might want to give a test run before the actual holiday meal. This way you can readjust your schedule if that particular dish doesn't work out for you.