This last week I was the hostess for the first of my new Mother's Group morning teas. Man was I stressed. I mean, only my sort of idiot gets stressed about these things. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't go all out, it wasn't appropriate. But, I was panicked about whether the house was clean, whether the toilet was scrubbed, was the front drive swept, would the boy behave?
Not only that, but as much of an extrovert as I am, I am not good in 'social situations'. I get stressed about whether people would like me, what will I say and so on. So the very idea of hosting something like this with pretty much perfect strangers was always going to be fraught with danger.
So, how to deal with the stress? Focus on cooking beautiful treats of course! Guests can ooh and ahh over the baked goodness and pay no attention to me and my lack of conversation. So what was on the menu today? Jam cupcakes with chocolate frosting (from Martha of course) and coconut cookie sandwiches with strawberry lemonade frosting. Delish!
The result was as expected, praise for the baking and the ability to sit back and let the coffee and conversation flow. Now, if only I could relax before these things and not stress so much!
