Seder: Advance prep

By now we've confirmed who will be at our table for our Seder celebration and the menu is planned. There are a few things I can do in the next couple weeks that will make the actual day more peaceful.

1. Continue maintaining a clean house. I won't be pulling everything apart and giving it a full-blown spring cleaning, like I would if I were Jewish, but I do want it to be reasonably clean. If I were an annual spring-cleaner, this would be the week to do it.
2. Polish the silver. We have ordinary tableware (which I actually prefer), but not enough for everyone who will be sitting at our Seder table. For that we pull out my husband's great-(great?-great?)-grandmother's silver. This week or next would be my best time to clean it up, although sometimes it doesn't happen until Holy Week.
3. Buy the shelf-stable and freezer items. Lamb, horseradish, unleavened bread, seasonings, wine, juice, box of pudding mix, walnuts, honey, frozen broccoli.
4. Make a freeze-able mashed potatoes and freeze.
5. Make meringues (next week or early the following) and store in an air-tight container.
6. Mix the salt water several days before our Seder.
7. Make sure the tablecloth is clean, the candle and matches are purchased, we still have enough wine glasses for all the adults.
8. Make a shopping list of all the items that will need to be purchased fresh. Salad ingredients, apples, milk, parsley, garlic, eggs.

Looking ahead to plan and prepare makes it possible to have our yearly Seder, especially when time and energy will be tight leading up to the day itself. I could easily get away with almost no planning if we wanted to have a simple Seder with an ordinary meal. But since we've chosen a much more elaborate celebration, thinking ahead now will mean a LOT less stress later on.