I agree with jennye, all very good advice... especially the *breathe* part

I've made a lot of dinners for big groups - it's actually something I love to do, I come by it honestly: my mom is the same way... I don't claim to be an expert or anything, but I have to admit this is the one thing I'm actually pretty good at

Here are my tricks:

Clean the kitchen before you start.

Clean out the fridge. be merciless - you need shelf space.

Throw everyone out of the kitchen (okay, so admittedly I'm a bit of a control freak. If someone really wants to help I ask them to wash dishes. Your results may vary.)

Make a list of everything you're going to make, ingredients and equipment for each, and how long it will take to prepare and cook (Excel is your friend!)

Find and wash all your equipment before you go shopping. nothing more annoying than getting derailed because your husband is using the muffin tin to organize the bits he took out of his amplifier... (okay, that's a bit personal, yeah)

From your list, organize a 'game plan' ... list when each dish should be started, what you can multitask, and what you can prep ahead of time.

Things that can be frozen or canned can start a week early... Cranberry sauce, for instance....

Things that can be cooked ahead of time and reheated would be started on wednesday - mashed potatos, yams, etc...

Things that you'll cook on thursday can be prepped on wednesday - chopping the onions/celery/etc for the stuffing, washing and prepping the vegis, etc... stick them in ziploc bags and label them with a sharpie. This is why you cleaned the fridge

Thursday morning, eat a good breakfast (otherwise you'll snack yourself sick) and make a big pot of tea. You've got all your prep work done, you've got a list so you don't forget anything, it's all simple from here out!

here are my two most important bits of advice:

* have on hand: a cd player and cds, a bottle of wine, and a phone (for inevitable calls to mom)

* every single time you finish a task: clean the kitchen, wash the equipment, and sit down for a few minutes and have a glass of wine.

As an advanced tactic, you could from time to time say loudly for everyone in the house to hear "my god, this is hard work! I hope I can get it all done in time!!!" This will ensure someone else will clean the rest of the house

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You step in the stream, but the water has moved on.