Most professionals get to enjoy a day or two extra off from work when Thanksgiving rolls around—often with pay. Some professions have to work, such as medical personnel, police, and many retail outlets, but they often receive extra pay because of it.

What about home-based business owners? How do they manage around the holidays? Simply put—they either work or they don’t make as much money as usual. This is one of the draw-backs of being your own boss. It’s right up there with working when you are sick and working at night so you can go on your child’s field trip.

So how can you cook a Thanksgiving meal yet still make your minimum work quota for the week? Multi-tasking! If you have a laptop that you work from, try setting it up in the kitchen and work for a few minutes here and there in between basting the turkey and mashing the potatoes.

If this won’t work for you, consider a different approach to your feast. Pre-make as much as possible, order ready-made items, or invite the family to bring potluck dishes. Enlist your children or spouse to handle the simpler parts of the meal preparations, and explain to them how the income you are making now is helping Santa fill his pack next month!

If you are traveling this Thanksgiving, then you may have no other option than to simply put in extra time in the days leading up to your trip. But this too will require coordination with your other activities.

With a little creativity and some cooperation from your loved ones, you can prepare and enjoy a Thanksgiving feast and still break even or above for the week.