Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. We all much enjoy Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year here. It’s hard not too with a houseful of little children, decorations, and good food. Though, I must confess to you all, this year, I went overboard on the food – majorly.
For those of you who don’t know, our second born son, Zachary, is serving in the Army. We traveled over Thanksgiving to watch him graduate from basic. Thus, we wound up having two Thanksgiving dinners – one with Zach in South Carolina and another with family here the following Saturday in Florida.
Not to toot my own horn but, this past Thanksgiving’s turkey was the best big bird I ever made. Oh my stars it was good and gone in 3 days picked to the bone (typically we have left overs in the fridge past date).
Honestly, I know it’s bad to “stuff” my family, but my it felt good to do so. Just watching everybody walk with plump bellies and hearing the now and again relieving deep chest exhale is like music to my ears, lol. I do have a problem when it comes to food and emotions…
Well to make matters worse, I took it upon myself to indulge Zachary while on his two week leave over Christmas, so I began baking the week before he arrived home. I waited as long as I could before baking any Christmas cookies. Randy and the little kids do love my holiday treats, so I tried to wait until the last minute to bake them in an attempt to save them an additional week of butter, sugar and sprinkles…
I think the waiting encouraged the “need to feed” my family to go into hyper drive, seriously! Needless to say by the time Zach arrived home on the 21st, I had dozens of cookies made plus all the fixings needed to make 2 prime rib roasts for Christmas, homemade perogi, Busha’s apple pie (made with lard I must confess), pecan pie, candied carrots, fresh rolls, a turkey for in-between the holiday events, our greasy bar food tradition for New year’s Eve, and a ham for New Year’s day with all the sides imaginable to complement each main coarse… My kitchen was like a dreamland of treats and comfort foods created from the likes of Willy Wonka and Paula Dean combined! Truly, I was in kitchen cooking heaven and need to ask for forgiveness…
I stuffed everyone, thoroughly, and Zachary got exactly what he asked for – good, home cooked comfort food. I dropped him off at the airport this morning, and he was still thanking me for all the cooking, grilling, and baking… That made driving away a little easier.
I feel like I did my job as a mom, and then, I don’t… I mean come on, if I really cared about my family’s better health, I should have stuffed their bellies with a bunch of nutritious, fresh, raw organic vegetables and lean meats, maybe a few whole grain carbs here and there… Right? Of course right. Right? But…
There’s always a but, isn’t there? I think I may have been the butt, Lol… I guess I’m not too worried about feeding the fam fatty treats over the holidays. We eat pretty well the rest of the year consistently. We exercise as well, so any holiday weight gained will melt away again. Zachary will certainly burn off what tiny trace of fat I put on him before the week is over I’m sure… still, I’m bothered.
Is it bad what I did? Did I encourage poor food choices for the little kids by reinforcing that good food is the fatty holiday food that every one ooo’s and ahhh’s over? Would it be better to just make less fatty, healthier dishes every day including the holidays? Maybe, I am over thinking this whole thing and just messed up from a lack of sleep last night and then leaving our son at the airport this morning…
You know, it doesn’t matter how old our kids get, we still worry about them don’t we. I know Zach is grown now, he’s strong, he’s a finely tuned combat machine, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling like I abandoned my little boy at the airport stuffed with beef, poultry, and a side of pork, lol… Still, I do hate leaving him to the Army. 
It’s kind of a bitter sweet thing you know?
Anyway, I’m sorry if this post is kind of all over the place. I was going to tune in focused on a post about setting some of our weight loss goals today. But…our house is empty with the exception of the baby and I and well, I guess it’s just pouring out onto the screen this messy way. After two weeks of our home splitting at the seams with big kids and little kids, it feels lonely here, especially in the kitchen…
OH WELL……time to suck it all up and get back on track. It’s time…
Tomorrow or maybe the next day, I’ll fill you all in on what’s in store for our New Year, goals, and better healthier eats. Today, I’m going to clean up the holiday mess, now that I’ve confessed, and pout for just a little bit longer, hopefully not too much longer…
Here’s to family and food,
and many heartfelt thanks to all of those serving in our military along with our son,
Mom
