HOLIDAY RECAP

Buffalo chicken dip, garlic-Parmesan dip, potato chips, baked ham, fried ham sandwiches, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni salad, potato salad, ham and bean soup, beef barbecue, spinach dip, cashew patties, peanut-butter rice krispie squares, chocolate-coated pretzels, Glogg, nogg, deviled eggs, cheese, crab dip, giant Reese's peanut butter cups, bagels with cream cheese, panettone French toast, spam, chili, cheddar-oregano bread, Christmas cookies, whoopie pies, Mike's Hard Lemonade, ring bologna, Christmas ale, apple dumplings, pasta salad, croissants, Brandy Swizzle's, truffles, chocolate mints, chocolate cherries, toffee, Poppycock popcorn, expensive Cognac...  This is everything, well almost everything (there is a space limit on this server) that I've been exposed to in the last 72 hours.  Talk about dodging bullets!  It is amazing that I am still intact!

I have eaten some things on the list, but I have also chosen to skip some stuff too.  It has been a non-stop food buffet since December 23rd.  Between the food I myself have prepared, the food that has been delivered by friends and neighbors, and the food shoved in my face at various holiday parties and family get-togethers, it is amazing that everything I've achieved in the last eight weeks hasn't been flushed down the commode.  For the most part, I have handled it well.  I have not gone "mad" with my eating and have continued with my workouts.  There has been a definite increase in calorie consumption this week, but I am worlds ahead of what took place last Christmas.  I suspect that I will have an extra pound or two to work off between now and New Year's Day, but nothing that I foresee as any kind of major setback.  I have out-of-town guests staying with me so the pressure to cook and keep a well-stocked fridge has definitely added to the burden.  Luckily my house guests are fitness gurus and pretty self-sufficient in the eating department.  If anything, I'm sure Santa's bakeshop has been more a hindrance to them, then their eating has been to me.  Nonetheless, I'm sure you can agree that the more people you have cooking and eating in your house, the higher the chances that you will overeat.

I realize I have been lax on the entries lately.  Please forgive me.  I'm sure once the holidays pass and my home is mine again to do with what I want, I will be back on schedule with my daily entries.  Until then, I wish all of you the Merriest Christmas and hope that you too can successfully navigate the onslaught of holiday calories headed your way!

"I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food" -Erma Bombeck