Living-the-LifeStyle Season of Long Nights

podkey

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for December below:

Monday - Imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - 88olds (George)
Wednesday - minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday - savignr (Bob)
Friday - Podkey (Bob)
We meet here to explore, share, celebrate, and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

Topic: how do you celebrate the time of long nights in the Lifetstyle?

podkey

Turns out cultures in the northern half of the planet have had many different celebrtations this time of year since "time immemorial". Juletide comes from the ancient Norse Jule and its history a bit lost in time and legend. I find it quite wonderful how the Scandinavian folks have combined traditions from past and present. Two fairly common elements have been celebration with lights and celebration with food. I love the Scandinavian celebration with Sankta Lucia. a young girl dresses up all in white with candles blazing in a tiara atop her head.

We went to a Scandinavian holiday supper replete with such a young girl with wax dripping into her hair (as she told us) and heard yuletide songs in Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish. Even ate some lutefisk too.

How are you all doing so far? or do you just feel like that deflated hull of a Santa wannabe collapsed on your neighbor's lawn??

gadgetgirlIL

podkey wrote: »

How are you all doing so far? or do you just feel like that deflated hull of a Santa wannabe collapsed on your neighbor's lawn??

You got me pegged! This has been a grueling semester (year actually) and I am feeling very drained (collapsed).

I have a holiday party at a dear friend's house tonight. Part of me would rather just stay home and go to bed. The other part of me knows that I will enjoy seeing my friends again and sharing a home-cooked meal and laughter.

imastar2

A Family outing to a restaurant Saturday night which will be a eveing about an hour drive which will put DW and I getting back home rather late then on to Church the next morning not too early. No young kids at home so no long nights Christmas eve like so many years in the past.

SW 400.8
CW 337.8 🙂 -1.2 lbs
1st 335.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

63.0 lbs Total Loss

cakeman21k

Our niece & her fiance are taking us fora scotch tasting & dinner out tonight then daugter & boy friend arrive tomorrow which will mean more large meals with the culmination on Xmas day of about 10 or 12 firends & relatives coming here for dinner. I am only preparing part of the meal so its a bit of a challenge but its fun just the same.

88olds

I moved to Key West. Even the long nights are warm. We came here because it’s as far south as we could get in the car.

Celebrate? I guess KW has a reputation as a party town. Or so I’ve heard. But it’s a great place for a healthy and active lifestyle if you want to pursue that.

So I generally celebrate by catching some fish, taking them to one of the local restaurants to cook them, doing a bit of reading, and going to bed early.

podkey

Wow cakeman21k! Gosh no tasting scotch here but we do have a local holiday group doing a Scottish Celebration of this time of year.

Oooh love the idea of catching fish and having them cooked. We caught wonderful fish in Baja California and cooked them ourselves on an open fire. Purdy darn fresh that way.

minimyzeme

"how do you celebrate the time of long nights in the Lifetstyle?"

Hmmm, haven't really considered how to celebrate those long nights. Our days in Western NY seem to run into the nights. Sometimes the days really aren't a whole lot brighter. I've realized over the last few years that can throw me a bit into a low-grade depression.

At my "country house" I would sometimes go for an evening snowshoe or just go out for a while and appreciate the skies. The wonder of a starlit night was always something to behold there.

In the 'burban house I'm in now, I walked the neighborhood last night. It's an older neighborhood with now mostly-bare mature hardwoods. Several people had luminarios lit--apparently an old neighborhood tradition. It was a nice walk even though there weren't a whole lot of participants. I imagine back in the day, there were probably more.

I think the key to the long nights for me is to make sure I get out some during the day. I've upped my game a bit walking the dog and found she puts a smile on my face just doing her dog thing. Once we get home, she's out like a light, snoring lightly and obviously quite content. That does likewise for me.