Christmas 2020

4 weeks until Christmas!..

Do you celebrate the Holidays?....what are your plans?...how are you coping with the 2020 holidays?...are you traveling?...This is the place for strategies, game plans, inspiration and motivation to help each other not gain a ton of weight while celebrating!

I love this caring and sharing group of “ Losers”!!!
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Replies

  • alisampm
    alisampm Posts: 182 Member
    We'll be celebrating small for sure - not sure how it will look yet. With Covid, it's so hard to plan ahead these days. I have Christmas shopping done for my daughter and my bonus daughter, we have a family photo session planned, and a virtual visit with Santa happening on Sunday as well as - beyond that everything is "gravy".

    Expectations low. Rewards high. <3

    As far as diet plans, I plan to keep on keeping on tracking daily, sticking to my daily goals. If we end up doing a larger food meal with family I will plan for an awesome meal - track in and keep trucking. It's one meal. My body and weight loss goals can take a back seat (but still be in the car) for one meal.

    My downfall is I am already craving those popcorn tins with the three types of popcorn.... and marshmallow goo. I know those are strange Christmas cravings, but that's what gets me beyond the actual DAY of Christmas...
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
    The advantage of being an immigrant is that there is not that much family close-by, so we will have our "normal" Christmas and still be below the max person limit! That being said, we like to put "our" carols on, and buy/make some food "like home". So, we will overindulge and it will be impossible to track. My plan is to only indulge 2 days, keep active during those days, and eat just one meal a day. Also, my mother will be visiting us, so that will be nice!

    Other than that, we put the Christmas tree up today! It's the first time we do one in years, but this year was extra-hard on our family, and I felt we needed a nice, tall, beautiful tree.
  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    I always make the same thing on Christmas Eve. Lasagna, sausages, meatballs, salad, garlic bread. Desserts vary. Not sure what everyone wants yet.

    My plan is to have some of everything except the garlic bread and not make enough for leftovers.

    I’ve got a few holiday low cal desserts I’m planning to try this year.

    I’m not making fudge or any cookie unless it’s low cal. I give myself room for a 200 calorie dessert everyday. If it fits I’ll make it. If not I’m not making it.

    On Christmas I make cinnamon rolls. Not sue if I’ll have one or not this year.
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
    That's such a lovely photo of you and the dogs!

    And cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning sound reaaallllyy nice! I might give it a try this year, we are all cinnamon fans.
  • gewel321
    gewel321 Posts: 718 Member
    The week before we booked an impromptu trip to Orlando to do Harry Potter at Universal. We will be back on the 20th. Going to work for 4 days and then Christmas will be the same as it always is. We go to my parents house and do Christmas Day with them. My mom always makes spaghetti and meatballs so that’s what we will be having. The day after Christmas we always travel to Wisconsin for our annual hell vacation (I call it that because it is snow skiing and I hate the cold!). That lasts until after the New Years. So that’s the whole holiday season. I usually try to eat at or a little below. I don’t overly track my calories during this time and I won’t this year either. I will however continue to do my exercise class as often as I am here for it.
  • Ccricfo
    Ccricfo Posts: 156 Member
    We are going to treat Christmas in the same way we did Thanksgiving - no company and no traveling. Thank god the vaccine will be arriving soon for high risk folks such as my wife and me.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    unfortunately, my mom is in charge of Christmas dinner. So there will be stuffing, cranberry salad, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole. She says she's cutting down on desserts - making a smaller fruit salad so there won't be a large bowl of left overs, and she is making an angel food cake but I've talked her into using swerve to cut the calories and sugar down and unsweetened coconut. I make cookies but give them all away.

    The only thing that I can't do much with is the plum steamed pudding cake which is like a fruit cake but I use regular dried fruit and not the icky candied stuff. but it gets cut into teeny pieces because it is very rich.

    Otherwise, I'm not going to worry about it at all. Just enjoy the meal and then work on getting back on track in January.
  • I celebrate both the Winter Solstice and the American secular Christmas. Pagans like parties, and this way I can have a relatively solemn ceremony to honor the longest night and the sun's rise without having to try to combine it with seeing my family of origin and his family of origin and having a nice dinner and opening presents. It works well to space all of it over a week. Plus my birthday is the 17th.
  • cremorna1
    cremorna1 Posts: 133 Member
    Agh!!! MIL sent delicious cookies by post!! Luckily, DH is also trying to manage eating and so we froze a significant amount, but some have already been eaten! I was NOT counting on this distraction.
  • eliezalot
    eliezalot Posts: 620 Member
    I celebrate both the Winter Solstice and the American secular Christmas. Pagans like parties, and this way I can have a relatively solemn ceremony to honor the longest night and the sun's rise without having to try to combine it with seeing my family of origin and his family of origin and having a nice dinner and opening presents. It works well to space all of it over a week. Plus my birthday is the 17th.

    Sounds like a great week! I've just recently been learning more about Pagan holidays (particularly how my ancestors would have celebrated them), and am looking forward to doing something to observe the Solstice this year. I'll be home in MN, so hopefully will be able to be up north in the woods for it.

    cremorna1 wrote: »
    Agh!!! MIL sent delicious cookies by post!! Luckily, DH is also trying to manage eating and so we froze a significant amount, but some have already been eaten! I was NOT counting on this distraction.

    I'm baking (and immediately sending!) cookies this weekend I think. I'll have to get them out of the house ASAP lol.
  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    I’m working on a list of non- food Christmas events. So far we will be going to/doing:

    Walk thru live nativity
    Drive thru Christmas light displays
    Golf cart Christmas parade


  • _inHisGrace
    _inHisGrace Posts: 183 Member
    Oh and we usually go see the nutcracker ballet but no live performances this year. We will watch on tv but not the same
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,982 Member
    Merry Christmas to you all! Hope you have a wonderful day!
  • lauriekallis
    lauriekallis Posts: 4,546 Member
    Today is my last "Christmas Gathering" day. Our city is in lockdown with too many new daily cases to ignore - so we have been doing small gatherings in the backyard, with a fire and soup plus other "one hand" edibles and treats.

    I'm looking forward to a stable schedule and my normal food routine. It feels so comfortable now! This chaotic eating was fun in its own way and didn't go too badly - but I'm done. I hope I can find my way back into the deficit groove okay. I know the sugar addiction is alive and well...but I hope it can go back to sleep without too much of a struggle.

    2021 - here we come!
  • Bella_Figura
    Bella_Figura Posts: 3,583 Member
    Resurrecting this thread given that it's now only 4 weeks until Christmas 2021, and I need all the help I can get!

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    Interested to hear from peeps in the US, Canada etc....is this level of gluttony unique to the UK, or is breakfast-to-bedime scoffing and quaffing a feature of your Christmas too?
  • Bella_Figura
    Bella_Figura Posts: 3,583 Member
    edited November 2021
    If too long, please don't read.

    We are hosting Christmas for my MIL, MIL's 'gentleman friend', BIL&SIL. They arrive Christmas Eve and leave on NYE. So I have to brace myself for a whole week of festive food and drink.

    Gulp.

    I've tried suggesting that we cut back this year, but I was shot down in flames by my husband and MIL, who insist that tradition must be upheld. Which means the first champagne cork is popped before breakfast on Christmas Day, and the last brandy swirled and sipped by the fire just before bed. And all manner of food and drink consumed between those two markers.

    If it was just one day I think I wouldn't be so worried, but there is the expectation that the feast will continue unabated until the moment our guests depart.

    This is the rough itinerary/menu:

    Christmas Eve
    • Family arrive late morning. Light healthy lunch of homemade soup and bread (yay!)
    • Mid-afternoon - I'll walk the dog for an hour....
    • Pre-dinner: Aperitifs and nibbles (e.g. booze accompanied by nuts, crisps, taralli etc.)
    • Dinner: 3 courses and wine.
    • After dinner: Liquers/Wine/Spirits etc..
    • Supper: Mincepie and glass of mulled wine; crackers and cheese if anyone's peckish (!)
    • Bedtime: Proper hot chocolate made with whole milk, cream and Belgian chocolate shavings (with a slug of brandy or rum for those that want it)

    Christmas Day
    • I'll walk the dog for an hour before breakfast
    • Pre-breakfast: Champagne toast to absent loved ones....
    • Breakfast - Croissants with butter and preserves; granola & greek yoghurt; selection of fruit juices
    • Post-breakfast present opening: Champagne and nibbles
    • Lunch: 3 courses and wine. Choice of at least 4 desserts (one will be fresh fruit salad - yay!)
    • Mid-afternoon - I'll walk the dog for an hour....
    • Lunch onwards: Constant grazing.....chocolates/nibbles/cake etc. all washed down with copious amounts of booze....
    • Dinner: A cold buffet
    • After dinner: Liquers/Wine/Spirits and more grazing....
    • Supper: Crackers and cheese/Christmas Cake/Mincepie....
    • Bedtime: Proper hot chocolate (with a slug of brandy or rum for those that want it)

    Boxing Day
    • I'll walk the dog for an hour before breakfast
    • Breakfast - Same as Christmas Day
    • Lunch: 2 courses and wine. Courses will be cold cuts/bubble & squeak/cheeses/pickles etc.; choice of at least 3 desserts (of which some will be leftovers from Christmas Day)
    • Mid-afternoon - I'll walk the dog for an hour....
    • Lunch onwards: Constant grazing.....chocolates/nibbles/cake all washed down with copious amounts of booze....(i.e. repeat of Christmas Day)
    • Dinner: Sandwiches or crackers with cheese and cold meats; panettone, stollen, christmas cake and mince pies.
    • After dinner: Liquers/Wine/Spirits and more grazing....
    • Supper: Crackers and cheese/Christmas Cake/Mincepie....
    • Bedtime: Proper hot chocolate (with a slug of brandy or rum for those that want it)

    And, basically, this pattern will repeat itself for the next 4 days. The meals will become less lavish, but will always include dessert. The grazing and boozing will continue unabated every day from lunch until bedtime.

    My only exercise will be the twice-daily dog walks (which will be at snail's pace if MIL and her two ancient dogs come with me).

    Our guests all like different drinks, so we have enough champagne, red & white wine, whisky, bourbon, gin, campari, vodka, rum, Baileys, brandy, cider and lager to refloat the titanic...

    Similarly they all have different taste in snacks, nibbles and baked goods (and some have dietary restrictions) so in trying to cater for everyone's tastes and needs we've had to buy tons more than we'd need if everyone liked the same thing....

    I plan to send most of the leftovers home with the guests, but I'm apprehensive about staying even remotely on plan when everyone around me will be throwing caution to the wind...

    I'm being serious when I say I need all the help I can get - do any of you have any suggestions? I plan to limit my drinking to a glass of wine with lunch and dinner and maybe one aperitif...and I PLAN to choose the healthiest dessert (or try to decline completely!) and to stay away from all the grazing - but will I have the willpower, when (inevitably) everyone's nagging me not to be a party-pooper?

    Should I just stop fretting (for a whole month in advance) and just eat and drink whatever the hell I like and deal with the consequences in the new year?

    I was brought up in a much less lavish tradition, so I find all this weight of family expectation for a groaning week-long smorgasbord hard to handle....

    Help!!!!