Bikini Ready By January

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I know I did.  I spent the day with my family.  We ate, joked, cooked, and ate some more.  Mick decided to take a leap into the pond.  By the end of the day he was a muddy mess.  He was pretty proud of himself though.

I had awoken from my food induced coma on Friday to get a start on this post.  I had been mulling over topics in my head.  I didn't want to do an "I'm Thankful" post.  Not because I have nothing to be thankful for (I have tons of reasons to be thankful), but because I just wanted to write something different (yes, I have a rebellious side).  I did have this post all planned out and written, but the internet gods would not allow me access till today.

I look forward to the holiday season.  All the lights, decorations, events, and food.  I get pretty excited.  For me, the holidays start with Halloween.  No, I do not go and get all my Christmas shopping done in October (though the day after Halloween is the best time to find a gift for my sister).  I mean that Halloween marks the beginning of my holiday season. 

I spend my time planning and making my costume.  I put a lot of work and detail into this.  On Halloween, I don on my new costume, put on make-up (one of the rare times I wear the stuff) and head out to celebrate.  Once the night is over, I get excited thinking about Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving marks the official start of the holiday season.  My main reason for getting excited probably makes most people (especially females) cringe.  I'm not talking about the gifts, shopping, or dressing up, or even the events.  I am talking about the food.

The time from Thanksgiving till New Year's is an endless buffet of food.  During this time period there is food everywhere.  Visiting a friend's house results in munching on cookies, drinking hot cocoa, sharing a meat tray, or enjoying homemade fudge.  It's great.  It's also the only time period where I don't have some random lady telling me the honey roasted cashew I'm eating will go straight to my hips (my response to that is generally a wide eyed, "You promise?").

To some, my love affair with food would seem like an unhealthy obsession.  In reality, it's vital to my well being.  For me, maintaining a healthy weight is a full time job.  My body burns calories almost faster than I can consume them.  It's pretty hard work.  So someone like me looks forward to all that holiday food.  It helps me get my weight back to my healthy range.

I don't really have much of a sweet tooth (something I did not inherit from my dad).  I'm more of a protein junkie, so meat and cheese platters are my friends.  I do have a weakness for chocolate, so chocolate cake, cookies, brownies and hot cocoa rarely get a refusal from me.  And I love veggies with dip.  Everything just tastes better smothered in cheese.  To top things off, the holiday season means eggnog.  That wonderful drink contains more calories and tastes better than any of those high calorie shakes sold in stores.

I plan on enjoying this holiday buffet.  Maybe it'll help me regain all that weight I had lost during my hospitalization.  Hopefully by New Year's I'll have that bikini ready body.  Anyone care to join me on the beach?  In January?