x post - christmas eve with the sleeve

So last night we were invited to my husband's sister's home for Christmas eve dinner. I was sleeved a little over two years ago and DH was sleeved 6 weeks ago.  The guest list included another lady (no wls) and her three grand daughters. Another neighbor was a possible guest. So my sister in law cooked a good sized turkey, stuffing, gravey , cranberry stuff,  green beans, white and sweet potatoes, berries, an elaborate tossed salad, olives, and several desserts.

At the last minute the children all were sick so the lady and the 3 grandkids stayed home. The neighbor did show up. She was sleeved three years ago. So at the dinner table with all of the above food there were five people and three of the five were sleevers!  Needless to say we did not put much of a dent in the food!!! 

As a two year sleever I was able to stick with the turkey and a couple of green beans plus a splurge of a blob of stuffing a gravy and about a table spoon of pumpkin pie. My DH the new sleever had just a little turkey and blueberries.

I feel bad for sister in law who made all that food and so little was eaten but I know others will be by to eat and some will be frozen. It reminded me of how much excess there is in holiday food preparation and how its really not necessary to wear yourself out with cooking all day. Holidays should be about company, family and relaxation; not about food.

Hope everyone has peaceful relaxing holidays.

Diane

Interesting you should mention this as I was complaining to Mini-Mac that dh both cooks and food shops with what I call "fat people eyes".

As an example, for Thanksgiving, we already had two boxes of bread crumbs leftover from last Christmas when he bought two sets of stuffing fixings because somehow he forgot he had bought the first set. But he buys another small batch "just in case". Of course, it didn't get used.

So he decided rather than keeping it for another year or making it for Christmas dinner to make it last night. But he knows that the rest of us don't really like stuffing. So he also made an entire bag of egg noodles!

So we had enough stuffing to feed 4-6 normal people and enough noodles to do the same.

But for veggies, there was 1 cup to share among 4 people. And we all eat veggies.

The thing is, his rational mind must know that myself and the 2 kids are going to take no stuffing or maybe a tablespoon. And he's going to eat .5-1 cup. So why is he making 4 cups of stuffing? And worrying that it might not be enough?? At the same time, his rational mind knows that a serving of veggies is 1/2 cup cooked. So for 4 people shouldn't he be making at least two cups?

It shows how warped his perception of food is and it reminds me of how warped mine used to be. (Well, not the veggie thing. I always complained he didn't make enough of those. But the enormous quantities of most food didn't phase me most of the time like it does now.)

Yep, my s-i-l definitely has a distorted perception of appropriate amounts  of food. But to be fair, four people didn't show up and while she knew ahead the three of us were sleevers, I don't think she really realized that all three of us would eat less than one unsleeved adult might at a holiday meal.

Its funny how people who have known about your wls from the beginning and have heard all about it still think that the thing to offer you is salad laden with high calorie ingredients and dressing.

Tonight was christmas with a group of adult friends which was pot luck.  I brought spinach with fat free sour cream and feta cheese - good if I say so myself. There was plently of good food and some ok choices for dh and me. felt kind of bad for dh as he is about 6 weeks out and still super limited in choices. But it all worked out. I ate a little bit of some high calorie things but managed to avoid any major errors. So thankful for good friends who are understanding, don't push food on me, and don't give me chocolates or cookies and such.

Still thankful for the vsg.    Diane

Well, to be clear, I wasn't really commenting on your SIL's food proportions. It's just the fact that she ended up with too much (however that happened) that reminded me of some complaints I have when it comes to Mr. Mac.

Though for Christmas dinner he makes a nice roast and he did make two cups of veggies. And some nice red potatoes (my favorite) and the rest of the Grand biscuits that were leftover from Christmas. So it was a reasonable amount of food in reasonable proportions.

And this time, both our kids turned up their noses at the roast beef and my son doesn't eat potatos for some reason (he's a very picky eater) and they both *refused* to eat any veggies even though I pushed pretty hard on that point.

So Mini-Mac eats a roll and a potato for dinner and MacBoy eats a roll.

Sometimes I dispair of my family. I know my kids are heading towards obesity even though my son's BMI is something like 17 now. (Mr. Mac was underweight when I met him too.) And I feel completely helpless to stop it. We can serve good food, model healthy eating, and talk to them about what balanced eating is but we can't force the food down their throats.

yeah it sure is easy to say feed your family healthy stuff but another thing to get them to eat it. I grew up in a family ahead of its time with two professionals as parents and we always demanded convenience and fast foods and often got them. three fat kids in  the 60's. two of us sleevers now. the other one somehow grew up to be un-fat.     Diane

Amen.

 
Here is my take on the "Holiday Overabundance"

Although Mr. Mac may have been off on ratios.....

I love it.... I think you gotta just go with it.....It's very American in a lot of ways. Many cultures over do it as a sign of celebration. Under doing  "as per celebration" is a bad thing....like Mac's family being a bit short on veggies.

Make to much and have left overs !!! I think Holidays are about leftovers.....

Thanksgiving I walked away with some Turkey and a couple of braised short ribs..... Tonight my brother did a big rib roast and I took home about a 16oz. slab. Both of those meats I can't do the same in small portions. Something about those big meats, long cook times and flavor.

Others can take the bread, rice, pasta and desserts...... I got me some succulent proteins and I'm pretty happy about it !!!

Happy Holidays !

frisco