Food and I go way back. It's been a love/hate relationship on and off for the past 30 years. But, as Thanksgiving approaches, we've called a truce of sorts, at least for a few days.
As usual, I've gained a few pounds thanks to all the leftover Halloween candy and my weight is "up" (putting it politely) which means I'll be pulling out my Eileen Fisher pants (translation: elastic waist) for the holidays so I can enjoy two days of turkey feasting before the hate part of our relationship starts up again.
Actually, it's more of a carb feast than a turkey feast in my book. The only reason I even make turkey is for the gravy to load onto the bread stuffing and mashed potatoes I'll consume-- Thus the carb coma I'm usually in by the end of the weekend. Did I mention we have a "feast" two days in a row? Yes, twice! And that doesn't include leftovers.
Our Thanksgiving day will actually be spent with a wonderful group of friends who are seriously good cooks. The food is to die for! Then on Friday, I cook and we do it all again with Beloved's family. (My family are all in Ohio. We go back every other year.)
The Friday tradition started years ago so Beloved's kids didn't have to "pick" between parents and in-laws for the holiday. We simply removed ourselves and designated Friday as "our day" to kick back and celebrate Thanksgiving dinner in any form we wanted-- Some have sandwiches, some the traditional meal, but it's loaded with all the trimmings and well, now you understand the need for the elastic waisted pants.
So here we go again. I call Thanksgiving my real, or at least my first, New Year's Resolution with the annual "I'll start the diet on Monday" ritual. I've been doing this for years. We'll see how it goes this time. Since Thanksgiving is a little earlier than usual, I have a few extra days to work on taking off those *ahem*several*cough*pounds before I start obsessing about what to wear on New Years Eve.
This is my first Thanksgiving in Blogland and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you ALL for a great nine months. I feel really blessed and thankful to have met you and to have shared in your lives. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, I wish you all a wonderful start to the holiday season and thank you for your kindness, readership and support. It means the world to me.
I'll be cooking this week and will catch up again with you all in a few days.
And.... I'm a huge fan of Beth's at Be Yourself Everyone Else Is Taken. She's doing an amazing GIVEAWAY to win a gorgeous new blog header. You have until Thanksgiving night to enter. Click HERE!
What's your favorite food-- Thanksgiving or otherwise?
Welcome to The Fifty Factor - Joanna
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67 COMMENTS:
I think it's appropriate that I should be first to comment, what with my remarkably similar love/hate relationship with food! Lol. Actually, I love it. I hate that it doesn't make me lovely and slim! We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in New Zealand of course, so I don't have that to contend with, food-wise. But Christmas will be an elastci waist time I guess. And my favourite food - it would have to be chocolate. :-)
Hmmm... try spelling elastic correctly please Alison!
It's not really a holiday if there isn't lots of yummy food to consume. I'm sure you are saying a big Thanksgiving thank you with every bite. Enjoy!
Don't worry about the waistline - all the worry and running around trying get your pool and garden fixed will no doubt do much counteract the odd excess of the season! :)
I´m glad I found you too Joanna! Your post are always so meaningful and well written. I hope you enjoy your holidays and ENJOY the food! Like you said, you can start to diet Monday.... :)
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm with you here! I have to work on Thanksgiving this year, but it won't hurt me to miss that stuffing and mashed potatoes.
I'm thankful for your blog. I enjoy every post you do!
No truer words were ever written. You got me smiling this morning.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it's the one time each year my entire family comes from out-of-state (all at the same time) to make me laugh until my face hurts.
I completely relate to what I call the 'human accordian effect' from Oct 31- Jan 1....In fact, I am the Queen of human accordiana.... ;)
Love the scale. I think it should say "You're going to be OK."
I can totally relate! I have the same love/hate relationship with food. I tried to plan ahead a little this year and start a new workout, but the day after I started it I broke my toe!
Have two very wonderful Thanksgivings!
Ah yes!! The Thanksgiving Feast!!! You are right about the carb fest. For sure mashed potatoes and stuffing and of course the all time favorite gravy. Oh and don't forget the homemade biscuits! I can feel the waist extending as I type this. LOL! Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Hugs
SueAnn
And a very Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Joanna. You are such an important part of my life too - it's almost ludicrous that we live on opposite coasts, have never heard each other's voices, never met in person - yet have a sisterhood bond that is precious. I just love what the Blogosphere can do to bring people together, and you have just become so very necessary to me. The things you say in your posts are thought provoking and fun and witty and smart, and it just feels like you have your arm around me all the time. I honestly don't know how I got so lucky, but it means the world to me that we're friends. I am very THANKFUL for you, my sweet friend.
Have a wonderful holiday, and screw the scale. Some times celebrating is more important than zipping all the way up.
Love you! XO
The man who invented elastic for use in waistbands? Give him a prize. I am this product's arch proponent. :)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinners. I'll be wearing my elastic pants too.
I love the way you said your weight has gone 'up' lol. It's Thanksgiving; it's a tradition in itself surely?
My favourite food? Milano selami - gets me every time :)
The weight yo-yo is the pits isn't it? I visited a new clinic a couple weeks ago to get established there and the usual weight check upon entering the back area was a surprise, I had gained a few pounds over three months. So I started that day watching quantity and I can already feel some weight loss thank goodness. We are keeping our Thanksgiving simple this year with an easy menu. I hope you and your Beloved enjoy both Thanksgiving dinners.
I just love Thanksgiving and this time of year! I love all Thanksgiving food and would eat it every day if I could. lol Not sure what my favorite food would be but I try a new sweet potato recipe every year, this year I'm trying out Honey Pineapple Sweet Potatoes. Wish me luck! lol
Hi Joanna, forget the scale for the next few days, you will be back on track after. Heres to the inventor of elastic pants! All the advise you have given me over the last year and all I can say is forget about it. The holidays are just a few days out of the year. If you do your best on the rest, it will all workout. I am so very grateful that I have met you, and that there is blogland where I can meet beautiful caring wonderful souls like yourself. Happy Holidays to you.
OMG, two huge dinners back to back? I don't think I could survive two carb comas!
I am so with you on all of your thinking about food. I am the queen of Monday dieting. And I so agree with the many who are so glad to have "met" you. Have a great Thanksgiving filled with great friends and family, and oh yeah, great carbs.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Aside from the dieting issue, you touched on the topic of reinventing tradition, which I love. It's great that you've carved out Friday as a special day with Beloved's family, and made your own celebration out of it. Happy Thanksgiving to you, and thanks for your wonderful blogs, your friendship!
We've already had our Canadian Thanksgiving, where I indulged in many bowls of roasted red pepper made with heavy cream.
My daughter is coming home from school in the states so we will celebrate again... and am going to make sweet potato fries for the first time.
With the Christmas party circuit approaching, the whole season find on the treadmill trying to at least break even.
carbs, carbs, carbs...Miss Chef's creamy mashed potatoes are my favorite, any time of year!
I applaud you for allowing yourself to splurge and enjoy both your Thanksgiving meals without succumbing to dietary guilt.
and after all that great food, comes Christmas, just around the corner!
I'm a big believer in celebrating things "outside of the box", so I salute your 2 day feast. I bet you use the left side of your brain a lot. I'm just saying.
Happy Thanksgiving honey. xo d
I have a sordid relationship with food, too.
We started a low-fat diet over the summer, but all bets are off for the weekend. The weight that I have lost in the last 4 months will no doubt find its way back to my hips.
But it is SOOOOO worth it!!!
I love to eat. Period. I don't stress over pounds gained, it is what it is.... a food I could eat 365 is pasta in any form. Spaghetti, baked with cheeses, with or without meat, white or red sauce.....
Happy Thanksgiving Joanna. I enjoy your blog very much and wish you and your family (and the commenters) well!! Hugs from Alaska!!
where can i get me a pair of those pants?;) have a great holiday joanna! besos!
Hi Joanna, I left something for you over at my blog. stop by when you get a chance. Take care!
i hope you have an amazing holiday...live like your diet starts on monday. lol.
actually turkey sandwiches the day after are my fav!
Ahh our love hate affair with carbs - yummmmmm -- where was I??
Oh yes I was down in Arizona during our Canadian Thanksgiving so missed the carb fest -- phew. I have my carb attacks once a month when my hormones remind me that I am woman - blech.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
My husband and I are spending Thanksgiving alone. People think it's horrible that we are all alone, but we're not! We have each other. We go out to eat, don't have to do dishes, etc. It's great!
Happy Thanksgiving!
It would be easier to list what I don't like than what my favorites are!
Don't like pumpkin pie; Not big on cake; don't like gravy if it's thick enough to cut with a knife.
And, Joanna, I'm thankful I found your blog, too!
After Daylight Savings Time (an official holiday in my home), Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! You sound as if you do a smashing job of celebrating! And I agree...the turkey is just a excuse for stuffing and gravy. Cornbread and sausage stuffing, thank you very much!
Enjoy to your heart's content! Thanksgiving meals are once a year, but the thankfulness lasts... Especially if you've eaten well. ; )
I'm still struggling with the extra poundage from our Thanksgiving back in October. But it's so worth it. Enjoy.. and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Enjoy the food. Forget the scale.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I,too am thankful for the friends that I have made in the blog world. It's a great group of people.
Thank you Joanna for lettin' us be a part of your blog. I too will have Thanksgiving here, the count is up to 36-38 then I'm packin' up and heading to Brownsville, Texas where my fam is going to wait to celebrate Thanksgiving when we arrive. Loads of walking and sit`ups there.
Have the most wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love the most!!! God bless
Enjoy your Thanksgiving! I think I'll run an extra 3 miles to help digest THursday's seconds on dessert...pie...mmmmm.
This year, instead of "the diet starts tomorrow" mentality, I decided to stay off sweets for the month of November - until Thanksgiving. It was hard at first, especially b/c at work there are always desserts around. But I resisted and it got easier. Now I look forward to Thanksgiving when I can eat as much pie as I want, hopefully guilt-free. Then I'll try it again until Xmas and then splurge on fudge and home-made candies.
I'm finally taking a deeper peek at your blog and loving your fan club too! I hope you keep enjoying my site, though it looks like you've got plenty of reading material.
I'd like to speak up for Eileen Fisher. Her clothes about making women feel good in their bodies, not about pants of last resort. Eileen is out there creating confidence and supporting women. Plus the clothes are beautiful. I wish I could afford more of them.
I have to wear a bridesmaid dress that is VERY fitted in Feb. Guess I'll be hitting it hard in January, cuz there is no way I have willpower enough to diet during the holidays. Ah ha
Hope you've had a wonderful time dear girl...family...friends...food...
well, not much else matters does it!
Been there, doing that Joanna. I can remember undoing the top of my pants for Thanksgiving dinner and pulling my shirt down over so no one could see. Enjoy your holidays.
Sounds like you know how to enjoy the day(s). I really think people should worry about the carbs/fat/whatever on all those other days of the year. Of course if you think everyday is just another feast day, well that's another problem.
I love the idea of having two dinners. My mom is always sad when we dont go to her house but we do have to share with my hubbys family. She understands but I know it hurts her. Maybe I should suggest this sometime.
Would it be too obvious to say my favorite food is french fries? I like potatoes in most forms and Thanksgiving mashed potatoes to me are more magical than any mashed potatoes the rest of the year. That is of course if whomever is making them does it from real potatoes and not the fake ones. I dont mind those they're just not for thanksgiving.
Oh, Joanna... I so know how you feel. I'm a little more manic-depressive with food, I think. I go all the way and then go all the other way. Four months ago I weighed 30 pounds more than I do today. And I feel in a year I will slip again. I'm trying to wear out my organs before I turn 45.
Great post. Enjoy your carb-coma!
I give all my thanks to the creator of elasticated waistbands :0)
I love almost all food so I can't pick one. They all make me happy. and tired. *yawwwwn*
Love the piccy, really made me laugh.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, hope you have a great time.
Much love RMxx
you know...I really only look forward to the stuffing smothered in some gravy and my broccoli casserole...everything else is kinda normal and whatever to me...
this year, my dessert will be the mystery....either it wil be fabulous or a total flop....it took me 4 stores just to find what I needed....who knew everyone used gingerbread mix this time of year....
the happiest of thanksgivings to you my friend !!!
I come from Britain where we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and live in Sweden where they don't celebrate... .You get the picture.
My favourite all-time food is dark chocolate - in all forms and shapes and sizes!
Just give me the pumpkin pie and
whipped cream!
Have a wonderful Thansgiving. I like food so much my favorites vary.
I'm grateful to have found such a wonderful bloggy friend.
Wonderful story ......and I wish you a fantastic Thanksgiving with all your Family and Dear Friends....it's such a pitty in Italy we do not have this celebration........but....who knows......why don't I cook a Turkey too and invite some friends????
..I think of you and enjoy this special Celebration!!!!
ciao
elvira
I can SOOO relate!! Except THIS Thanksgiving will be spent in our 5th wheel and Dan will be cooking skinned, boned chicken breasts on the grill! I am making "fake" stuffing (out of the box); so limited on what we can do while here in our 5th wheel.
Enjoy!!
Mashed potatoes and gravy.
That's all I have to say.
:-)
Pearl
Haggis, neeps and tatties! When I stood on one of those speak your weight machines it said 'One at a time, please'...
Happy Thanksgiving! Ahhh, whats a few pounds? :)
I know what you mean. I need to drop 25 lbs., it is hard to do, those nasty carbs will do you in every time. Have a great Thanksgiving and thank you for stopping by.
Pizza and pasta, I could eat it every day!
I too look at the turkey as a means by which to acquire gravy for the potatoes and stuffing. Yep. Total carbfest.
Eileen Fisher would be happy to know her beautiful clothing is going to good use.
Enjoy the trimmings!
I've been going through the whole love hate thing with food for about 25 years...I'm 43....I started going to a dietician a month ago. To my surprise, I was only eating about 800 calories a day. My body was holding on to every bite I took. It's a huge adjustment to try and eat more when you've spent most of your life trying to eat less. So, I say eat, drink and be merry over the holiday. If you are not eating enough try and eat a bit ore each day.I cn't be the only 43 year old that is in this boat.
To prevent post Thanksgiving blues when the blood sugar drops to more normal levels, I decided to replace this year's pleasures of eating with the pleasure of having a different kind of fun. So I am leaving today to celebrate Thanksgiving in Bora Bora, with French cooked fresh fish and tropical fruit. Read my post next week about this adventure.
Hapy Thanksgivig everyone and many thanks to you Joanna, for your constant support and your absolutely fabulous posts all year long.
I'm extremely thankful that we met, Joanna! I love your blog and the comments you leave me. I'm going to try to be good this Thanksgiving and just sample a bit of all of it. I still have some weight to lose so I don't want to make it worse for me, which translates as have to work harder to get it off! LOL!!
Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!!
Hugs and love,
T
My slippery slope to Fat Pants Land starts at Halloween and doesn't end till the Valentine's candy is gone. LeSigh. (I'm all about the desserts but I don't discriminate against any holiday foods.)
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