Less Stuffed Than The Turkey

We made it through the Christmas Holiday Meal Tornado with barely a scratch. Actually, we were lucky this time around, which also allowed for a little more common sense to kick in on our part. The scenario is probably pretty similar to one of your family meals: there were eight of us gathered around the table and normally it’s hard to find room for a cup of coffee next to your place setting because platters and bowls of food are constantly getting passed around. Then the gravy boat ends up taking up space near your butter knife and the potatoes end up sitting on your left, then to your right and then get moved back to your left again. Those green things you don’t like hover around your plate like a mosquito and the hostess reminds you to take more of them and that there’s still some of that other stuff you don’t like still available and would look great next to the turkey on your plate. Well, here’s the lucky part for us this holiday: the food was left in the kitchen and each of us had to serve ourselves. This worked better for me on a few levels. Firstly, the dining room table was less crowded (translate that to mean ‘more elbow room’), secondly, it allowed me to only put on my plate what I wanted to eat which left less waste. And thirdly, the common sense part of the equation: it allowed me to take smaller portions and fill up on turkey, potatoes and salad and skip over the sweet stuff. Even during the afternoon (the pre-Christmas Holiday Meal Tornado) when you couldn’t take five steps without bumping into another tray or table full of snacks, I skipped the sweets. The best part is after dinner I did not feel as stuffed as the turkey for a change thus avoiding another of those Christmas Holiday Meal Tornadoes.