It seems every year this time I put on a little extra fat reserve while the wife and I produce prodigious amounts of goodies. Of course, being old school, everything we make is either full of sugar, or fat, or usually both.

With the advance of years comes the slowing of metabolism and a general desire to lounge more and exert less. This year I've noticed the pudge has increased more than the usual snug belt, and I've had to make use of the next notch out more than I would like.

My quest continues to perfect the ultimate fruitcake recipe. This year's is about spot on. I still haven't solved the NSA buckeye dilemma yet. Just can't find a decent way to properly thicken the peanut butter center without using powdered sugar. Well, maybe next year...

Meanwhile, the cookies, candies, cheese and meat trays continue to pile up. We are gonna have to make yet another trip around to the friends' homes and see if we can talk them into taking more of this stuff off our hands, before I either become a diabetic or have a blockage.

Just in case, I am keeping a bottle of aspirin handy, and taking my krill oil pills and cinammon capsules twice a day until this indulgent little apocalypse is over.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Surviving the Holidaze involves more than just food.

Can you get past December 25th without a fist fight breaking out at the family gathering? Let Thanksgiving dinner a month ago be your guide.

My family muscles through these events without fisticuffs, although seemingly rarely without tears. Weddings, unfortunately, tend to be memorable for the wrong reasons.

CDs, lots of CDs. DVDs too. If I have to sit through one more "Rudolf the red nosed reindeer" or "a Christmas story", I'm going to start developing an unhealthy hankering for venison.

That can´t be unhealthy . Venison is healthy food. It sure is a lot healthier than the usual cookies. It should be eaten more.
That reminds me that I need to go to the Swedish funiture store and get some reindeer for the holidays.
Don´t be too shy to let people know that hearing "Rudolf the red nosed reindeer" over and over again inspired you to make that choice.
If we had reindeer around here, I might even be tempted to buy a permit, load my Hawken rifle and harvest one myself.