31 October 2013

And So It Begins ...

I LOVE the holiday season, and always think of it as starting with Halloween.  The decorations, the costumes, the goodies - to me it is just a lot of fun.

What I cannot stand, though, is the "news" stories that surround the holidays.  I am talking about the insistence that we know how holiday foods and drinks contain calories.  I just saw the first one about half an hour ago - an 'expose' on the local news about the hidden calories in Halloween candy.

Really?  Candy has calories?  Shocking.  Personally, I would like to meet the individuals who have no idea that candy has calories.  Because the first question I would ask them is where they have been living if this is news to them.  And then I would like to ask the news reporters to find some actual news to report.

And of course it will continue:

Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving dinner has calories!
Christmas - Christmas cookies and treats have calories!
New Year's Eve - Champagne and other beverages have calories!

This year, I'm wondering if Jewish people will  be informed that whatever they fix for Thanksgiving/Hanukkah dinner will have calories.  I mean, news like that could be so surprising, it could ruin the whole thing!

Most people I know are more than aware that food and drink have calories - maybe they can't tell you how many, but they know they are there.  For myself, I look forward to the holidays, to actually enjoy myself, and enjoy the special things I don't eat or drink during the rest of the year.  I try not to get terribly carried away, though sometimes I am more successful than others.  And I am sure that if my doctor told me that if I consumed more than X number of calories during the holidays, I would not live to see another one, I'd be very careful.  For myself.  I would leave everyone else alone to do their own thing.

So please - join me in enjoying the holidays!  Eat, drink, and be merry.  And try to ignore the people who want you to obsess over every little aspect of it.

There's a reason it's called the HOLIDAY SEASON, right?

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