Day 356: Merry Christmas
"May lovely, happy times decorate your Holiday season. May warm, special memories brighten your New Year. May the wonder of Christmas be with you forever."
I'm taking a break from reflecting on the year since today is Christmas. Merry Christmas ! I finally got a good night's sleep and I sure didn't want to get out of that warm cozy bed this morning. I finally did and had the gifts wrapped and the stuffing cooked by noon. TNT and TBS were showing "A Christmas Story" all day so I had that on to keep me company. How can you not watch this movie at least once ?!?!?! My cats don't play with toys and they're not food motivated, so I didn't buy them anything for Christmas. However, Minnie decided a piece of discarded cardboard might be fun to play with so she enjoyed her Christmas morning ! Abby spent her morning snoozing .. her favorite thing to do !
Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 160 calorie package of pancakes. I put some of the sugar free "syrup" I bought on them and although good, maple flavor was lacking. I'm going to buy some maple extract and add it to the bottle. After that I was off the rails and ate what I wanted this one day. Calories definitely exceeded 1200 and I'm working on getting 64 ounces of water in before I go to bed. And yep, I expect I'll be getting up to pee a few times !
We had such a fun Christmas this year. Weather was mild so there was no worry about driving in extreme cold or snow. Every item on our Christmas buffet was perfectly cooked and delicious. Roast turkey, fried turkey, my dad's stuffing, my brother in law's mother's stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, lasagna, baked artichokes, corn, butternut squash and fresh baked rolls. I had some of most everything but I passed on the corn, squash and rolls. Dessert was a variety of homemade cookies and the ricotta pie my brother in law's aunt makes. I sampled everything and had the piece of pie I'd been waiting all year for. I also had a couple glasses of wine. I brought some artichokes home and will freeze them tomorrow. I also brought home a piece of lasagna and a bit of gravy. That is also destined for the freezer. Last item I brought home is the extra pan of my dad's stuffing. I'm going to package that up for the freezer and share it with my mom. It'll be a good accompaniment to the Nutrisystem roasted turkey medallions entree.
I got a lot of nice gifts and I think overall everyone was happy with what they got. We had a few mix-ups with gifts this year so it was a little chaotic, but we all laughed about it in the end !! One thing about my family, we just roll with whatever comes along and nobody gets upset. I arranged all of my gifts around my Christmas tree when I got home so that I can admire them for a few days. It may sound silly to do that at my age, but I spent a lot of years with nothing under the tree, if I even had the tree up. I'd go back to work after vacation and people would ask what I got for Christmas and I'd just make up things because I was so embarrassed. It was a pretty painful time of year because everyone would be showing off jewelry or other expensive gifts from their spouse and I had nothing. There would also be a parade of new clothes and I was wearing 5 year old clothes. Fortunately that is all in the past and it's not something I think about very often. Life can, will and does get better ! I am living proof of that. The gift I'm most excited about this year is a Ninja Air Fryer. Many folks on Nutrisystem use these to roast veggies or cook some of the Nutrisystem entrees, so I'm really looking forward to using it. I also received a food scale and that's going to be important when I step away from prepared foods and start creating my own meals. Portion control is a big part of what Nutrisystem tries to teach you so you need to weigh certain things until you can "eyeball" it.
As I mentioned, there were many years I had nothing for Christmas so it has been a process to get my Christmas spirit back. It's something I'm still working on today. I started the journey back last year, by buying a new tree and some lights for the front porch. While I did decorate and enjoy the tree last year, I never put up the lights on the front porch. Even though life had gotten better I was still healing. This year I got the tree up and put the lights up on the front porch, so that is progress. I've thoroughly enjoyed both and I'm already planning to expand my decorating next year. I'd like to put lights up in a few of the windows and I have a small Christmas village and a few other decorations I'd like to put out. I feel like every year that goes by I peel another layer off the shell I had built around myself. I've come to realize the shell has many more layers than I thought and I've yet to shed it completely.
Despite recent events and the uncertainty with my job, this has been a wonderful Christmas. I have so many wonderful memories to tuck away and I am so blessed. I can't think of one thing I want or need and I'm looking forward to the next 4 days of vacation. Tomorrow will pretty much be a day of rest but I do have a fridge full of fresh veggies waiting to be roasted. I also have some laundry and cleaning up to do. However, first priority is going to be getting back on the treadmill. I took this little break to get over the accident and get ready for Christmas and it's time to get back on the horse ! January 4 - my next weigh in and one year anniversary - will be here before I know it and I need to be at 186 or less by then. That means exercise and 100% adherence to the Nutrisystem program. So I plan to get 2 workouts each day for the next 4 days. Friday I'm taking mom to Turning Stone casino so it may end up being a 1 workout day, but I'll be home all weekend - so there are no other excuses ! Next week I'm working from home Monday, Tuesday and Friday and I'm off Wednesday and Thursday so I plan to get 2 workouts in every day.
TNT is showing The Wizard of Oz now so I'm watching that and then heading to bed. Another Christmas is in the books and I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow !
Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 160 calorie package of pancakes. I put some of the sugar free "syrup" I bought on them and although good, maple flavor was lacking. I'm going to buy some maple extract and add it to the bottle. After that I was off the rails and ate what I wanted this one day. Calories definitely exceeded 1200 and I'm working on getting 64 ounces of water in before I go to bed. And yep, I expect I'll be getting up to pee a few times !
We had such a fun Christmas this year. Weather was mild so there was no worry about driving in extreme cold or snow. Every item on our Christmas buffet was perfectly cooked and delicious. Roast turkey, fried turkey, my dad's stuffing, my brother in law's mother's stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, lasagna, baked artichokes, corn, butternut squash and fresh baked rolls. I had some of most everything but I passed on the corn, squash and rolls. Dessert was a variety of homemade cookies and the ricotta pie my brother in law's aunt makes. I sampled everything and had the piece of pie I'd been waiting all year for. I also had a couple glasses of wine. I brought some artichokes home and will freeze them tomorrow. I also brought home a piece of lasagna and a bit of gravy. That is also destined for the freezer. Last item I brought home is the extra pan of my dad's stuffing. I'm going to package that up for the freezer and share it with my mom. It'll be a good accompaniment to the Nutrisystem roasted turkey medallions entree.
I got a lot of nice gifts and I think overall everyone was happy with what they got. We had a few mix-ups with gifts this year so it was a little chaotic, but we all laughed about it in the end !! One thing about my family, we just roll with whatever comes along and nobody gets upset. I arranged all of my gifts around my Christmas tree when I got home so that I can admire them for a few days. It may sound silly to do that at my age, but I spent a lot of years with nothing under the tree, if I even had the tree up. I'd go back to work after vacation and people would ask what I got for Christmas and I'd just make up things because I was so embarrassed. It was a pretty painful time of year because everyone would be showing off jewelry or other expensive gifts from their spouse and I had nothing. There would also be a parade of new clothes and I was wearing 5 year old clothes. Fortunately that is all in the past and it's not something I think about very often. Life can, will and does get better ! I am living proof of that. The gift I'm most excited about this year is a Ninja Air Fryer. Many folks on Nutrisystem use these to roast veggies or cook some of the Nutrisystem entrees, so I'm really looking forward to using it. I also received a food scale and that's going to be important when I step away from prepared foods and start creating my own meals. Portion control is a big part of what Nutrisystem tries to teach you so you need to weigh certain things until you can "eyeball" it.
As I mentioned, there were many years I had nothing for Christmas so it has been a process to get my Christmas spirit back. It's something I'm still working on today. I started the journey back last year, by buying a new tree and some lights for the front porch. While I did decorate and enjoy the tree last year, I never put up the lights on the front porch. Even though life had gotten better I was still healing. This year I got the tree up and put the lights up on the front porch, so that is progress. I've thoroughly enjoyed both and I'm already planning to expand my decorating next year. I'd like to put lights up in a few of the windows and I have a small Christmas village and a few other decorations I'd like to put out. I feel like every year that goes by I peel another layer off the shell I had built around myself. I've come to realize the shell has many more layers than I thought and I've yet to shed it completely.
Despite recent events and the uncertainty with my job, this has been a wonderful Christmas. I have so many wonderful memories to tuck away and I am so blessed. I can't think of one thing I want or need and I'm looking forward to the next 4 days of vacation. Tomorrow will pretty much be a day of rest but I do have a fridge full of fresh veggies waiting to be roasted. I also have some laundry and cleaning up to do. However, first priority is going to be getting back on the treadmill. I took this little break to get over the accident and get ready for Christmas and it's time to get back on the horse ! January 4 - my next weigh in and one year anniversary - will be here before I know it and I need to be at 186 or less by then. That means exercise and 100% adherence to the Nutrisystem program. So I plan to get 2 workouts each day for the next 4 days. Friday I'm taking mom to Turning Stone casino so it may end up being a 1 workout day, but I'll be home all weekend - so there are no other excuses ! Next week I'm working from home Monday, Tuesday and Friday and I'm off Wednesday and Thursday so I plan to get 2 workouts in every day.
TNT is showing The Wizard of Oz now so I'm watching that and then heading to bed. Another Christmas is in the books and I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow !
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