I may be one of those overly joyful Christmas people. What can I say, I love the Christmas season. Sure it becomes tiring and eventually I am ready for my routine to return, but each year as Christmas starts to appear I can’t help but get excited.
Yes, that means Christmas music is on in my house from Nov. 01-Jan.01. Judge me if you must, but it’s true. The holiday spirit lives in me.
So Much to Enjoy
There are many, many things I enjoy about the Christmas season; gifts, family gatherings, celebration of the birth of Jesus. Most of what I love can be boiled down to traditions. I like feeling like there will be parts of the season that I always enjoyed, and will get to look forward to next year! There is a stability in the feeling of knowing the joy to come with the season.
One tradition that I love is holiday baking. Of course, this means sugary treats, but it’s more than that. It’s the warm oven in the cold kitchen. It’s the sharing of treats with those in our lives. It’s decorating the cookies with my kids each year. It’s hearing what cookies they think should make the cut each year, and which ones we should skip.
I truly love it all.
Grinch = Dieting!
In the past, baking Christmas cookies was only joyful until the baking was done. Then, with cookies in every spare inch of our house… I would begin to stress about the holiday baking. I was in a constant state of “should I/shouldn’t I” or “just one more” or regretting that I did in fact eat 3 more… not 1!
With diets and feeling like there were restrictions, I would over indulge (take that rules!!)… or I would deprive myself and feel like it wasn’t fair I couldn’t participate. Neither route was fun.
Diets were like the grinch, stealing my Christmas!
Fasting of Course is the Hero
I’ve had the joy of fasting through 2 Christmas seasons… no longer over weight, but still enjoying Christmas treats. Now that’s a magical feeling.
I can make my personal favorites – russian tea cakes – and enjoy them. I just make sure it’s within my eating window. These cookies remind me of my mom; they’re her favorite too. Again, so much more than enjoying a sugary cookie. It’s nostalgia, remembering early Christmases, familiar joyful memories.
No more decision fatigue. No more regret. No more missing out.
Instead, I have JOY. And for that I am so thankful.
I mean, look how fun some of these cookies turn out… how isn’t this meant to be joyful!
Cookie Spectacular
I pin many recipes, though I haven’t filmed many cookies. Maybe this year I will. In fact… I am committing to making a Christmas cookie video – with a fasting flair to it of course! You can follow me on Pinterest when I pin many recipes. I rarely pin something without actually baking/cooking it. It’s my digital cook book.
