It’s Time!

So, it’s December 20, five days till Xmas, three big meals ahead of me in the next five days… It’s officially “Party in My Mouth Time!” The name comes from Dr. Phil, who in a few weight-related episodes of his show, has used the phase “party in your mouth” to describe the overeating habits of some of his guests. As in (paraphrasing here) “You’re medicating yourself with food! You’re sitting down with your Funyuns and Ho-hos and having yourself a party in your mouth!”

I rarely have parties in my mouth of the scale some people do, the closest thing being PMS time when I’d kill a group of school children to get some chocolate or salt into my system. But those are brief interludes on a small scale.

I loved Dr. Phil’s term so much I decided to appropriate it for my own purposes several years ago when I was married and doing a bunch of Xmas baking only I would eat because the Wasband had a sugar issue (that didn’t prevent him, incidentally, from wolfing down half a litre of ice cream when the mood struck). At this time, I decided to enjoy Xmas eating, despite my usual guilt about overindulging. And so, Party In My Mouth Time was born.

During this time, I eat whatever I want and totally disregard any of my normal diet or eating patterns. As we all know, I do a shitload of Xmas baking, most of which gets given as gifts or taken to various Xmas functions, but, I do keep a bit for myself. Since it is the season for parties, I will partake of treats offered at such events. Shan makes fondants with her family, so I eat those when they’re put out. We have a big meal on Xmas Eve for my dad’s birthday, and I always enjoy this meal, which involves cake and all kinds of other stuff. Xmas morning, Jem, Shan, Dad and I have a huge breakfast consisting of Eggs Benny (made by yours truly), double smoked bacon, locally made sausages, and some other stuff. I often start Xmas day off with some chocolate because that’s what we did as kids, and it’s a tradition I like to stick to. This year, I’m cooking dinner on Solstice, and that will be a big meal with no diet food on offer! I am also going to Xmas dinner with Shan & her family and they always have a huge spread. Previously, as I’ve said before, I’ve spent Xmas Day on my own, consuming chips and chocolate. I make a special trip to wherever the cheapest chocolates on offer are and spend some time choosing chocolates that I really love. Even though I’m going to be participating in the family dinner this day, I am loathe to give up my precious chips & chocolate day, so this year I’ll do that on Boxing Day. Yesterday, I bought myself a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and some Khalua-filled chocolates, in additon to some Tostitos with zest of lime and my favourite snack, Munchie Mix.

And usually, by Dec. 27 or so, I’m sick of Party In My Mouth Time, and I get back on the healthy eating bandwagon. But I have no regrets.

Today, it’s -16C out and I am baking a cake for tomorrow’s dessert. I’m also going to get some of the prep for Solstice dinner done, and to make it all the more fun, I’m going to break out some of my stashed treats. Bring it on!