Rose's Room

By Rose Padrick

Weight loss gurus attest to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners being the weight gain epicenter of the year, but I have learned it’s not so much what you eat that makes you gain weight but who you eat it with.

Most of my children have in-laws living close by so we usually have our family get together a few days before or after the actual holiday just to make things easier.

This year I did get to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with only one daughter, her husband, their three boys, and my own baby boy - including turkey and all the trimmings.

Invoking the two tablespoon rule; two tablespoons of mashed potatoes, two tablespoons of sweet potatoes, etc., I kept my calorie count and perhaps the additional inches to my hips in the low gazillions.

The big challenge was a few days later when the whole family got together, because everyone had tired of turkey and as a nod to my Sicilian heritage, we chose a pasta theme for dinner.

The dinner rule for children, ’You can have anything you want but you have to eat everything you ask for’ is a good one unless you’re a grandchild who asked for something because a cousin dared you to, or a Grammy who likes to sit at the children’s table and is a sucker for sad eyes and quivering bottom lips.

One whispered “Pleeeease?” was all it took to send me to the ’dark’ side.

Instructing Jay to be the lookout, I quickly slid Hannah’s rigatoni onto my plate.

Hannah watched while I finished off Morgan’s vegetable medley.

Dominic stood in front of me as I gobbled Hayden’s sausage.

Taking advantage of Joshua distracting most of the adults I was able to suck down a large part of Carter’s and Nicholas’s lasagna.

The relief I felt when a parent came to collect plates and promise dessert lasted just until I heard a whispered, “Bet you can’t eat the jiggily yellow stuff!”

I foresee many workouts during this holiday season.

Send comments or suggestions for Rose’s Room to rpadrick@clf.rr.com.