The Holidays

Last year I wrote a blog post about Holiday Burnout and how to tackle all the things that this time of year throws your way. I have to admit, being in a much better headspace this year, I am not feeling the same weight of the endless to-do lists... just yet... 

The last few Christmases have been a bit makeshift due to the global pandemic. Travelling to see family was difficult and at times felt like you had to sneak your way through the restrictions. However we made do, we flew to Ireland last year and basically dodged getting sick while many other friends caught COVID so we had to slightly alter our plans for friendly or family gatherings. But we left feeling like we were still so thankful to travel and be surrounded by family. This year is already different in comparison for a few reasons, and I'm going to pinpoint those for a clear, low stress holiday recipe.

1. R E L A X I N G

First of all, we're staying home this year. 

This was my husband's suggestion given that for every year we've been together, we have always been the ones to travel for Christmas. Ireland last year was special, the other two years we went to my family's place in Montreal. And since this is our first year as a married couple, we extended the invitation for family to come here. Now, we can't fit the whole family in the house all at once. We were able to fit 8 people post-wedding but that included a couch and an air mattress situation. So the invitiations to the families were meant to be mutually exclusive. And we waited, to make sure we weren't over-inviting people, but sometimes plans aren't always set in stone, or they're often contingent on other factors and/or people. Long story short, I just hope we can host one of the best Christmases post-pandemic. I say that, hoping that we'll bring family to places that we've discovered for skating and skiing, eat local food and some of our go-to recipes. But I also know in the back of my mind my mom will insist to cook one night and there will be lazy days where we get cabin fever, play a bunch of board games, and probably step on each others' toes. That aside, I am looking forward to it, and family is family, they don't change much but for that reason you know you can rely on them.

2. A C T I V I T I E S

Second, we have two feet of snow.

Last year we were driving to the airport on the 18th of December and it was just lightly snowing, mainly still grass instead of a massive cold and white blanket, and it's only November 20th. And to be honest, snow is so much more beautiful out in the country compared to the city. Cold temperatures is another thing, but being bundled up on a walk through a winter wonderland and then coming home to sit in front of the fireplace with a nice book or magazine is honestly bliss. My side of the family have always been skiiers, I think I learned to downhill ski when I was four. There's one ski hill near us now, and it's quite small compared to some mountains they have brought me to, but my husband has never skiied before. There could be a new winter activity waiting for us, maybe after all the family has left, but something to look forward to nonetheless. Btw, my husband's the type to be extremely skeptical of trying new things but then if he does like them (which usually he does) he gets hooked. Fingers crossed of course,  but it also allows for other activities like playing in the snow, making forts, sledding, snowshoeing maybe? Why not? And the benefit to staying at home while otherwise being dependent on the weather or nearby gyms is having our little home gym downstairs, with a treadmill and a few other weights we've been collecting. A great outlet to sweat out the holiday drinks, and shake off any sweets.

3. N O U R I S H M E N T

Lastly, and maybe most importantly for me, is food options.

When you have dietary restrictions it can be extremely stressful to have someone else plan out all your dinners for a week. In fact, I have gone through this many times and felt so off that I would insist on making a salad with chickpeas for myself or some sort of super healthy green goddess protein bowl. I started making my own food for myself fairly early on due to removing meat from my diet, but the next step after which made things a bit more complex was cutting gluten. Eating gluten-free is honestly one of the best decisions I have made for myself, my body feels way better, digestion is easier, and energy levels are higher. However, when you come from a carb-loving family, it can be difficult to take the wheel on meal planning. From a polite standpoint as well, when you're invited to someone else's home, you don't want to impose on making a different meal just for yourself. Luckily, Niall's sister is also a vegetarian (I eat fish though) and we did have a few more casual meals where there were a bunch of options for every dietary type. This really needs to become the norm, not only for those with restrictions but even if someone is feeling a carb-coma from the day before, and wants to balance it out by sticking to veggies and protien, let them not eat cake if they don't want to. Honestly, yes, the holidays wouldn't be the same without delicious food that you treat yourself to, but all in moderation/not overdoing it where you actually feel sick to your stomach.

Along with food, wine is a fairly large portion to our typical holiday menus. I've recently discovered a few local natural wines, which I plan to purchase for the family when they're here. Natural wines are a great alternative to high sugar content wines from your local liquor store because they have less additives and therefore can have less reprocussions the next morning. If you're in Ontario I highly recommend trying Theriantrophy wines, if you're new to natural wine and want to switch up your usual cab sav choice, it's a great alternative. However, natural wines are sometimes few and far between unless you're living in wine making regions of Europe. Another choice I do when purchasing wines at the liquor store is checking the sugar content. The higher the sugar content the more likely your head is going to stab you the next morning. Reds with 2-6 grams per litre is typically what I aim to buy, whites tend to have a bit more sugar so I stretch it to 7g/l, but I usually only buy extremely dry, sauvignon blancs. It makes you think about partaking in just any wine that's open at your hosts place, or even helping yourself to a casserole where you might not even know the ingredients.

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking what's in something, I truly think we need to be more concious of what we're putting into our bodies, just like how we're constantly tracking our steps or workouts with smart watches. Our body is a cycle, and just like any ecosystem, each part of the cycle needs to run smoothly in order to be successful. It doesn't need to stop or shut down during the holidays, you just need to ensure your cycle is running smoothly even through all the changes to our regularly scheduled programming.

🔁