How Small Meals Bring Big Holidays Down to Size
December 10, 2008
Sometimes I think December should be renamed Marathon Month. You've got the dash to each event, the eye on the stopwatch, the extreme ups and downs. I find myself thinking about the endurance and pacing necessary to get through the whole course.
Especially if there are children involved, maintaining some semblance of a normal schedule can keep you on track. It's helpful to continue to have homework time, downtime, bath time, bedtime and, you guessed it – mealtime.
Regularly-sized, regularly-scheduled, regularly nutritious meals eaten around the table at home can give us a chance to sit down and re-group. And if we eat normally at set intervals, we are less likely to gorge at the cookie buffet or make fools of ourselves at the holiday party.
Lay in a supply of easily prepared small meals, and let your family know they are expected to sit down and eat them together. Keep the atmosphere low key; this can be a good time to reflect on how things are going. Whatever simple foods your family enjoys (canned soups, eggs, sandwiches) can create a thread of "normal" in a time of extremes.
Here's wishing you bright lights, boisterous parties, and cozy quiet times.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today.