Have been reading these holiday posts with interest, because holidays are the one time I still make large family meals. Most of my five kids return home for the holidays, so I'm cooking lots of the old family favorites that I never make at other times. I've been able to deal with lots of the emotional food memories by de-fattening my favorites (pumpkin pie is easy to replace canned evaporated milk with the non-fat variety, replace some of the sugars with Splenda and use egg whites instead of whole eggs, have also banished the green bean casserole in favor of stir fried/steamed fresh green beans with onions my kids now prefer). And I'm vowing to remember that holidays should emphasize family memories and good times spent with relatives and friends -- and try to minimize eating when holiday stress rears its ugly head. It's easy for me to eat away tension when relatives or acquaintances are "bristly." I'm vowing to head for a bubble bath or a good book FIRST (before the candy and chips) - and hope that will work when I'm feeling edgy.

Yes, I think the holiday posts are helpful, too.  My adult niece has Tday at her home, it's about 4 hours from here, I went last year and didn't even enjoy myself, just not worth it!  I'd rather stay home and not face all those temptations!  Tampabayb