Celebrations -- More Than Just Good Eats?

Betina here. That time of year again.
Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays.

I don’t know how you celebrate in your family, group, clan, or pride, but in the Krahn-World annual celebrations of birth remembrance involve food. Cake, yeah, sure. But more often, dinner out at the honoree’s choice of restaurant. My kids grew up thinking turning older meant being able to call the shots one day a year. And eating really, really well.

Add to that the fact that most of our birthdays fall in a chain in November, just before the holidays, and you understand why non-stop dining out and celebrating always caused a ten pound weight gain.

Not, however, this year. This year, I had to send cards and checks in the mail for the kids to celebrate at a distance and my own birthday. . . well, suffice it to say, everybody I live with and around is on Adkins, Southbeach, or a maniacal Deprivation Diet. No cake within miles. And going out to eat meant a naked salad, steak, no baked potatoes, no bread, and a metric-ton of broccoli. Needless to say, I had to find another way to make myself feel as if I’ve celebrated. Booze is out. Decadent spending spree is out. (There are the holiday sprees yet to come and yet to pay for!) Spas are getting pricier and I wasn’t thrilled with the services I had last time.


So? I heated up the pool to an appallingly warm extent and plunged in to soak and swim for two solid hours. I was the only dumpling in a rather dilute Wan Ton Soup. But I felt special and really treated. . . especially when my sister came over the next day and we repeated the indulgence, albeit for a shorter time.

Then I got out a special candle I’d been saving and made a salad from a recipe I’d been meaning to try. We had a lovely, low-carb dinner and capped it off with by watching a new DVD and eating a Slim-A-Bear ice cream sandwich.

I feel so virtuous, it’s nauseating.

But I’ve lost seven pounds now– Rex has lost more than three times that– and we’re both feeling better than we have in three years. I had to think about different ways to celebrate and to mark special times. In the future, I’m going to think about it even more. There are some traditions– like celebratory gluttony-- that, even though pleasurable, should probably drop by the wayside. And what do we replace them with?

What about you? What are your family rituals for birthdays? What other ways do you celebrate? How about other little “rituals” your and yours do for each other to mark the passing of time and accomplishment?