It’s a little past five and I’ve got some heavy eyelids! It’s not that Christmas was extravagant this year, but each little Chapstick in the stockings is wrapped (why I started that madness fifteen years ago is beyond comprehension). Plus, I ran out of tape around 11:30pm on the 23rd and resorted to packing tape and scissors….which slowed the process down immensely.
Today started with four kids piled on my bed to wake me up, the usual Christmas day tradition all captured on video. I swear there isn’t one minute of video where I look like a normal person. They were nice to me though, they waited until 8am.
By 8:15 the living room was a sea of torn paper and everyone was happy with their goodies. Since 9am we have had the cacophony of Christmas carols mixed with the atonal sounds of kids belting out Bon Jovi on Rock Band. A full on reminder that I forgot to purchase tomato juice for Bloody Marys today!
How does this relate to gluten? Good question. I did have a delicious Glutino bagel with cream cheese and lox for breakfast. I also used peanut butter, my favorite gluten-free food, to get a big wad of gum out of my youngest son’s hair. (My celiac was enthusiastically playing fake guitar on a Radiohead tune and the gum went flying out of his mouth…they paused the game to try to figure out where it landed. Big sister #2 laughed hysterically when she found it…madness ensued and all was resolved with peanut butter and a shower.) Another reminder of my tomato juice forgetfulness.
Dinner is in the oven and I’ve started prepping food for tomorrow’s extended family celebration. All of it is gluten-free! The marinade for the beef, sweet potato puree, the crumble for the apple crisp and the green salad with all the fixings are prepared for everyone to eat—celiacs included. Food is a large part of any celebration and adapting it to a gluten-free diet is so much easier today than it was eleven years ago when I was diagnosed.
The holiday season is perfect for those treats, savory and sweet, that remind us of our childhood. We in turn lovingly prepare these same treats for our children to carry with them into their adult lives. Gluten-free diets don’t change tradition, it just requires some ingenuity. All of us at Gluten-Free Living wish our readers a delicious holiday season!
Kendall Egan
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