Eight adults, two pumpkin pies, one homemade mincemeat pie, a large apple cake and one store-bought apple pie. And it all sat out on a kitchen counter for three days, begging people to have at it. They might as well have put a loaded gun along side it all.

The main meal consisted of a delicious turkey roasted with lots of fresh rosemary slipped under the skin, and various starches including dressing, mashed potatoes, candied yams and some rolls. There was gravy, cranberry-orange 'mush', a dish of canned olives and a modest bowl of dressed iceberg lettuce. There were no Brussels sprouts, peas, carrots, corn or beans. No crudite or raw veggies at any time.

Four of the adults are seriously overweight, one morbidly obese. My husband's parents were overweight all their lives and now they're less so simply because of their various health problems. Jim's niece has used Weight Watchers for years to maintain a healthy weight so this year there were two of us who were at healthy BMIs and were trying to eat sensibly. We were also the only ones who went out walking.

We got home yesterday and I'm happy, happy, happy to be back to my routine including a trip to the park later this morning.

(We left more snow on the ground in Ohio than we found here in upstate New York. There were an amazing number of Bradford pear trees and various maple hybrids that still had their gorgeous leaves. Jim's brother-in-law put out his first bird seed and a Carolina wren was among the birds I saw.)