Giving thanks on the road

So Thanksgiving dinner, I read, can easily amount to 3,000 calories. Yikes, as Leonard’s mother says on “Big Bang Theory” — that’s about TWICE what I’m supposed to eat in a day to lose 1 pound per week.

Add to that, we’ll be in the truck for at least 7 hours on Thursday and I really can’t think of anything to do on the road BESIDES eat. And it isn’t carrots. It’s more like fries I can get away from Vlad the Plaid, ice cream (I know where every DQ is on the 400+ miles we drive), nuts, crackers, chocolate. So I ARRIVE feeling like a waterlogged, mildewy life vest, and then we sit down to eat! No wonder I’m depressed.

What to do, what to do?

1. Stay away from the ham.
2. Remember, every quick stop we hit during this LONG day sells fresh fruit. The melon cups are actually good.
3. Knock off dessert baking at one pound cake and two batches of cookies.
4. Do not buy ice cream to take to our daughter’s freezer.
5. Focus on what VEGETABLES I’m contributing to the table. Just found a wonderful-looking recipe for roasted Brussels sprouts (I know, but my daughters and I LOVE them!), pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts. Got out my ancient corn pie recipe. We’ll take some of our frozen green beans and baby sweet potatoes, already roasted. Grandchildren can add marshmallows and other stuff — I like mine nekkid!
6. Pack some 100-calorie Chobani “bites” for the road. They’re yummy and they have no artificial sweeteners. I especially like the coffee with dark chocolate bits. Pack coffee, water, little cans of low-sodium V-8, maybe small containers of peanut butter or tuna and cottage cheese. I gave up diet sodas two weeks ago along with computer solitaire — I think both make me crave MORE (of everything) and Anne Lamott really jostled me when she said Nov. 10, “Imagine you have $100 to spend on your life every day.” (That’s a metaphor.) “How are you going to spend it?” Again, yikes.
7. Take my walking shoes, gloves and yoga DVDs. Go outdoors.
8. Go to bed when I get sleepy.
9. Take ALL my measurements while I’m upstairs packing today.
10. Make a calorie counter the first app I put on my new Smartphone after Facebook.
11. Be genuinely thankful for family who let me hug them and say “I love you” and who say it back. For a truck that can make it to Maryland. For the friends and food who will be part of this weekend away.

We thank you, Great Father, for the blessing

of this food, and for the friends who share

it with us, both those around this table

                                and those with us in spirit.