Thanksgiving - OUT!

Phew. It's over. The most food-obsessed holiday of the year has officially come to an end.

I had two celebrations this year: Thanksgiving day at my paternal Grandma's house, and yesterday at my parents'. I am proud to report that I kept my eating under control at both, and my snarking *mostly* under control at both as well.

First for the eating...

• Thursday's meal (including dessert) was a closely estimated 875 calories for a daily total of 1535. No bread or stuffing, so the only "white flour stuff" would be in the graham cracker crust of my fabulous pumpkin fluff pie, the recipe for which I'll share below.

• Yesterday's meal (also including dessert) was a high-estimate of 1041 calories. I say that's high because I counted a lot of things higher in calories (such as the sweet potato dish my mom made) and bigger in portions (such as the mashed potatoes that I only ate 1/2 of what I took) than I really ate, but because I can't be sure I'd rather estimate high. A daily total there of 1641 - higher than I've had in a very long time, due in large part to a "lunch" of deviled eggs, but still very respectable. Also no white stuff except the crust of the pumpkin fluff pie.

• As a comparison, most of the Google results I found said that the average T-day meal is around 3,000 calories, but it could be far higher. Research by Health Management Resources revealed that "the average Thanksgiving meal contains a staggering 7,100 calories." (As reported here.) So my whole DAY yesterday was about half of many people's one meal. I'm counting this one a victory. :)

As for the snarking...

• Thursday I avoided my super-freaky-ultra-mega-Christian relatives when I thought any mention of religion could arise. No conflicts there!

• Thursday my uncle's elderly (84) father (not my grandpa - uncle is by marriage) started giving me unsolicited diet advice after my dad commented on how great I was looking and someone asked how much I had lost. He asked what I was doing, so I briefly told him, and he told me I should be eating every hour, not eating pork, blah, blah, blah, and I listened politely and then said, "well, thank you but I'm very comfortable with what I'm doing and happy with my progress, so I think I'm doing well!" He didn't take the hint and kept talking. I basically repeated myself, and said that I'm working with my doctor who approves my plan, and while I appreciate his advice, I'm going to stick with what I'm doing.

• Also Thursday, I kept the "jail jabs" to a minimum, though there were MANY opportunities I could have thrown in more. (Backstory: my cousin has been in jail for drug-related offenses twice.) This one was too good to pass up, though. Somehow my uncle (not the druggie's dad) said something to the effect of "well, the best way to learn is the hard way...you find out the stove is hot by touching it." And I said, "Uh, not always," and my other older cousin said "yeah, that's the dumb way!" I said, "yep, personally, I like to learn from the mistakes of OTHERS." And my uncle retorted, "well, there's a difference between knowing something and knowing OF something." And I replied, "oh sure, but there are many things I don't need or want to KNOW to know they're bad..." My uncle had a doubting look on his face, so I offered a couple of examples, "...herpes and jail, for instance!" HA HA!!!!!! My uncle conceded that I had an excellent point. :)

• Yesterday was expected to be snark-free. The guest list was only my parents, me and Trav, my sister and her fiance, my Grammi (mom's mom)...and I didn't know that my step-Grandma ("SG") would be there as well. But my close family respects my eating choices, so I didn't expect any food pushing. But dear old SG is a bona fide kitchen commando. She simply can't NOT take control. She was sitting at the counter directing all of the cooking...telling me the green bean casserole looked to watery (to which I replied "I'm following the recipe!"), moving stuff around while my mom was cooking, then directing my mom how to drain the turkey juices out of the pan, and finally, literally taking the electric knife out of my dad's hand to assume carving duties. (Backstory: in our family, we have always cut the entire turkey. I know some people leave the drumsticks whole, but no one in our family eats an entire drumstick, but a lot of us like dark meat, so we always cut it apart.) SG says to leave the drumstick whole. I ask for it to be cut. So she cuts one. Then as I'm dishing up, she tells me where that meat is. I say, "ok, thanks!" And she says it again. I say, "ok, great, I'll get a piece." She points and says "it's right there." I say, "thanks, I see it." And she says it again. And I LOST IT. I said, more forecefully, "OK. I see. I'll get some if I want some." My mom made some comment, and I just said "I don't know how many times I needed to say it...I don't like being told what to do." UGH. In all, not a big deal, but I had had it with the Dinner Dictator. I was able to keep all comments under control until I was being told what to eat!

So, all in all, I did well keeping my mouth under control - both with what went in and what came out!!! ;)

But I am not sad at all that it's over!
------------------------------
Pumpkin Fluff Pie (or Pumpkin Mousse Pie, if you prefer)

1 15oz can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 package fat-free, sugar-free vanilla pudding mix
1 cup skim milk
1 8oz container fat-free whipped topping (i.e. Cool Whip)
1 tsp - 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice, to taste (I use a whole tbsp)
1 Reduced-fat Keebler graham cracker crust

Using a mixer, blend pumpkin with dry pudding mix, spice, and milk.

Fold in half of the whipped topping with a spatula, one quarter at a time.

Fill pie crust with pumpkin mixture. Top with remaining whipped topping. I put it in a sandwich bag, cut off the corner, and pipe it on so it's all nice and pretty. :)

Chill at least two hours, preferably overnight. Enjoy!!

Whole recipe = 1534 calories, 30.5 grams fat, 17.2 grams dietary fiber, 21.7 grams protein

One generous serving, 1/8 pie = 192 calories, 3.8 g fat, 2.2 g fiber, 2.7 g protein