My brother Brent paused during this Christmas chip-dipping frenzy and insisted we document it because it reminded him of a cake-eating frenzy he’d once seen on an episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
Apparently the characters are mowing down a cake intended for a birthday party when they’re busted via answering-machine message by the cake baker, who announces she’s on her way over to retrieve it. One of them falls in their scramble to flee, leading him to nobly tell his accomplices to “Save yourself!”and leave him to his fate.
I should’ve been in eating heaven yesterday, because thanks to my holiday sugar detox I’d actually lost a couple of pounds the last few weeks and I’d given myself permission to eat whatever I felt like on Christmas Day. At first it was awesome to guiltlessly taste all the treats I’d avoided when we made them a few days earlier. But by the time the above chip-dipping frenzy occurred, I was feeling miserable instead of euphoric. Though I narrowly escaped stuffing myself to the point of physical pain, it was irritating to find myself eating something every time I passed through the kitchen.
In retrospect, it would’ve been more enjoyable to just make up an infinite pie plate and then switch out of eating mode for a while and simply enjoy the party.
Below are a few other scenes from the party, which was a bit smaller than usual due to a few people coming down with the flu. (Wish we had some shots of the kids working on their second horror movie trailor, set down in the old creepy part of Grandpa’s basement.)
Cassie gets a turn at the most popular activity of the evening — holding baby Kyla.
Waiting on Brent and Darcy to finish feeding and changing Kyla so the gift opening can begin. From left, Mason, Brian, Riley and Garrett.
The waiting gets easier when we start a game of telephone.
Grandma and Grandpa are amused by a breakdown in the communications loop.
Time to eat again… From left: Ty (Rowan’s boyfriend), Rowan, Colleen, me and Cassie.
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