The Christmas Eve Food Coma

Christmas is most children's favorite holiday. They love Santa Claus and waking up to open presents and stockings. Christmas was my favorite holiday growing up as well, but for a totally different reason. My little brother and I would be so excited for Santa Claus to come every year, we had trouble falling asleep at night. So my mom came up with a brilliant plan. All day long on Christmas Eve, she would bake the most delicious treats and whip up the best tasting snacks you had ever had. There were so many different things it still amazes me that she can make everything in one day. She would make chocolate covered peanut butter balls, homemade mints, many different kinds of cookies, lemon bars, a fruit plate, a vegetable dip tray, crackers, cheese and salami; just to name a few.

At 7:00 on the dot, she would set all of the delicious food out on the coffee table. My brother and I would get our sleeping bags out and set up a little "fort" right next to it. We would watch "It's a White Christmas Charlie Brown," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and "Frosty the Snowman." They were always played on Christmas Eve and it was our special tradition to watch them. As we watched these shows, we would eat and eat and eat. Then it happened...at the end of the shows we would be passed out because we had entered what my mom calls a food coma. This was the only way she could get us kids to get over the excitement of Santa coming to town and and pass out.

Even though this was my mom's way of getting us to fall asleep, it was our favorite day of the year because of the yummy treats we got to eat. Christmas day the rest of the family would come over and we would all finish up the treats. The day after Christmas, it was time to go back to eating healthy, no snacks and no sugars. Most kids were already counting down the days for Santa Claus to come back to town, my brother and I were counting down the days until we could have another peanut butter ball!