Home For The Holidays Magazine

Page 31 2022 Home For The Holidays Lincoln Daily News November 23, 2022 “why did I give them sugar and then expect them to sit still for three hours?” Does no one remember simple high-school health class? What is sugar for? It gives the body energy. Now I’m not a doctor or a scientist, but children have tiny bodies, and smaller dietary needs. A spoonful of sugar in my coffee gives me a bit of a jolt in the morning but nothing more. A spoonful of sugar in a six-year-old doesn’t just help the medicine go down, it adds a second dose. My core complaint here is not that we give kids sugar at Christmas time. It’s that we give them sugar at Christmas time, and then make them sit still, all on their one of their favorite days of the year, and then we have the gall to complain about it instead of find an actual solution. And while we’re on the subject of Christmas and desserts- we give them the same thing in that department every year, too. In my family, every Christmas meant the same pie, the same candies that I didn’t understand, and the same cookies with a weird texture. Why does the menu never change? And don’t say you’re having fruit cake. Kids can’t handle fruit cake, and neither can most adults. It makes a better support for the front porch. And the really good fruit cake is more “loaded” than Grandpa after he eats half of it on the 26th. My point is that if we’re so tired of the kids’ shenanigans after a serving of Christmas fudge, then it sounds like maybe the fudge really is the problem. Don’t want to overload on sugar? Then try adding something new to the mix. Even if it doesn’t turn out well, at least you tried something different. Or, dare I say it, look to the other holidays. There are more than two dozen holidays or spiritual observances in the month of December alone. Try something from one of their books. Find a friend or a family member with a different belief system and see what desserts they have to eat. If nothing else, you’ll get a new memory out of the ordeal. That’s what the holidays are really about; good memories, even if the food is questionable. If we only remember that every year Aunt Agnes gives us another batch of cookies to take home because she wants the kids to bounce off of our walls, and then we wonder why, that really sounds like our fault. But it doesn’t have to be our problem. Basically, let the kids be kids, and be excited. And cherish the memories. Even when they accidentally break something or throw their cousins into the recliner upside down. Sugar is not the bad guy here; a stubborn pattern of tradition and a need to “behave” is, whatever that’s supposed to mean. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make a batch of brownies. I have family coming to town for the holidays after all. [Derek Hurley]