We had a great Thanksgiving Day meal with friends and family. Great people joining us, enough food for a small village and a great selection of wines and desserts. My traditional over-the-top meal, if I say so myself. My most ambitious dish, a turkey breast in mole sauce, was good but not great. I was going for great. The mole was missing something – not sure what – and the turkey breast shredded when I tried to cut it. So it goes.

And now for 2+ days after that I’ve indulged in a favorite time of year. Leftovers, holiday movies and general sloth. It’s truly an indulgence. But unlike past years when I was younger and healthier, after a couple of days of couch sitting and leftovers every couple of hours, I don’t feel too well. Pretty bad, in fact. The body just can’t take the abuse it used to.

So…today starts an effort to regain health. It isn’t that complicated. Just eat less than 2000 calories per day, get 30+ minutes of exercise each day and keep alcohol to a minimum (if at all). Eat less, drink less, get some exercise and write every day. Uncomplicated but hard to stick with. We’ll see.

In other holiday news my dad isn’t doing well. While my health issues are relatively minor and fixable, his aren’t. He’s very weak, not eating, falling down a lot. Several of us think he has congestive heart failure, but we haven’t gotten that specific diagnosis from an MD yet. That may not matter – it’s just putting a name to the thing that’s killing him with little/no hope of doing much about it. I’m on my way to see him in the next couple of weeks.

All in all, I have to say the holidays feel different now that I’m retired. They’re not the gigantic break in routine from going-to-work that they used to be. Whatever happened on the holidays…that break from work was something. Now, the holidays are actually more work than a regular day. Not complaining, just observing the difference.