Barbara Bova: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet

We may promise ourselves we won't put tempting fattening foods into our mouths during the holidays. But that vow will become a lie at the very first toast at a holiday meal. We can comfort ourselves with the idea that it would be wrong to deny our hosts the pleasure of seeing their company enjoying their yummy dishes of goodies.

Imagine the time spent shopping, planning, and cooking, then finding out that everyone is on a diet. What could be more insulting than forgoing the delicate and heavy delights on a holiday table? Why even bother trying to go easy on our diets when we know from experience it's more fun to stuff ourselves and drink heartily with friends and family? It's only right to make the founders of the feast feel their efforts are appreciated.

We all know there are those individuals who will persevere. These are the people who make everyone around suffer from guilt as they pass on the wonderful hors d' oeuvres presented to them while the rest of us gobble up everything offered. They'll go home feeling very noble, but in truth they'll have missed out on the fun even if they do keep their pre-holiday figures.

Part of the afterglow of overindulging all through the holidays is talking about the pounds we've gained. Who wants to hear about someone not gaining a pound or two between Thanksgiving and Christmas parties? Commiseration, regret and promises for the New Year - that's what we want to hear from our friends after the holidays. Misery loves company. But it also helps us to feel justified if we've enjoyed ourselves even at the cost of our figures.

If you want to be loved and make your friends feel better after they've put on the proverbial five extra holiday pounds just fall back on these lovely words: "At a certain age an extra five pounds can be more becoming than skin and bones."

That's certain to make your friends think more highly of you than saying, "God, you've put on so much weight!"

This year I'm having a houseful of family for the holidays. I'm planning on making comfort foods that only a mother makes. I'm going to eat all the goodies I make for my family without guilt.

Hosting a family burns up a goodly amount of calories, especially when they're staying over for a few days and nights.

Entertaining family is a heavy-duty job when you haven't done it for a while. Muscles have atrophied from disuse. Carrying a 22-pound turkey with stuffing and popping it into the oven can mean pains and aches the next day. It also means you've burned up enough calories to help yourself to a piece of apple pie and ice cream. Besides, if you don't treat yourself as good as you treat your family, chances are you'll regret not having done so.

I know I only cook turkey for the holidays because everyone loves the sandwiches made with it the next day. Coming to that conclusion, next year I plan to leave the cooking to someone else, and have a great time relaxing. We can go out to eat. Or maybe we'll go visit our adult kids for the holidays and let them do the cooking. Not a bad idea, especially since I'll take home enough leftovers to make us sandwiches the next day.

E-mail Barbara Bova at babova@naplesnews.com.