One Woman's Addiction

The holidays will be here before you know it and I'm already feeling a lot of anxiety about it. 

It's not the crowds at the mall  I dread, or riding around for hours searching for a parking space, or  even stressing about what unique gift to get my father-in-law for Christmas.  None of that bothers me, at least not yet.  My anxiety actually deals with an  addiction I've had for a very long time. I don't talk much about if I can help it, but since Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, it's probably best to get it out in the open now.

I am a dessertaholic.  That is, I'm totally and helplessly addicted to desserts/sweets and baked goods of any kind, and the holidays just bring out the worst in me.  You see, I have absolutely ZERO willpower when it comes to turning down desserts.  This is true for most of the year, but especially during the holidays.  In fact, I would even say that it's  already started.  Since this is Halloween week there seems to be bowls of candy everywhere you go.  Yesterday was a good example. I stopped off at the library on my way home from work to pick up a new book, and as the librarian was checking me out, I couldn't help but notice a big plastic pumpkin that was half-filled with candy of all sorts on the counter.  I knew, of course, that it was meant for all library patrons, but just to be polite I asked anyway; "May I?" To which she cheerfully responded: "Oh certainly! Help yourself!" So I fished out a caramel square and a little Reese's peanut butter cup, collected my books and off I went, happy to fuel my addiction once again. 

Last year at my in-laws on Thanksgiving there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 different types of desserts; pumpkin pie, 2 types of apple (your standard apple and dutch), cherry, turtle pie, and of course, my mother-in-law's signature pineapple upside down cake (which is out of this world, by the way). That being said, guess who had to sample a piece of ALL the desserts - while downing a glass of egg nog, too?   

Cake is my favorite.  Devil's food with homemade buttercream icing, but I must admit that red velvet cake runs a very close second.  There's a company in D.C. who had the idea recently to start a business called "Curbside Cupcakes."  It's a little pink van that stops at various locations around town selling...you guessed it, cupcakes.  A mobile cupcake business? Pure genius! When I first heard about them I said to myself, "Why didn't I think of that?" and  the little voice inside me responded, "because those cupcakes would never make it out of the parking lot if you were driving!" Truth be told, they probably wouldn't even make it ON the truck in the first place. And Curbside Cupcakes appears to be hugely successful, too, because they draw large crowds whereever they go. Knowing what you do about me now it should come as no shock that I've been guilty of standing in line for 45 minutes just waiting to buy one of their cupcakes.  I know it seems silly (and probably dumb, too) that I've spent 3/4 of a lunch hour to buy a cupcake. But these are not just any cupcakes. They're not like Hostess or even Tastycake (which I wouldn't turn down in a pinch, either). No, these are TO. DIE. FOR.  Fresh. Moist. And a thick slab of buttercream on top that seems like it's a mile high.  I can almost hear a choir of angels singing when I think about them. And what they're singing is Rod Stewart's, "If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right."    

After Thanksgiving my dessertaholism will only get worse. Somewhere around late November, baked goods of all sorts will start to appear in our office kitchen.  I'll go in for my morning cup of tea and there, calling my name, will be some yummy cinnamon coffee cake or tempting little holiday cookies in all sorts of cute shapes like Christmas trees, snowmen, Santa, or holiday bells.  I think it's practically a law (or should be if it isn't) that you can't drink hot tea all by itself - there really needs to be something solid to accompany it.  It's probably better for your digestive system, too, don't you think? 

Don't get me wrong; I like fruits and vegetables and eat them, too.  But a salad doesn't make my heart sing with joy like devil's food cake or a hot fudge sundae. Or my mother's recipe for peanut butter cookies.   

Part of me feels bad in the sense that I know this is not the healthiest way to live and I really need to limit myself to maybe just one "treat" day a week.  But a bigger part of me (i.e., my inner sugar addict) is also shouting, "LIFE IS SHORT. EAT DESSERT FIRST!!"