All right, never mind that the 12th day of Christmas isn’t technically until January 5, but you get the idea. Maybe all of this madness doesn’t happen all at once, but for most of us, it’s an understatement to say the holiday season is a bit crazy. You dream of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know … where someone else did all the work, and your experience was all about anticipation. And that golden feeling is still there, right around the edges, like when you tiptoe into the youngest reveler’s bedroom to tuck him in, and his silvery whisper makes it wash over you anew: “I hear jingle bells!” All is calm, all is bright.
But then you go back down to the sink full of dishes, the gifts to wrap, the lists to make and check twice. And all those other folks (dressed up like Eskimos?) in the household, with their own personal holiday dramas. You’re busy ensuring everyone else’s enjoyment, but you really could use a little for yourself. So here, have one of Aunt Myrna’s buttercream-chocolate-sprinkles-praline-wafers—they’re to die for, and she gave you two tins’ worth—you’ll feel better. Have another. And another. Indeed, this time of year, our homes are land-mined with plates brimming with bonbons, cookies, cakes and whatnot, and it’s hard to escape from the season without developing that paunch like a bowl full of jelly, and then the ensuing self-flagellation that keeps the stress level turned up high (and health clubs in business). It’s just plain nuts.
How do you fight that kind of nuts? With the other kind of nuts.
Sweets and the season are inextricably tied, and of course we don’t want them to go away. So we’ll give you sweets … but sweets that offer more than fleeting happiness and a jolt to your blood sugar: sweets featuring nuts. Not only are nuts low-carb, but they are also dense in nutrients—antioxidants, the good fats, vitamins (especially E), folic acid. Their high protein and fiber content makes them stick to your ribs better, so smaller portions do the job, and their lightly sweet oils make them more satisfying to the mouth. Nuts do the heart good, in all the best ways—a great balance for the necessary holiday decadence factor.
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