Dear Holiday Season,

So we meet again...

Here we are, the beginning of "the most wonderful time of the year." Holiday vacations, celebrations, decorations, oh and those super picky-eater-friendly family dinners. Not.

I've met a lot of picky eaters, and each one has unique tastes. Some don't like the taste of anything, some people don't want the food to touch, others can't handle different textures, and then we have those who just won't try new things. I, however, am in the lovely category called "all of the above." I hate more food than I like, and holidays are the prime time for reminding me, and my entire family, of that fact.

Halloween is golden. I love candy, I love apples, I love hot chocolate, and I don't feel obligated to eat pumpkin-flavored everything just yet. But it's hard to ignore that with Halloween, comes Thanksgiving, and I really don't enjoy Thanksgiving food.

I'm pretty confident that no matter what meal it is, there's a good chance I won't eat the bulk of it. Sandwiches, beef, pork, turkey, that's all a no-go. When I was younger I literally would eat ketchup sandwiches just so I would get full. Yes that just means ketchup...and bread. So at normal get togethers or celebrations, I rely heavily on the side items to get me through. I mean classic potato chips are always a safe choice. During the holidays, though, my dull taste-buds simply won't get on board with the fancy side dishes. I don't like green beans, but I especially don't like green beans in a casserole. I'm from Nebraska, so naturally I love corn and one of the most common favorites among picky-eaters is mac n' cheese. But why do we have to combine them in a crock pot?

Even if the stars align and there's one or two sides I actually enjoy, the plates are too small and bendable and then the food starts to touch. (Side note: I have a very large family so we used paper plates.) Back in the day I would've said game over, but I'm a little better now and can at least pretend I'm okay with it. Internally, however, I'm counting down the hours until I can go home and devour my "bland" food, or praying that someone brought bread.

I'm used to my siblings and parents telling me "you don't know what you're missing." And they're used to me saying "yes, yes I really think I do know." We all (sort of) moved on years ago and can ignore my eating habits. Extended family, however, took way longer to come around and I still get the occasional "do you still eat ketchup and bread?!" I'm just going to add here that I will still eat ketchup and bread from time to time when desperate. It's really not that bad I promise.

My family's Christmas dinner tradition is roast. Which I can totally enjoy! That is after I've removed all of the carrots and onions and scraped off as much gravy as I possibly can and then covered it in ketchup. It's like a ritual at this point, so I've got it down to a science.

Thankfully, these meals only occur a few times a year. It just so happens to be back to back. So, sectioned-off paper plates, snacks small enough to hide under my jacket, and plain dinner rolls; get ready for us picky eaters.

We're coming for ya.

XOXO,

A Picky Eater