Holiday Treats

It's that time of year...the season of giving. When all the neighbors and co-workers give you treats. Not to mention holiday parties and family dinners with lots of goodies. How do you get through the holidays without over-indulging but still feeling like you can enjoy the festivities?

Here are a few things I've been doing this year to help me not to get too out of control.

• Eat one or two of the treats and then get them out of the house! I sent a batch of cookies from the neighbors to Matt's work and I took a box of cookies from some other neighbors to a family party and left them there. I have learned that I cannot have treats in the house or I will eat them.
• Freeze some of the treats to eat later when there's not so many other treats around. Someone brought over a loaf of cinnamon bread and someone else brought some pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I stuck them in the freezer and I'll pull them out later when all the treats are gone.
• Don't eat stuff I don't love. There are lots of holiday treats that I really love and that if I don't have, it doesn't feel like Christmas. Like my family's cranberry bread and hot chocolate. But there are a lot of other things around that are just ok. Like pumpkin pie. Matt's family always has it. It's just ok, but I don't necessarily love it. So, just because it's there doesn't mean it's worth it. I've tried to save my treat eating for the stuff I really love.
• If I bake something, try to find a way to "healthify" it. I love this website. It has lots of recipes for yummy stuff that has been revamped to be a little more healthy. You can even send in your own recipes and they choose some to make over into a more healthy version of the recipe. 
• Also, if I make something, only make 1/2 a batch or give most of the treat away after I've had some.
• Don't put candy in our stockings. Matt and I decided to skip the candy this year and just get one or two of our favorite treats (a small version) for the stockings instead of a bunch of candy. I got Matt a small bottle of egg nog and some cookie dough. I'm hoping for a caramel apple in mine!

Any other ideas for enjoying the holiday goodies without going overboard? My friend Audrey said that she decided she was not going to eat any treats that came from a wrapper during the month of December. She was going to save her treats for only the homemade ones.