We’re having a different sort of holiday today. We’re celebrating our first annual Kummerspeck (or “Grief Bacon“) Day.
The idea came to me a few days ago. We’ve all been really fighting the blues in our family. Winter has been long, cold, snowy and oppressive this year. The kids have been cooped up and cranky. I’ve been cooped up and cranky. We’re all irritable and there’s still more waiting before things are really going to be green and warm.
Victoria had told me about a German word that literally translates to “grief bacon” that describes the weight gained from emotional eating, such as after a loved one dies or during a period of depression. It was featured in Mental Floss’s 15 Wonderful Words With No English Equivalent.
We’ve talked about that natural instinct to hole up in the house with food as comfort and how it’s definitely not healthy as a general practice but how it really does seem to help when things are really feeling miserable, like after the death of pets and loved ones.
So yesterday I suggested to Daryl that we toss out my typical health-crazed ways and proclaim today a Grief Bacon Day (vegetarian members of our family can call it Grief Popsicle Day). 🙂 He was on board, so we told the kids we were going to all go to the grocery store together and load up on comfort foods that we’d all pick out together and spend the whole day together as a family watching movies, eating junk food and just indulging ourselves in a way we usually don’t.
We spent the morning cleaning together to prepare (who wants to party in a messy house?) and then spread the table with the first round of indulgences. Jack had picked out frozen fruit so he made us dixie cup fruit sorbets to balance out the chips, dip and other junky items that others picked. Gluten free pizza, french fries, banana popsicles, 7-up and other goodies followed.
There’s lots more to come, including more foods and fun non-food items like puzzles and bubbles, marshmallow and toothpicks for building, more movies and crafts.
Some days you just have to loosen your own rules and look at the big picture. A full-out, junky family day was just what the doctor ordered. The mood in our house has done a 180 (and the house looks better too!).
And now, I’m off to watch some more explosions and add to my stomach ache.