I'm still among the living!

Just wanted to check in and let all my online friends know I'm still among the living. Thanksgiving went fairly well, with only a few turkey mishaps. I brined it for the first time this year and it was the tastiest turkey I've ever had, but the darn thing just wouldn't get done. I also went ahead and cut the turkey up into parts so it would cook faster, it worked for the dark meat but the breast just didn't want to cook.
All said and done I over ate, ate more dressing then I had planned, and ended up making a cake and eating more of it than I should. So we'll just say I failed the Thanksgiving test. But I have to keep reminding myself it's part of life. This is my new lifestyle and I can't expect to break a 40+ year old habits in one year. So next year I'll do better than this year.
Some things were on target. My golden nugget squash casserole was a hit and totally low carb, we only cooked one pan of dressing so there was none left over... very good thing. I made a low carb strawberry cheesecake bar dessert that was terrific. Much better than the Volcano cake that we also made (very high in carbs).
So now I'm having to fight the cravings, the habits of pigging out and eating high carb foods. My pattern has always been to eat crappily from Thanksgiving to the new year. Lots of junk, lots of homemade candy and treats. This year is going to be different.
So it's back in the saddle for me, and I'll try to do better come Christmas, but if not, it will only be a couple of days and then back in the saddle again.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your not beating yourself up for any "missteps" you might have made. We have to remind ourselves this is for life. I know there are high carb foods that I will allow into my life from time to time, while I'd like to say I can cut them all out, the truth is there are some foods I'm not willing to let go of, at least for now. My mom's dressing is one of them. There may be a few foods of your own, you're not quite ready to let go of. That's ok as long as we plan for them, jump back into plan once we've eaten them and not allow them to side track us.
So get those plans in place for Christmas, it will be here before you know it. And above all, enjoy the season, enjoy your family and friends and don't stress over silly things ( like rather the turkey cooks on time or not)!