Holidays and Food Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly (Pun Intended)

Holidays, ever notice how many of them there are? Ever notice how many of them revolve around food? Oh Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day and B-days, why must you be surrounded by baking cakes, pies, cookies and the like? Then there are you BBQ holidays like Labor Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day. I love barbecue holidays, but must they all be filled with macaroni and potato salads, dips containing mayo, cookies, cakes and pies...?

I can't honestly tell you which of the holidays above are the worst of our minefields. When you think of all the baked goods going into these holidays and Liv's egg and peanut/tree nut allergies, it's all a bit mind numbing isn't it? Barbecues are sneaky little things for us, you never know if a dip is made of sour cream or sour cream and mayo (and did you know ranch dressing has egg in it?). THEN, of course there is the fact that barbecues are plain messy. People grab a spoonful of the offending salad (potato or macaroni) and plop it on their plate (or dips)....did they drop ANY of it in another food on the table between their plate and the salad bowl? Did they use the spoon that was IN the bowl originally? Did any fall somewhere that Liv will come in contact with? Oh the barbecues, how we hate to love them.

Easter + Anaphylactic egg allergy = UGH! I don't think anything else needs to even be said here, do you?

Then there is the SUPER duper hidden part of two of the more popular holidays, Santa and the BUNNY. Now, you wouldn't think these super "fun" (yes, that's sarcasm, ha) traditions are dangerous, but these lines get busy and hectic which translates into parents bringing snacks. Oh, wonderful messy anything-to-keep-my-kid-from-melting-down, snacks. You see the problem now? Being surrounded by FOOD in a hectic and close proximity is a less than ideal situation, so we avoid it. Liv has had one pic with the Easter Bunny (prior to her allergy diagnosis) and that will probably be the last.

What do we do for the holidays? We try like mad to avoid all the dangers we can. Most of our friends are willing to count out potato and macaroni salads. I don't think I've seen a deviled egg in years now...not that I miss those suckers, at all. As for Easter, we do crafts and learn what the REAL reason for Easter is. This goes for Christmas as well. Some moms bake with their kids, we craft. B-day parties, sadly, we avoid. What I've learned through all of this is not only what we're willing to give up and do as a family because of this illness, but how little we miss all that is given up.

Aha! You thought I forgot Halloween, didn't you?! No way could I ever in life forget THIS holiday. The holiday of HOLIDAYS when it comes to being food allergic (not to mention that it's one of my favorites). This one will be tough when Liv has a classroom next year, but for now we keep it simple. We dress up and we go trick-or-treating...every year. You see, this is one of the easier holidays for us (by us, I of course mean *me*). We have neighbors that have known me since *I* was Liv's age and they are pretty much the best. They either make a special "treat bag" for Liv, or I take them some to give her. That works out pretty well, but then I have also have my "dirty little secret"...the "fake-out bag". What is a "fake-out" bag? Simple, it's an identical bag that Liv leaves home with, but filled with candy she CAN have. So, here is how the whole scam goes down: We go out and use the "safe treat bags" that the earlier neighbors gave as mid trick-or-treat snacking, finish up the evening and when we get home, I swap out Liv's real bag of candy for the fake-out bag. So there you have it folks, this is how we navigate the holiday seasons aka the madness.

Thank goodness for "Liv Safe" treats, as we call them in our home.