Well, the holidays weren’t as bad for my weight as they might have been. One reason was illness, which rendered even my favorite dishes into interesting but flavorless textures in my mouth. The second was my niece Zoe. I offered the 7 year old the money-making chance of a lifetime – if you see me eating any time except during a meal, you call me on it and I’ll pay you a dollar. She watched me like a hawk, and earned herself three dollars in cold, hard cash! She might have earned more, except that the rest of my family banded together to protect me from Zoe’s sight during my occasional weak moments!