Christmas time with PKU

Photo by Gregory Culmer on Unsplash

As many of you may know, growing up with PKU can be challenging at times - you can't always enjoy even the simplest of things in the same way as everyone else. When I think back to what it was like for me as a young child with PKU, holidays such as Easter and Christmas stand out in my mind as being some of the most challenging times. They sometimes felt complicated and filled with worry. Although my condition is much more manageable now in my adulthood, this hasn't always been the case. I have certainly experienced many a Christmas party feeling awkward, whilst also missing out exciting festive foods. Still, my family have always made an effort to make me feel included in the Christmas celebrations in some way or other.

My earliest childhood memories of Christmas include a cross- stitch advent calendar which my Auntie made for me. As an alternative to the usual chocolate advent, my parents used to fill mine with protein- free sweets. I found, as most young children do (and even still as an adult now) that having an advent to count down to the special day with was one of the best parts of Christmas - I'm so glad I have always been able to take part in this tradition.

My advent calendar!

My parents had to take extra care when planning my meals around this time, particularly if we were going to a family or friend's party, so that I had enough of my protein allowance left over for a Christmas 'treat'. Although, this didn't always go exactly to plan. The tradition was that I spent Boxing Day with my Dad then later that evening I would go with my Mum to my Aunt and Uncle's house. My Mum would always tell me to save some of my protein allowance for the evening, but there were a few times when I returned with less than we had planned. Unfortunately, on those occasions I had to miss out. However, my parents were very considerate and never ate anything in front of me which I couldn't have -  I didn't realise this until recently when we were reminiscing about past Christmas' - I'm so grateful that they did this but also feel a little guilty because it meant they had to miss out too!

Despite me missing out on some of the exciting food, I always had my own low- protein food to rely on. But as I got older I began to feel more embarrassed and awkward about taking this with me to family/ friend gatherings. I began to notice it didn't quite look the same as everyone else's food. I felt so self- conscious and anxious, especially if I were around people I'd not met before because I knew questions were bound to be asked. If you've ever been in a similar situation to this, I'm sure you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

When it came to my Christmas dinner, I always enjoyed filling up on a variety of vegetables or sometimes my Mum would bake me a delicious vegetable pie (see recipe here:https://thepkulife.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-to-make-vegetable-pie-with-fates.html ). This is what I still do now! Christmas dinner can be whatever you make it, you don't have to stick to traditions. As long as you are happy and having fun, that's all that matters.

Over the years, I've come to realise that I shouldn't let my PKU stress me out too much and it certainly shouldn't stop me from enjoying Christmas time.

Thank you for reading - I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!