I can't find it but a couple years ago, I made an apple dessert that was basically sliced apples in a casserole dish topped with an oatmeal/cinnamon/brown sugar topping. I made it for my inlaws. The title of the thread reminded me of that. (I can't find the recipe but I swear it was from Dr Weil)
Anyway, every year I was accustomed to gaining 10 lbs over Christmas. The reason is I would visit my mom and eat cookies that she would bake as well as indulge in other things that I don't get when I live elsewhere. I didn't have that issue last year because I was eating a vegan diet and didn't want to eat her cookies. Of course this year, I sent her a vegan cookie cookbook and we are visiting. Hopefully she won't make too many cookies
Halloween is no problem for me and wasn't, Thanksgiving won't be a problem for me and honestly I don't expect Christmas to be a problem this year although we'll see. When we visit my parents, we try to get in a lot of exercise but we are often exposed to foods we don't normally eat or keep in the house (such as chips). I also have access to restaurants which I love and don't get here and really there are 2 things I overindulge on and that is bread and bean burritos. With the bean burritos, I usually split one with my husband and with the bread, I limit myself on how many pieces I'm allowed.