Christmas Mugs AND Secret Santa Gift!!!
Here we are on Day 27 of NaBloPoMo! Thanksgiving is over, and the Christmas decorations are out! I’m doing Part 2 of my mug tour, because the Christmas mugs needed their own post. But before we get started… Imagine my excitement when a mysterious package arrived for me last week! It turned out to be TWO incredible mugs from my Secret Santa, aka Erin (IG @erinollila.) She totally nailed it. Here’s the first mug: It’s a RUNNING CHRISTMAS TREE! Nothing could be more perfect than that, right? But here’s the second mug: I love it so, so much- its a Baylor Mom mug. What I love most about it is, after Christmas is all over, all the pretty mugs are put away, and I’m missing my son because he’s back at school, I can pull out this mug. I usually hate drinking out of my “normal” mugs again after the holidays, but this time I’ll be looking forward to it. THANK YOU ERIN! And thank you to San for organizing #SecretSantaMugSwap2021 . Moving right along! Here’s a couple of my pretty Christmas mugs… I love those mugs, but sometimes I’m in the mood for a big, chunky mug, so I’m also loving this one: Here’s a mug I pull out every year but rarely drink out of. It’s pretty, but it’s kind of a weird shape- taller and skinny. I’m giving it one more Christmas, and if I don’t drink out of it, I’m donating it! I need the cabinet space. Now- it never snows in South Florida. But we have some “chilly” nights where it gets down to the 50s. On those mornings I take out this mug: The “Let it Snow” mug has the dubious honor of being the one that burned my hand horribly. On the bottom is says it’s not microwave safe, but last year I ignored that and used it to microwave my tea. When I reached in to take it out, the handle was so hot it burned my hand. I mean, really burned it. People were asking me what happened to my hand- that’s how bad it looked (and felt.). So, if something is not microwave safe, they really mean it! Don’t do what I did. Here’s one more mug! Last year one of my coworkers gave me a Starbucks gift card. Instead of using it for the same old tea I get all the time, I used it for this travel mug- something I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. There you have it! You can see why I get sad when January rolls around and I have to put these away! Luckily this time I’ll have my Baylor Mom mug to cheer me up. Now, since I’m a mug fanatic, I have a few questions: Do you like to drink out of special mugs for holidays? If so, how many holiday mugs is too many?- I can’t help myself- I’m always on the lookout for more mugs. Which of my mugs is your favorite? Should I get rid of the skinny one?
Runfessions- Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving Rundown
Hi there! I’ll admit I don’t have much to “runfess” since I did that last week. But I did run a turkey trot yesterday- my first race in two years! Plus there’s always some Thanksgiving confessions to make. I’m linking up with Marcia’s Runfessional today! Last week I “runfessed” that I would find it hard not to “race” this race, but there was so much else going on this week, it turned out to be easy to put this race in the proper perspective. I showed up ready to have fun. The race started with the usual crowd of runners. Even though I wasn’t planning to run fast, and had lined up in the front third of runners, I was still boxed in. But there was a guy right in front of me pushing a double stroller and aggressively shouting “EXCUSE ME!” People were jumping out of his way in alarm, and I realized my best bet was to run right behind him. That worked great! The only problem was, I realized we were running at an 8:10 mile pace, and there was no way I had it in me to continue that. I slowed down a bit and finished the first mile in 8:40. Then, in a spectacular display of positive splits, I got slower and slower every mile. Last week when I said if I ran too fast and hurt my foot again I would be in running jail, “Birchwood Pie” suggested my mantra for this race should be “stay out of jail.” Ha ha.. I did think of that, but the truth was my foot felt fine and so did my legs- my limiting factor was my breathing. That’s the way it always is for me- I usually finish a 5k gasping for breath. I finished this one in 28:35, which is a 9:08 mile pace. Two years ago I ran a half marathon at a quicker pace, but you know what… I’ll take it! It’s where I’m at right now, and I just have to embrace it. I was really happy I did this race. My husband ran too, and it felt fun and festive to be running a turkey trot again. Then, home for the Thanksgiving dinner preparation! It’s just the four of us, and it seems every year at some point we exclaim, “It’s a good thing we don’t have anyone coming over!” THIS year, what happened was, we put the apple pie in the oven and the filling oozed out and dripped allover the bottom of the oven. This happened in the first several minutes of baking, and a horrible burnt smell filled the house. When I opened the oven to check, a huge cloud of smoke billowed out. The pie seemed fine, but the house smelled horrible and there was smoke everywhere. My husband said “Good thing we don’t have a smoke detector!” Wait! Is that a good thing? Shouldn’t we have a smoke detector? But in this case it really was a good thing- otherwise the fire department would have been there. When that pie was done baking we let the oven cool down so we could clean it, and that put the whole dinner behind by about an hour. But that’s okay, because we weren’t having any guests. We’re just not the type of family that should have guests over for Thanksgiving. Finally we got this feast on the table… We went for a walk to try and digest a little, before coming back for pie! After we ate so much we could barely move, my son tried to convince us it was time for a “family weigh-in.” WHAT??? Unlike most college freshmen, he’s trying to GAIN fifteen pounds. He’s 6’5″ and can’t seem to gain weight no matter how much he eats. He actually weighed himself and tried to convince the rest of us to join in. No! Stay away from me with that scale! All in all, it was a really fun day. We also got our Christmas tree on Wednesday! We put it up with no decorations, but after Thanksgiving dinner I put the lights and tinsel on. We’ll decorate it (and the rest of the house) today when I get home from work, because my son has to go back to school tomorrow. So Pumpkin Palooza has come to an end, and we are now starting gingerbread season! Hooray! Hope everyone is having a festive week! Did you run a turkey trot? Did you cook a Thanksgiving dinner? If you celebrate Christmas, when do you start decorating?
Hey, You Guys! Thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving, if you are celebrating today! If not, happy fourth Thursday in November! Either way… I wanted to drop in briefly to say thank you. Thank you to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown and inviting me to join. Through them, I met this incredible online running community, which has been a source of inspiration, encouragement, and pleasure over the past year. Thank you to San for organizing our group for NaBloPoMo. Who knew people were blogging about crafts, poetry, reading, writing, cats, and the fascinating details of their lives in such insightful and hilarious ways? I discovered all sorts of new blogs that I love. Lastly, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog and kindly leave a comment. You put up with my meandering topics and blurry pictures, and I truly appreciate it. I hope you have a marvelous, fantastic, and astounding day!
It’s Almost Time for Holiday Themes!
It’s already day 24 of NaBloPoMo and the day before Thanksgiving. This means, of course, that it’s time to start thinking about our themes for the holiday. But first a quick update… After I wrote this post about my least favorite Christmas songs, several people chimed in with their support of “Last Christmas,” Nicole was possibly the winner, saying that she has a playlist of all the different versions of the song by different artists. Well, with all the discussion about it, now I can’t get it out of my mind. Arg! It reminds me of a story my mom told me years ago, about a friend of hers who actually needed some sort of therapy because she couldn’t get “It’s a Small World After All” from going through her mind incessantly. Even though I knew I shouldn’t laugh because it sounded like an actual mental health issue, I snickered a little over that. I hope, as a punishment for being so insensitive, I don’t end up in therapy because I can’t get “Last Christmas” out of my mind. ANYWAY! Every year around this time I somehow convince my family to join my in choosing holiday themes for the year. I got this idea several years ago from Gretchen Rubin’s podcast, Happier. She’s big on choosing themes. In this case, we take a phrase from a holiday song to be our theme for the season. Three years ago my theme was “Joy to the World.” Two years ago it was “Joyful and Triumphant”- I was having a really good year. My brother-in-law’s theme one year was “laughing all the way” and my son likes to make reference to the fact that we live in Florida- “all the way home I’ll be warm” and “roasting on an open fire” have been two of his. Then- 2020, sigh. My sister’s theme was “In the bleak midwinter.” Not exactly cheery! I decided on a phrase from the “sad” version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”- “next year all our troubles will be out of sight” was my theme for 2020. The problem is, I can’t seem to pick my theme this year. Usually something pops out at me, but not this time. I think it’s because I’m not sure how to feel about 2021. Is it better? Should I be joyful and triumphant? I can’t tell. You’d think with all the Christmas music I’ve been listening to in my car, something would have come to me. I thought about, as a joke, choosing my theme from the lyrics of “Last Christmas” but it really doesn’t work. “What a fool I’ve been?” No, that doesn’t seem right… “Once bitten, and twice shy.” No. Not very Christmas-y. Well, there’s still time! My goal is to pick my theme before NaBloPoMo ends. We’ll be decorating our tree on Friday, and my son has made a special playlist for the occasion- I’m hoping my theme will come to me then. In the meantime… I’m off to make pies! Do you ever choose a “theme” for the holidays? Do it with me this year!