The December Conundrum
Monday and Tuesday I woke up in the middle of the night stressing about Christmas prep. I had a couple difficult gifts to finalize (that needed to be mailed, eek!), I have a ton of cookies to bake, I still haven’t sent out my cards, and when am I going to wrap all the kids’ gifts??? The crazy thing is, these are all things I love! I LOVE Christmas! I love gifts, cookies, and Christmas cards. I wish I could just relax and enjoy it more. This is why, although Christmas is my favorite holiday, November is actually my favorite month. I love when I can start thinking about Christmas, but there’s no stress. I love the excitement of seeing Christmas appear in stores, but being able to browse and observe without worrying, because “it’s still early.” I really need to shift my perspective. It would seem weird to bake and freeze Christmas cookies in November, but doing so would actually help me so much. Why don’t I just start earlier??? This year, because Thanksgiving was so late, I finally broke my rule about not starting Christmas until Black Friday. We decorated our tree before Thanksgiving, and guess what- nothing bad happened! We still had Thanksgiving and appreciated the day just as much- maybe even more, because we had a festive and pretty Christmas tree to look at. I’m stating it here, officially- next year I AM STARTING CHRISTMAS PREP IN NOVEMBER AND THAT’S THAT. Maybe that way I can avoid the December panic situation. I am feeling a little better today, because Wednesday I buckled down and got several things done. First- I had a wrapping session: The “Santa” presents are wrapped and hidden away until they, ahem, magically appear under the tree on Christmas morning. I binged episodes of “Holiday Baking Championship” and wrapped all the gifts I have so far. I enjoyed it- but my only question is, why did this take me two hours??? Okay- I wasn’t wrapping for the ENTIRE two hours. I had to remove some of the gifts from their packaging and find gift boxes. But still. Why does it take so long? My second question is, why does this pile of presents look so puny? I would say that’s only about half the gifts so far, but the things still arriving are also pretty small (my daughter asked for a lot of jewelry this year.) This isn’t going to look very festive under the tree! I’m still waiting for blankets for both kids, with pictures of our cats on them- those should be bulky, at least. I also finalized the tricky gifts and GOT THEM SENT! And while I was at the post office, I bought holiday stamps, so I’m all ready to start on my Christmas cards. And- Sunday is going to be a marathon baking day. I have to bake two kinds of cutout cookies- regular sugar cookies and gingerbread. These are for our Christmas Eve cookie decorating tradition (once again- these could be made in NOVEMBER and be waiting in the freezer… next year.) And I have to bake at least two other kids of cookies- probably biscotti and molasses cookies- for my family’s general happiness, and to be included with gifts. If I can get those four baked on Sunday, I’ll have time to make one or two more next week (peanut butter balls are also a Christmas must.) So… I slept much better last night. There’s still a lot to do, but there’s also plenty of time. I still have gifts to purchase- I don’t have anything for my husband yet- but thank you, Amazon. I know people have issues with Amazon, but knowing I can order something (pretty much anything I want!) and have it arrive in two days, is keeping me sane. If you celebrate Christmas, do you feel like you’ll be ready? Do you order gifts from Amazon? Are you baking cookies? November or December- which month do you like better? Top photo by Doriana Popa on Unsplash
2025 Running Plans
Yes- I have plans and goals! My last race was November 9th, and originally I was ready to jump into training for the next one. I had my eye on a 50k on the west coast of Florida in January. But then… Lately I’ve been in a pattern that goes like this: I run a race, end with some weird injury, recover, then realize my next race is coming RIGHT UP, and quickly jack up the distance of my long runs. Then I show up to the race slightly underprepared, and the whole cycle starts again. When I finished the last race with a rib injury, I decided to break this cycle. My next big race will be in April (more about that in a moment.) In the meantime, I’m planning to run a half marathon with Darlene in February! Darlene and I have a sketchy history with this race. We were going to run it together two years ago- she broke her foot and I got a stomach virus two days before the race, so neither os us were able to run. Last year, Darlene registered for the race but then sprained her ankle in December and wasn’t able to train for it (I copied her by spraining my ankle in February.) This year, nothing could go wrong! Training for a half marathon, instead of an ultra, is giving me a chance to work on speed for a change. It’s fun! My long runs don’t have to be crazy long for this race, so I can focus on other things. But don’t worry! I do have a big, scary goal for 2025. I heard on a recent podcast that your big, scary goal should be something you can potentially fail at. PERFECT! I’ve already proved I can fail at this one: a 50 mile race. The race I’m planning is the Skunk Ape Endurance Run in Ocala, FL on April 26th. This gives me plenty of time to complete my “remedial” running program, run the half marathon, and train for a 50 miler. Those are my running plans. I also have a trip to Tampa in early January (where I hope to get together with Stephany), two fun blogger meetups in February- one with Darlene to run the race, and another one with some visiting bloggers (oooh! exciting!)- and then a trip to Waco in May for my son’s college graduation. Do you have any fun plans for 2025? Any big, scary goals?
2025 Planning
My new planner has arrived! After searching unsuccessfully at Barnes and Noble, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls (I got my 2024 planner at TJ Maxx) I finally ordered this one. Sarah mentioned it in a Best Laid Plans episode, and described it as a simple, affordable, but surprisingly versatile option. I’ll be honest- my first impression was that it felt kind of cheap. It’s not going to fall apart, but it definitely doesn’t have a luxurious feel. But hey- I spent $22. What was I expecting? On further examination, I think it’s going to work. It has everything I need. Monthly pages: And the weekly pages fit all my criteria. Each day has plenty of room, and Saturday and Sunday are full size spaces, unlike some planners where Saturday and Sunday get a half-space (no, no- all wrong!) I also like the “track it” section at the bottom of the right hand page. I’m thinking of tracking hip stability exercises, and maybe stretching? Or core? Maybe I’ll play around with it, and make the “wins of the week” section into two more “track it” sections. The back of the planner has pages for gift ideas, birthdays, expense tracking, and some lined and some grid notes pages. I’ll use some of the notes pages for tracking my reading, and a TBR list. And, there’s a page of stickers… Not sure what I’ll do with those, but since they’re blank, the possibilities are endless. I’m excited! I can’t wait to start filling it in- and what, you might ask, am I filling it with? Well, I do have some goals and plans for 2025…. coming up tomorrow. Do you use a paper planner? Do you have your 2025 planner yet?
Weekly Rundown- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Actually, the title should be “The great, the good and the terrible.” There was so much that went well this week- the weather was phenomenal, I had some great runs, we had a VERY exciting high school football game, and my rib is about 90% better! Woohoo! But… I hurt my back, ARRRRG! As always, I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown (thanks, ladies!) Let’s just see what happened… Monday After the holiday week, I couldn’t face waking up at 5 am to run. I knew it would be cool and beautiful all day, so I decided to run after work. In the morning I did an upper body strength workout. I can now raise my arms above my head, and this was the best upper body workout I’ve had since I hurt my rib. Things are going GREAT! Before going to work, I just decided to tidy up a little- Christmas bins were out, and I needed to put things back into place. All I did was bend down to move the coffee table over a few feet, and when I stood up, I immediately knew that my low back was messed up. Phooey. It was so stiff and achy, I was worried about running. But after work I decided to give it a try and hooray! I can still run… 3 happy miles. Tuesday My back felt TERRIBLE. I decided to do a lower body strength workout at home. Some moves were impossible, but I could do squats so I hit those pretty hard. Good workout, in spite of my back. Wednesday I started the day with a lovely 6 mile run! It was 50 degrees and look- I’m wearing long sleeves! After this run, DOMS from my workout yesterday kicked in with a vengeance. I really put myself in a predicament- I couldn’t bend over because of my back but now I also couldn’t squat down because my legs were SO SORE. So, if I wanted to pick something up from the floor… I couldn’t. It was pretty funny (if you have a dark sense of humor.) I would say I felt like a 90-year-old woman, but actually I hope I’m moving better than that when I’m 90. It was a rough day. Thursday Okay- enough is enough! Since I can now raise my arm above my head, I decided to try the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout.. I haven’t been able to do any core since the rib injury. I could do it!!! I did feel my rib a little, but it was okay. After I finished I stretched my back for a while. This workout and stretching session was the turning point for my back- after this it started to slowly, slowly feel better. After work, another 3 mile run! Friday Since it felt so good the day before, I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout again, followed by hip stability exercises. I felt like I was gradually putting my body back together. At night… high school football game! It was the state semi-finals. The game was close and exciting, and in the last five seconds the other team almost scored the winning touchdown, but were stopped at the goal line and we won 14-11! It was the kind of game where everyone was on their feet screaming in horror, and then shouting for joy (unless, of course, you were rooting for the other team, in which case, reverse that.) Next week, our team (and the band!) will travel to the State Championship game. Everyone is so excited! This has never happened before in the history of our school. I can’t go because I have to work, SOB!!!! But it will be live streamed, so I’ll watch as much as I can. Saturday 4 mile run before work. My back is much better! And, every run this week has been great. I credit the amazing weather. Sunday Off! But I HAVE TO get our outdoor lights up! If I don’t, the Christmas police are going to come and arrest me. My rib is better, my back is better; I have no more excuses. How was your week? Any mysterious ailments? If you celebrate Christmas, are you finished decorating?